There are two different aims in our European Solidarity Corps project “Dream Big”. Our first aim is to provide desired qualifications which are neccessary for the working world for the young people as volunteers who take part in the project and ensure their employment. Our
second aim is to find solutions of the challenges the vulnarable groups – children, disadvantaged young people, elderly people, disabled people and refugees – of our partners face such as exclusion, the state of being minority because of race, langauge, religion , ethnic roots and physical deformation, etc from the public who has prejeduces, unemployment, lack of education, lack of personal, social and occupational development, in capable of adapting themselves with the fast moving technology, elderly people feel lonely, insensitiveness of the society towards vulnarable groups. With our “Dream Big” project, we would like to improve the aforementioned bleeding wounds of the society, to reveal the EU values, to defend the principles such as human rights, freedom and equality and to advocate the rights of vulnerable groups.
There are 3 activitities in the project:
1st activity is in Paredes, Portugal for 59 days.
2nd activity is in Paredes, Portugal for 11 months.
3rd activity is in Hemel Hempstead, UK for 9 months.
There is a Turkish young person in each activity. So there are 3 volunteers in total in the project.
1st Activity:
Hosting Organisation: Embaixada da Juventude Youth organisation
Venue: Paredes, Portugal
Volunteer: Lütfü Şahin
Activity Period: 07.05.2021 – 04.07.2021
Lütfü participated in the sustainable development activities of the hosting organisation in the project. He prepared upcycling (creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality, such as artistic value or environmental value) materials. He participated in local and international activities of the organisation. He developed his English. He took Portuguese langauage courses. The project helped his personal, social and occupational development.
2nd Activity:
Hosting Organisation: Embaixada da Juventude Youth organisation
Venue: Paredes, Portugal
Volunteer: Mert Ayduman
Activity Period: 19.03.2021 – 02.03.2022
Mert participated in the sustainable development activities in our partner, Embaixada da Juventude in Paredes, Portugal. He organized activities in his hosting organisation. He developed the capacity of Embaixada da Juventude by raising awareness with its opportunities. He developed and produced community systems and policies in the volunteers home. He made it easy for new volunteers to adapt to their home. He created a Turkish recipes book for International Day of the Book and he published it via Embaixada da Juventude’s(EJ’s) social media platforms. He taught English to the other volunteers. He created Duolingo contests and motivation groups to learn languages with other volunteers. He played games with the people in the elderly house and had chats with them. He brainstormed and created ideas about the community garden which is located in the EJ house, such as building a place for bees, deciding and planting seeds to the garden, shaping the bushes, cutting the grass, using used coffee as fertilizer, watering the plants, dealing with the weeds that are growing in the walking path, learning general knowledge about gardening. He participated in so many local and international projects of Embaixada da Juventude. He took part in the promotional films of EJ. He taught Portuguese people how to play quidditch and made teams. Mert participated in so many more activities of his hosting organisation and helped its development.
3rd Activity:
Hosting Organisation: Dacorum Council for Voluntary Service (DCVS)
Venue: Hemel Hempstead, the United Kingdom
Volunteer: Atacan Hüseyin Yeşilada
Activity Period: 10.02.2021 – 26.10.2021
Atacan participated in the works of Dacorum Council for Voluntary Service (DCVS) with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. He helped with the projects of the association. He undertook tasks such as producing digital and online materials, market research and Networking with individuals and local community groups, using qualitative and quantitative data for the projects, conducting live interviews on Radio Dacorum, developing strategies for innovation, designing new project / activity, ushering and guidance for the visitors / participants in the activities, etc. In order to share his experience, he made a YouTube channel and published his videos. We will share these videos in our social media and web page at intervals. Atacan was selected among the 200 candidates after a lot of selections. He passed each step successfully. Our British partner Dacorum had a lot of benefits from his work. At the same time Atacan developed himself in so many areas. He experienced European projects and team work. He learned to take initiative. He made a lot of friends. He traveled a lot in the UK. This experience has been the first step of his successful career in the future.
