THE VOLUNTEER’S DIARY IN ROMANIA

The organization “Save the Children”, volunteer centre coordinated by Mrs. Ina Lolescu, sent two young volunteers in our school who talked to the students in two classes about the volunteer work, the reasons for which they chose to be volunteers and the benefits on a personal level of such an activity.

 Mrs. Cristina Bălteanu from the Romanian “Red Cross” Society presented at class V B the objectives of this organization and some of the projects initiated by this NGO: “Banca de alimente” (Food Bank) and the competition ,,Sanitarii priceputi”(The Skillful Doctors).   

 

THE VOLUNTEER’S DIARY IN BULGARIA

OUR POSTER

20.10.2009

Today we met Tsveta Hristova, a volunteer and a social worker in the social services center for children and families'Samaritans ', Stara Zagora.We wanted to become familiar with activities of the volunteer.Each of us has identified a few basic things about volunteer’s job. We discussed all suggestions and recorded them on the whiteboard. What is volunteering and why it is needed ?Who is a volunteer?
 -To be a volunteer is a personal choice.
-Volunteer is brave;
-To be a volunteer means to give your time and energy in return for knowledge and experience.
-He is a man or a woman/a boy or a girl/ who wants and loves to help at his own free will ;
-To be a volunteer means to spend your time in activities which are pleasant, beneficial and sometimes fun; activities which help you develop personal skills, meet new people and visit new places.
-He or she always helps people and animals in need;
-He or she doesn’t want payment for his work;
- He or she gets satisfaction from his or her activities;
- Volunteering is a way of thinking.
Each of us remembered moments when he or she helped people and animals in need, but the main question was how to understand who is in need, because there are people who take unfair advantage of people’s goodness /kindness/.We talked about Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats involved in volunteer programmes.Then we took a good look at the lobby of the center and the rooms for children deprived of parental care. Objects made by children with special educational needs fascinated us and we accepted Tsveta’s proposal to help those childen with their activities and to learn new techniques and skills in art.

  

The social services center for children and families”Samaritans’.

ACES PARTNERSHIP PROJECT “Have your say! Young Europeans shape their future”

Applicant school(project co-ordinator): School no. 49, Vatra Luminoasa Street No 99,Sector 2,Bucharest,Romania
Partner school 2 :OS Djura Jaksic,Lenjinova Street No1, Zajecar,Serbia
Partner school 3: OU 1 'Georgy Bakalov',28 Podpolkovnik Kalitin Street,Stara Zagora,Bulgaria


Our project focuses on three stages:
A) to become familiar with the needs of the community we live in;
B) to get involved so as to be useful for the needy;
C) to promote volunteering through an effective information campaign.

By participating in this project, students will learn from experienced volunteers working for NGOs what volunteering means, which are the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats involved in volunteer programmes. By passing through the three stages, students will develop activism skills, such as: problem solving and decision making techniques through their involvement in different social activities; awareness on the possibility to promote their actions through the organization of information campaigns; valorification of the information they acquire during the school activities. Moreover, the information campaign on volunteering we want to conduct is meant to influence and improve the perception of volunteer work at the community level, and it will be concretized in posting an electronic newspaper (e-paper) presenting aspects related to the students’ volunteer work and interviews with experienced volunteers working for NGOs, spreading out leaflets with PRO active citizenship messages, and making T-shirts, badges and posters promoting volunteering.