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Find yourself. EVS!
Start date: Aug 1, 2016, End date: Feb 28, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The name of this project is “Find yourself. EVS!” cause we saw that each year the volunteers we host are coming with something to give but also discovering a lot about themselves in terms of opportunities, activities and new skills. Different volunteers, after this experience, change their vision about their future, discover new paths that they were not taking into consideration before, establish new contacts and reconsider their ambitions. We want them not just to become more mature and responsible, but to put themselves into new experiences and even if after the project they do not became specialists in what they’ve done, we hope that they will become more self-reliant cause they will discover that they can manage doing something they never tried before. The volunteers will hopefully develop lot of activities for their HOs, having successes, receiving complements. This aspect will increase the self-esteem and will make them aware of doing something special and quite complicated, taking into consideration all the difficulties that can eventually come out during nine months in a completely new environment with new people. We believe that they’ll find a power inside themselves after the service cause they will see that they can succeed in something they’ve planned to do. The success in this project is not only connected with the work and the activities they develop inside their HOs, but it’s also full of informal learning: living in a new surrounding, getting in touch with a new language, being able to economically manage their lives. Some volunteers are very young, for some of them is the first time living abroad: this project will completely change their vision of the world and about themselves. Volunteers will also gain skills in working with kids (some of them also with disabilities), what can be very useful for them when later on seeking a professional career in this field.All our 13 volunteers are working in kindergartens and schools. Often for the kids and youth of these placements, they are the first life example of a foreign culture, language and tradition. We believe that this contact is really important for the further development of their tolerance and open-mindedness. Contact and selection of the volunteers earlier than their arrival, gives us the possibility to match their skills and wish of learning with the right EVS placement. The system of work presented in this application is the outcome of years of experience and constant adjusting to volunteers’ needs and making project as open for them as possible.All 13 volunteers from Programme Countries will work with children and youth. Their work will be focused on two main levels: first is support for the existing activities.Volunteers are invited to join the daily life of the HOs, to add international contribution to tasks that are organised with children. Second level is creating their own projects. There is a wide variety on possibilities - from dancing, outdoor activities, handy work, painting, singing, theatre plays and more sophisticated workshops. All volunteers can realize themselves according to their abilities and wishes. Based on previous years, CO and HOs can also propose some ideas for the volunteers - especially at the beginning when they can feel lost.Aside from work in HO, we often invite the volunteers to join us when STRIM organizes promotional EVS and E+ meetings: they play an active role showing their experience right in the moment they’re living it. We believe that preparing these presentations for Polish youth will make EU projects and EU values better known, eventually increasing in future the wish of taking part in formal and non-formal education trainings.Since December 2014 we collaborate with a Cracovian radio. Our auditions are in English and they speak about E+ projects and values, with most attention for EVS, one of the main activities of STRIM association. The presence of the volunteers is fundamental cause we always invite them to tell their stories. Having a program inside a radio, we can spread the topics we want to talk about to the Radio Pryzmat listeners, making E+, EVS and EU values known. The main objective of the project is let the volunteers discover something new about their limits and possibilities, make them more mature, responsible and ready to deal with the next step of their lives. Thanks to their presence we're also promoting inter-culturality for kids, youth and EVS staff. By daily contact with different culture young Polish people can have better bases for further development of tolerance. We hope that this contact will result in increase of interest for EU issues, new languages and people from different cultures.
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