My name is Marine, I’m 23 years old and I’m French. I arrived in Palermo two months and a half ago for an EVS project designed by Per Esempio Onlus and called Connection. I work mainly in three places: two associations supporting women and in a nursery.
I decided to take part in this project for three main reasons: to learn – learn a language, a culture, a country, a different way of working; to help others and share my skills; to get the opportunity to work on different tasks (kindergarden and associations for women) and in different places (Districts of Ballarò, Zen and Borgo Vecchio). The feeling I’m experiencing is that, thanks to this project, I’m growing professionally and personally. From a professional point of view, I’m learning different approaches to work carrying out different activities. For example, Eva (an EVS like me) and I organize activities on the five senses with the children attending “Il Giardino di Madre Teresa”.
Moreover, in Spazio Donne in ZEN district we organize laboratories about Carnival in three classes of the middle school “L. Sciascia” (carnival mask, making a rocket made of recycled products…). On the other hand, from a personal point of view, I challenged myself living with other volunteers from different European countries (Estonia, Spain) with different experiences, age, expectations, goals. Enjoying differences is helping me to exchange skills and become more sensitive. I warmly suggest this kind of experience to everybody wanting to learn about herself/himself and the others. It’s a rewarding job because we learn something every day. If I had to use three words to describe my experience in Palermo, I would say: discovery, learning, sharing.
