This article is more a train of thoughts about my volunteering experience and what it means to me than a story about reel experiences. I wanted to share it in the hope that other volunteers can relate.
Those reflections started when I took over the instagram page. I am now in charge of posting about our workshops, keeping you updated about our activities and making weekly and monthly recaps.
To give myself ideas, I went to see the archived posts and I got lost in what the previous teams of volunteers posted. I felt so strange. I realised that this place, where I work, eat and sleep everyday, was used by people in the same situation as me before. They walked in the same streets, shopped in the same grocery stores and discovered the same Rustavi as foreigners. Maybe the children I am meeting during my workshops knew those other volunteers, and it’s more than probable that they will meet the future ones when I will be gone.
The scout center is taking an all new meaning in my mind. It’s a place where foreigners are coming, one team after another, for a short period of time. They give their knowledge, share their interests with the children and adults of Georgia. They learn about a new culture, new landscapes, new people, new language, maybe they even learn about themselves in the process. And when they gave and took everything they could they return home to live new adventures, leaving space for people, just like them, to take over and do it all over again.
It is kind of strange to feel nostalgia seeing people in pictures that you never even met. But, even if we don’t know each other, we share the same experiences. And I know deep down that if one day I met one former volunteer by chance we will talk for hours about Georgia, Rustavi and the beautiful people we met there.
Okay, End of existential crisis. I am one of many, I am not the first volunteer to set foot here and I won’t be the last. I am okay with that. I find it actually quite reassuring. I feel like when we hear about volunteering abroad we imagine ourselves like saviors or something. Like we’re going to make a big difference. Well I don’t feel like I am making a difference, not by myself anyway. In my point of view it’s the Scout Center that is making the difference. It’s the organization and what they stand for. It’s them that are allowing people from all around to meet and share their personal and common knowledge. Thanks to them we can give the best of ourselves for a few months, bring joy and open mindedness to a few people. We also share the knowledge that this opportunity to travel exists if Georgian youth also want to engage in the journey. They are the one making a difference and stating loud and clear what they’re standing for, especially in the geopolitical state of their country. That is why I am here. I am not saving anyone but I am learning, I am learning a lot.
Sometimes I find myself setting up habits really easily. But when I see the days going on and on looking alike, I try to remember the most important part of this experience : Figure things out for myself and learn as much as possible. Luckily I am surrounded by a lot of people who remind me daily. First of all the other volunteers who also want to make the most of it and with whom I travel and discover Georgia with. Second off all the Georgian team and friends who are always willing to help us in the discovery. Last of all my family and my friends who are coming to visit me. Through their eyes I am rediscovering things that I grew used to in the few months I have been here and I realise how lucky I am and how grateful I will be once it’s all over.
I hope my thoughts were of interest to you dear readers (bridgerton reference) and I will see you next time for an article, perhaps, less introspective :)
Comments
Post a Comment