Writing this feels bizarre – how is it the last week of my volunteering experience when I still remember turning up at the airport, a little bit stressed but mostly excited, to start my journey in Skopje in what feels like a week ago? In this bittersweet moment I hope to show you exactly why I’m very grateful for this experience in a short summary of my time volunteering in Skopje.
I found this volunteering opportunity offered through the European Solidarity Corps on FRSP social media, and it instantly drew my attention. I wasn’t too ready to commit to any long-term position, and I have been to the city before and enjoyed my time. It seemed like it would have been a wasted opportunity at least not to try and send in an application. Luckily for me, this time the stars have aligned. Before I even knew, I had my tickets booked and was waiting for the day to move to the Balkans.
And that’s how I ended up at Volunteers Centre Skopje. Focused on non-formal and informal education, active citizenship, and promoting local initiatives and volunteerism, there were plenty of projects to facilitate, cooperate on and create yourself throughout my time. Everyone did a bit of everything, which helped me open up to things I have not yet experienced. It’s inevitable and natural to feel hesitant when you haven’t tried something new, and I couldn’t have felt more encouraged by my fellow volunteers and program coordinators at the office.
I am leaving Skopje with three very different articles written for our monthly magazine, VOICES, as a proud co-editor of the May edition, as a podcast host for an episode of VOICES to Hear, having conducted a cyber security workshop, having become comfortable in using design software – the list goes on. The main point is that you never know just how much you can achieve in such a short amount of time, and I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to really try as many things and develop as many skills as it suited me.
Beyond the 9-4 of volunteering, I also managed to fill my time with amazing experiences. Going to a football and handball match, hiking, skiing, doing a road trip around the country, visiting neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria – I truly could have not had a more varied and exciting time throughout volunteering if I tried. This only shows the surface of how much one can do during three months and I would definitely recommend anyone that is not sure about applying for volunteering or any other opportunity to go out of your comfort zone and experience everything to the fullest extent.
~ Dawid Kościelniak
Three months of Skopje in a snippet
