Servus alle zusammen, I am Sercan Boyar. I am a youth worker who started his project in February in Children’s Village, in Graz. During my bachelor’s degree in Psychological Counseling and Guidance, I had been seeking a long-term opportunity that I can be a witness for different lives and contribute myself by new experiences. Throughout this process, I did not want to exhaust myself with studying and I convinced myself to look for an opportunity at the end of my bachelor’s degree. I did not take much time to get accepted for the Children’s Village which is one of several projects that I applied for, at the end of my bachelor’s degree.
To be honest, I did not have much idea at first when I got accepted because I focused on the facts of the project, contributions that I got from the project, and contributions that I can transfer from my side. I can say that I learned everything about the culture and country through my experiences.
After kids come from their schools, kids who are not allowed to live with their parents, my tasks in Children’s Village were helping with their homework, planning free-time activities. I can tell that I was a guest for a year in their house because of the fact, that Children’s Village was the place where kids were staying. From time to time, my routine tasks were changing due to corona. We contributed different perspectives through our professions with the fact of Sensory Path, which was created by my volunteer partner and helped by me, and Emotion Poster that I created by myself. This experience would not be more effective and positive in terms of language development, experience with kids, teamwork.
The other spot that I would like to point out is my youth association “Logo” in Austria. In this organization where Jurate coordinates, there were countless events, I participated in meetings to discover city, cultures, other volunteers. Also, we participated in many videos to be motivation for those who worked during the quarantine. I would like to clarify that we also worked without being stopped by the virus ?
Despite all restrictions, I had a valuable year in terms of new friendships, experiences, and countries. In general, I am not such a person who always sees positive sides but I can say that I would not have the people that I have right now or I would not be that close if there were no corona. So that virus has affected my life positively even though it has affected many lives negatively.
Additionally, I should tell you that I contacted with Pi Youth Association when I was told that I should have found Sending Organization. The fact that I had been following their works on social media and the intimacy affected me a lot. Their support by email about my visa, corona, updates made me get informed and feel secure. I was lucky in terms of my workplace. I was also lucky about both my youth organization in Turkey and my youth association in Austria. Even though those facts seem like they are not significant, their importances are a lot because they are contact companies.
Finally, I can suggest you cook and make people happy with small gifts that you make. They would be great reasons to show your cultures. I can also suggest you attend social activities, be a reaction to the news, and collect many memories before you arrive in Turkey. I am grateful to everyone who left a sign in my life and I wish luck and patience to candidates who are looking for their projects. Tschau-Baba! ?
The Volunteer of AGH-136 Austria Project “Sercan Boyar”
Pi Gençlik Derneği (Pi Youth Association)