As in the story of the man who saved the life of starfish, with our European Solidarity Corps “The Receiver: Mother Nature” project, we will try to save thousands of starfish struggling to survive on the shore as much as we can. We hope that those who see us may participate in this solidarity movement, and that perhaps everyone will feel responsible in this sense. With this metaphor, we aim to set out with a group of volunteers to protect our environment from dangers, to announce these activities around us, to make the people follow us and to make everyone feel responsible to protect our environment.
We want to carry out our activities in two alarming locations of the world. These are Sumgait in Azerbaijan with its industry that has been going on for many years and causing great damage to nature and human health, and Sousse in Tunisia, where waste management is very unsatisfactory and the uninterested people about on this issue. We want to create a spark to raise environmental awareness in the public, to activate them to protect the environment, to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem, to protect human health and to leave a clean and healthy environment and future for our children.
In addition, we want to make our volunteers, who will take part in the project, be aware of environmental issues, and gain many new competencies that will help them to find a job in the future and help them be a useful citizen for our country. With our project, our volunteers will acquire the following new knowledge, skills and attitudes:
They will
– improve their foreign language skills
– adapt to different environments and learn to live and work just like a local
– be respectful of different ideas and have an open mind
– be able to work in teams
– develop the awareness of finishing a task on time
– be able to bring practical solutions to problems
– learn about fauna and flora, ecosystem, green energy
– contact decision makers and make their voices heard in this area to develop policies against the factors that threaten
the world and living things
– become an active citizen
– acquire many new competencies in science, technology, industry and digital areas
– have many new competencies related to recycling
– develop artistic skills in recycling workshops with children
– learn to work with children and educate them with fun
– be open to learning and innovations any time
Our project has two activities:
1st Activity will be in Sumgait, Azerbaijan with 8 volunteers for 59 days and
2nd Activity will be in Sousse, Tunisia with 8 volunteers for 59 days
We aim to work on envrionmental issues with 16 volunteers in total.
All of our 16 volunteers will have disadvantages. The criteria that we are looking for in the candidates will be the young
people who cannot find a job because of lack of sufficient qualifications, have disabilities, have health problems, live in
different social, cultural and geographical environments, have a diploma or have not graduated from any school and have
an environmental protection mindset.
Our volunteers will do the following during their activities:
– Environmental cleaning with young people, to which the public is also invited
– Sorting the collected garbage
– Recycling activities with disadvantaged children and youth
– Organizing panels, lectures and discussions on the environmental issue
– Planting flowers and trees in public areas
– Minor repairs and painting of worn and neglected public areas
– Erasmus + and European Solidarity Program introductory presentations to young people
1st Activity:
Hosting Organisation: “Common Sense” Youth Organization PU, Sumgait, Azerbaijan
Senanur Değirmenbaşı and Barış Gürkan Erez: 23.09.2021 – 20.11.2021
Barış and Senanur worked on planting trees, upcycling activities, making homes and food and water containers for the stray animals, presentations on the importance of cycling in our lives and encouragement for cycling in their hosting organisation, Common Sense Youth Association for 2 months. They made friends with Azerbaijani young people. They found opportunities to develop themselves in many areas.
Muhammed Tarık Aslan and Özge Şahin: 29.11.2021 – 26.01.2022
Muhammed Tarık Aslan and Özge Şahin, who went to Azerbaijan with our European Solidarity Corps project “The Receiver: Mother Nature”, have come home. Our young people, who were the volunteers in our Azerbaijani partner “Common Sense” Youth Organisation in Sumgait for 2 months, organised presentations about upcycling and clean energy resources for children. Therefore the children were informed about recyclable materials and learned how to make new products by using recyclable materials such as plastic and cardboard. They also had knowledge about how energy is produced and how this energy reaches our homes with the presentations of clean energy resources. They participated in the activities of the National Volunteering Day and they were interviewed for the national TV channel. During the activity, they were able to understand and speak Azerbaijani more easily thanks to their Azerbaijani friends. Many thanks to our young people for their efforts in their activity.
Ahmet Can Çıkla: 15.03.2022 – 12.05.2022
Ahmet Can Çıkla worked with other volunteers at schools on critical thinking, teamwork, recycling, and climate change during his activity. He also undertook tasks in the preparation and execution of local and national projects of the host organization. This activity contributed greatly to Ahmet’s personal, social and professional development.
