Hello! I am Niki, a Hungarian girl from Budapest.
In my everyday life I am a university student, who works in an attorney office as well, which specializes in intellectual properties. As you can guess I am interested in the field of law, especially connected with environmental issues and social problems, such as drug addiction. My dream is to work as a judge in a court.
As one of my favourite free time activities is travelling, I always wanted to take part in a project abroad and that is why I started to look for voluntary activities. In the beginning of 2020 I decided to take actions about it, so I registered in a lot of different online surfaces, such as the webpage of the ESC and other groups on Facebook. One evening one of my friends shared a project on Facebook. It was about Turkey, environmental issues for a month. I immediately decided to apply for this project, as the theme of it and the location are close to my heart.
After I read the introduction of this project I was sure that this is the perfect chance to develop my skills and share my knowledge. And fortunately, I was the lucky person, who was selected from my country to be the member of the beautiful team made up of 16 people form 11 countries.
I believe that this project was totally suitable for my personal goals, such as improving my English knowledge, gaining new friends, discovering new countries through the location of the event and through the other participants form different countries and last, but not least raising awareness regarding the ecological problems. And yes, I am satisfied. By the end of the project, I was more self-confident when speaking in English with my new friends, I gained some surprising and interesting information regarding the participating countries. Regarding the ecological part of the project, the world itself was the one, which prevented us from fulfilling our main aim, however, I am sure that none of the participants gave it up, and all of us try to find a way to make the world a better place to live on. So as for me, I keep trying to improve the life conditions through the field of law.
When I was traveling home by plane, I summed up the previous days, I tried to take consequences about them and I found that it cannot be over. I want to continue. Somehow, I would like to do something for our planet. That is why I decided to apply for a Hungarian organization as a volunteer, which deals with environmental issues. In my opinion volunteering cannot last for only a month. It is not a one-month activity. Volunteering begins with a feeling. You feel that you would like to do something . Something, with which you can contribute to something important. You feel, you have free energy. The enthusiasm, intuition to help the others, to make the world better. Then slowly, it formulates in you that, yes, it is time to act. You decide, you take challenges. And here comes the hard, but most amazing part of it. You stretch your boundaries while happiness fills you. You give in to everything you have. Enthusiasm, knowledge, energy, talent, perseverance. However, you are not expecting a reward for these. All you might want in return, is a smile or an acknowledgment that yes, it was not in vain. And finally, you see the result that is due to you, your manual work. You see, you have added something to the world, you have become a useful part of it. It’s volunteering for me.
Based on the above, I can only recommend being part of a volunteering project. If you are interested in working together with new and exciting people on issues, which are worth taking efforts while having fun, it is your time to experience it. Don’t miss it, guys!
Photo by: Daniel Dluhý