As you could read in the category ‘In the spotlight’ doing your EVS in Moldova is quite an experience. Below you can read the reports from 5 EVS volunteers about their experiences in Moldova:

Wiebke Alina Knäpper:
‘Doing my EVS in Moldova I’m facing many new challenges, so I can always learn something new – Using the marshrutka, working together with NGOs etc. Moreover I enjoy to get more and more independent in mobility and in using Russian language. At the beginning we had nothing to do and I had doubts if I will find a place for me, but now we had an on arrival training and I started to work. Our project allowed us to live first in Komrat than in Chisinau, so we could see the contrast between more rural Gagausia. While people in Komrat produce homemade wine, honey and kompot, people in Chisinau have a more urban lifestyle. We have much opportunities to choose our working field according to our interests and skills. Soon each of us will decide in which organization he wants to engage.’

Celine Juliot:
‘Buna ziua! I’m Céline, I’m 22 years old and I’m French. I came in Moldova for 6 months and now I’m working in Cahul. This is already nearly four months we are in Moldova. This country is very different compared my country and every day I learn many good things here. I’m feeling very good in Moldova, I meet every day very hospitality and nice people. This experience is very interesting. I have just nearly three months to be in Moldova so I try to be really dynamic and motivate to help like I can Moldova people and associations. What is the European Service Volunteer ? Europe pemit for young people to discover an other culture who can be very different of their country. It’s a manner to be more open-minded about Europe and about an other culture. It’s also to help, like we can, local people in this country. Furthermore, this is volunteering. Volunteering means working without expecting money in return. In France, I’m working very often in these kind of associations. My aim is not to win money but try to have more experience and help like I can, to fell useful. So to be a volunteer isn’t the same like a real worker. These persons haven’t the same aim and the same skills. Furthermore, the European Service Volunteer popularize others good values, also very important for me. Indeed, discover an other culture, try to integrate this country, and why not visit the country as a whole to understand many ways of thinking. Finally, the language is very important. It’s the main manner to really integrate a country. Normally, the European Volunteer Service, must to organize some lessons of foreign language. This trip was during a long time, present in my head. Travel and try to integrate a country is for me as important as going to school. We learn many values like tolerance, intercultural, acceptation of other ways of thinking and many things again. If I wanted to travel it’s already for me, to involve me and to learn to know me better. Furthermore, I made a life’s choice, it’s for that I’m in Moldova. It’s an ordinary experience and for me, I want to have this kind of experience to progress myself, and for my future job.’

                                                                                                                                                                                          Katrina Fee Schmitz-Roekerath:
‘I am here in Moldova since the third of October- thus nearly 3 months. I am regonizing slowly that it has been the best decision to spend one year abroad. And it was of course a right decision to stay here in Moldova. I am learning, seeing, experiencing every day something new and interesting. I am part of the first group arrived. We are 8 volunteers- recently living in two cities. (Cahul and Komrat) The first month we spend in a host family- we had our on arrival training and we traveled a lot, hence we got used to the circumstances. Furthermore we met many local people and received an overview about the available projects. I have chosen a NGO working in field of corruption and public integrity. I am extremely lucky to have the opportunity to work in this project. It is perfectly concerning to my interests and I am feeling useful, an aspect which is very important for me. My main task consist of writing project descriptions, but I am also teaching English for public officials. I have a great relation to my mentor and the whole working environment I am in contact with. They are so amazing. I have never expected that everything would be working so well. I found so many friends and I am broaden my knowledge every day. Moreover we are using the possibility to travel quite a lot. The mentality and hospitality of the people impresses me every time again. Right now I am living with a German and a French girl in a quite big apartment. We have everything we need and we are feeling more than comfortable. Furthermore we are still receiving Russian lessons. This could be maybe the sole problem. We have a specific number of lessons we should receive. I guess its mainly because we are the first group of EVS volunteers here- but some of us are disadvantage in their organisations because they are depending on Russian or Romanian language knowledge. Because, most of the people here can not speak English. But I think by the time it changes and the new arriving volunteers will receive their lessons within the first weeks. Consequently it might be easier for them. All in all we are good integrated and included in Moldovan society. Of course it is sometimes difficult and more slowly to pass daily activities (like the communication in the post office for instance). But I am appreciating this as a great, unbelievable valuable challenge. And I am certain to grow within these next 9 months. I am honestly looking forward to all the adventures we are going to experience.’

Susanne Backmund:
‘Everything here is an unique experience. A mixture of intensively weird and exciting feelings. Weird is this feeling of being so far away from my “real” life, my family and friends, from my homecountry. Exciting these feelings of growing up some more, changing my view on so many things in life, just like on culture, tradition and friendship and meeting so many new interesting and wonderful people in Moldova. I have already experienced how it is to not always lead a comfortable life without thinking about if the water will run in the morning when you get up or not. I’ve seen a lot of things that I have not seen in Germany. They had a big influence on my way of seeing my life and the life of others. But what makes this EVS so unique is all the lovely things that I experience, like all of my new friends, the other volunteers and locals. To exchange my ideas with them is so interesting. Also the style of living, of speaking and joking with each other that is sometimes so different from the way it’s done in Germany and sometimes so similar. I feel European now in a way that I have never felt before.’

Godje Hansen:
‘In Moldova, everything is new for me. The culture, the language, the way to buy things, the houses and the landscape. I enjoy it to be here and to get to know this life the people here live, a bit better. To stay in such a different country from your origin, offers you the opportunity to explore something unknown and so to widen your horizon. The EVS for me, is first a possibility to explore other cultures, to integrate in a community and than to help a little with your work. I am working not often. I think this has different reasons, but I hope that my organization and I can improve things. Normally I should work with a group of youngsters. The plan was to make a lesson once a week for them. This I did together with a woman working in my organization,, twice. The difficulty is now, that this youngsters have vocational trainings and because of that not much time. This makes it difficult to realize this idea. At the moment I am thinking about other things and projects I could do or organize. So I am still searching for my place, which is not easy to find in another country, with a different culture, mentality and language.’