Fatma Aydın: 05.04.2022 – 02.06.2022
Fatma worked on the environmental activities of her hosting organisation. She gave lessons about the Earth, nature and recycling in the schools. She planted trees with the students who never have done that before. She did painting especially on the Earth Day. She participated in the international projects of “Common Sense” Youth Organization, interacted with the participants from different countries and exchanged knowledge about the project. She also took part in the office work of the hosting organisation.
Selenay Kocatepe: 22.05.2022 – 22.07.2022
Selenay took part in the ecology camp for children of our Azerbaijani partner Common Sense Youth Organisation. She took tasks of interviewing the children, planning the trainings, delivering the trainings and playing games about environment. Selenay developed herself in so many areas with this project. She broadened her field of knowledge and interest by conducting deeper research on environmental issues. She had so many new competences in personal, social and occupational areas.
Eray Yetim: 15.07.2022 – 11.09.2022
Eray worked on recycling and sustainable environment for 2 months. He took tasks on the other EU projects of the hosting organisation. He met a lot of foreign participants and had an opportunity to learn in the multi-cultural environment. He developed himself in a lot of areas.
2nd Activity:
Hosting Organisation: Association Solidarite Echange et Developpement, Sousse, Tunisia
Seher Yağlıdere and Meryem Göztepe: 03.05.2021 – 30.06.2021
Meryem participated in the recycling activities with children. She worked in the botanical garden. She learned Arabic. She made friends with other volunteers from different countries. She learned about their culture and she introduced them our culture.
Safa Okay: 02.07.2021 – 29.08.2021
During his activity, Safa participated in beach and street cleaning activities. He took part in sports activities. He was in painting activities on the beach. He learned Arabic and developed his English. He learned about Tunisian culture. He introduced our culture to them. He traveled the country with Italian and Polish volunteers by hitchhiking. He wrote an article about hitchhiking stories. This activity helped both the environmental problems of Tunisia at least a little and supported Safa’s personal, social and occupational development.
Beyza Sancı and Emrah Aşkın: 03.09.2021 – 31.10.2021
Beyza and Emrah cleaned the streets, forests and beaches, organized recycling activities with children, painted and repaired in the public areas, went for scuba diving, participated in the beach volley tournaments, took place in the Turkish and Tunisian cultural nights and played team games in our Tunisian partner, Association Solidarite Echange et Developpement. They have had so many new competences in the personal and social context.
Oğulcan Cumhur Sarı: 05.11. 2021 – 05.01.2022
Oğulcan Cumhur cleaned the streets, forests and beaches, organized recycling activities with children, painted and repaired in the public areas and learned about the Tunisian culture and the cultures of the cultures of the other volunteers from different countries in his activity. He developed his Arabic.
Şeyma Nur Bütün and Ceyda Nur Yıldız: 11.03.2022 – 08.05.2022
Şeyma and Ceyda visited the hospitalized children, gave them gifts and played games with them. They collected aid during the month of Ramadan for people in need. Every week, they cleaned the museum with the students of the archeology department. Together with Professor Hajer, they visited and examined the museum in detail. They participated in a “Discussion Club” activity every week, and they both experienced different views and practiced English. They met with university students and gave information about ASED, Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps. They also took part in activities such as cycling tours, various trainings and Rowing Club. They planted and cared for flowers in the flowergarden. In the kindergarten, they carried out fun and educational activities with the children. They taught English to 5th and 6th grade students at another school. They gave Turkey presentations, one at the university and the other at Arem Office. They made many Tunisian friends and visited many Tunisian families’ homes. They also became friends with other volunteers from different countries. They both introduced Turkish culture and learned about different cultures. They developed in personal, social and professional ways.
İsmail Kaya: 18.07.2022 – 14.09.2022
During his volunteering period, İsmail participated in environmental work and activities that will contribute to the development of disadvantaged children at our partner Association Solidarite Echange et Developpement – ASED in Sousse, Tunisia. He undertook tasks such as cleaning the beach, healing injured turtles and releasing them back to nature, protecting and breeding endemic plants, upcycling activities with orphaned children and playing fun games with them. He took Arabic lessons. He gave Turkish lessons to Tunisians. He improved his English. He became friends with volunteers from other countries and got to know their cultures and languages. He participated in archery, beachvolley, rowing and football tournaments organized by ASED. İsmail has improved himself in many ways with the project.
