There are two different aims in our “Tell Your Story” project. Our first aim is to provide desired qualifications which are neccessary for the working world to the disadvantaged volunteers who will take part in the project and ensure their employment. Our second aim is to find solutions of the challenges the vulnarable groups – early school leavers, people with learning dificulties, people who can’t find jobs, children and young people who are from the families with lower incomes, physically and mentally disabled people, migrants and Roma people – 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 “Tell Your Story” 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.

Our project consists of 2 activities: the 1st one will take place in Porto Salvo, Portugal, and the 2nd one will take place in Fumureni, Romania. There will one volunteer in the first activity and two volunteers in the 2nd activity.
The volunteer in the 1st activity will work with disadvantaged children and young people, immigrants, disabled people and elderly people in the elderly care home. The volunteer will take part in the cultural, artistic, sportive, scientific and research activities and non formal trainings which take place in Casa Europa as a public house for the disadvantaged groups. Our volunteer will carry out activities such as painting, music, handicrafts, dance and theater with disadvantaged children and young people and the elderly in the elderly care home and will enable them to be active in social life. Our volunteer will organize aid campaigns for groups in need of assistance and will collect second-hand goods and distribute them to those in need. He/She will participate in organising the summer camps, entertainments, sports events, cultural activities, intercultural events, picnics, festivals, training courses, youth exchanges and labor camps.
The volunteers in the 2nd activity will work with the children, young and adult Roma people. Our volunteers will organise different activities with the children from the adults and work on them to have initiative and social skills. Also they will have tasks in conferences, seminars and forum theatre for their inclusion. In this activity, the hosting organisation will deliver trainings for our volunteers about children’s games, outdoor activities, social entrepreneurship and drama. The volunteers will have an experience about fighting against social exclusion and will be able to apply their new competences with the migrants in our country. Also in this activity, our volunteer will have an opportunity to make
realize their personal projects and generate activities with their own ideas in development of the Roma people.

1st Activity:

Hosting Organisation: ProAtlântico – Associação Juvenil

Venue: Porto Salvo, Portugal

Our Volunteer:

Uğur Nurlu

 

Ugur Nurlu, who went to Porto Salvo, Portugal for 10 months with our European Solidarity Corps Project “Tell Your Story”, has come back home. Ugur took activities for the disabled people to enable them to live autonomously and to improve their social development and  fine motor skills and to meet their emotional needs in our Portuguese partner, ProAtlântico – Associação Juvenil as the hosting organisation. He learned Portuguese. He developed his English language skills. He had common activities with the other volunteers from different countries. He learned their culture and taught them our culture. Ugur had a lot of new knowledge and skills for his personal, social and occupational development with the project.

 

 

 

 

2nd Activity:

Hosting Organisation: Asociatia Forumul Cetatenesc pentru Actiune Sociala si Educatie Civica

Venue: Fumuremi, Romania

Our Volunteers:

İsmail Akyağ: March 2020 – January 2021

Ismail participated in the activities of our Romanian partner, Asociatia Forumul Cetatenesc pentru Actiune Sociala si Educatie Civica and learned Romanian language.
Here are Ismail’s impressions of Romania:
“I went to Romania in March 2020 with a 10-month long ESC project. My main aim was as a musician to learn a different music culture and to produce a mixed Romanian – Turkish music. I met Roma people there and learned the music of Roma community. We organised walking tours to vineyards in Dragaşani, which is very famous place. Every week, we organised regular sports activities and made the community to participate. We fed the dogs in the yard of our hostel and took care of their needs. We contributed the visual learning of the pupils of Dragaşani Technical High School by painting the walls of the classrooms and made them learn in a more colorful and lively atmosphere. We learned about other cultures and introduced them our culture. I think I spent my 10 months in Romania with full of action.”

 

 

 

 

 

Şemşule Ertaş:

Şemşule Ertaş, who went to Romania within our European Solidarity Corps Project “Tell Your Story”, has returned home. Şemşule participated a lot of activities of our Romanian partner, Asociatia Forumul Cetatenesc pentru Actiune Sociala si Educatie Civica, in Dragaşani and Ramnicu Valcea’da for 6 months. She had online lessons with children and young people. She participated in conferences about environment. She met the local people. She introduced our culture. She learned Romanian language and you can learn more of that in her article below. We are so glad that we made a difference in the life of a young person. Many thanks to European Commission and the Turkish National Agency for giving these opportunities to the young people.
Here is Şemşule’s article:
*Due to pandemic, we couldn’t have an on-field activities. However we had work on online seminars and presentations in Dragaşani in order to be useful according to pandemic. We worked for the students and the local people to be more conscious about the environment such as plastic and waste management (long lasting textile bags, recycling bottles, insulated cups, etc), participating in the conferences (education on ecology, presentations on inclusion and solidarity), researching on the problems and livelihood of the villagers, (treasure hunt Project) work on intercultural actvity (food, music, dance, etc.).
*I helped as much as I can to the hosting organisation with my previous experiences. Also I had an opportunity to present the rich cuisine of Turkey and made people taste it.
*This Project taught me a lot of things that I had never experienced before. It made me to meet a lot of people from all over the world and make a lot of friends.
It gave me the opportunity to see the ability to feel my presence in a foreign country and in the languages I am foreign with, with the difficulty of expressing myself. Most importantly, it broadened my horizons to learn a new language and to educate myself.