Our ESC project with reference number 2022-1-LV02-ESC51-VTJ-000067663 was completed on 18/09/2024.
Kürşat Doğan
Hello, I'm Kürşat. Now, I would like to share my experiences from the short-term ESC project I participated in from July 21, 2024, to September 19, 2024, in Rezekne. Before going to Rezekne, during the ticket booking and registration process, the hosting organization (World Our Home) and the LİDOSK team found solutions to all my questions and problems. I had learned beforehand that Rezekne is a small and charming city (so be prepared for that). The place where I volunteered was a social facility for people with disabilities. We played games with them and helped out. My working hours were from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and weekends were off. There were many staff members at the social facility, and they were actually doing most of the work. Every morning, we would do sports with them, sometimes preparing games for them and supervising; in short, we were doing easy and fun tasks.
There weren’t many places in the city where we could spend our free time, and since no joint activities were organized during my time in Rezekne, I had a lot of free time. It was an opportunity for me to improve my English during this period. I would go to the lake for jogging or walking. I also had the chance to visit nearby cities during this time: Warsaw (Poland), Vilnius (Lithuania), Tallinn (Estonia), and Riga (Latvia). You don't have to limit these trips to weekends. You can use your two days off per month at any time by discussing it with the hosting organization.
If you're coming here in the winter, you should know that it gets very cold. I wish my fellow volunteers a fun and educational experience in advance. Also, I would like to thank the LİDOSK team for giving me this experience.
Esra Dönmez
Hello, I am Esra. I am 22 years old, and I will share my experiences from the short-term ESC project I participated in from September 4 to November 4, 2024. First of all, the volunteering I did in the city of Rezekne in Latvia taught me a lot. To start from the beginning of the process, we had a meeting with my hosting organization LİDOSK before I left, and in this meeting, they explained everything from the plane ticket to what I needed to do once I arrived there. When I arrived in the city, my hosting organization welcomed me at the train station and took me to the house where I would stay. The house I stayed in was a 2+1 apartment. I had a housemate, and it was great that we each had our own rooms.
The place where I volunteered was a social facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities. We worked there on weekdays from 9:00 to 15:00, generally assisting the staff at the facility. They did everything. We prepared activities according to their instructions and stayed with the students there, playing games with them. The work we did was generally enjoyable and easy. The city where I volunteered, Rezekne, is a small town with limited social opportunities. Additionally, since their native language is Latvian, there are few people who speak English. In my free time, I walked around the lake in the city and spent time with my fellow volunteers. Besides this, I had the opportunity to travel to many countries. The countries I visited were Vilnius (Lithuania), Tallinn (Estonia), Riga-Ludza (Latvia), Stockholm (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Milan-Venice-Padua (Italy), Vienna (Austria), Prague (Czech Republic), Berlin (Germany).
The first month I was here, the weather was very nice, but towards the end of October, the temperature dropped to 2 degrees. Since I live in Antalya, this was a temperature I was not used to, but from what I heard from my friends who did long-term volunteering here, the temperature can drop to -20 in winter, so I advise future volunteers to come prepared. I really had a great time, and the two months were very fulfilling. I wish those who will volunteer a wonderful process. I also thank the LİDOSK team for helping me have this experience.