Hi.
My name is Stevan Malajmare,
and this is a short summary of my EVS experience.
EVS (European Voluntary Service) is an international volunteer program funded by the European Commission. It enables all young people legally resident in Europe, aged between 18 and 30 years, to carry out an international volunteer service in an organization or in a public body in Europe for a period ranging from 2 to 12 months.
This is a small testimonial of my EVS experience. This article begins with basic description of my voluntary service. “4D helping hand” was a long term EVS project -one year to be more exact, from 11th of July 2016. till 10th of July 2017.- held in Stockholm, Sweden, hosted by the NGO “Föreningen Framtidståget”. My sending organisation was NGO “Iuventa” from Šabac, Serbia.
During this 12 months, I had the opportunity to work in project department in “Föreningen Framtidståget”, where I had the opportunity to learn about the whole cycle of project: writing, applying, implementing, dissemination and reporting processes. Besides this, there are countess small, but important tips and skills that I picked up on the way. More importantly, I was surrounded by diversity. I was coming to an office every day, where I was surrounded by different cultures, nations, religions. Every day I learned something new about others, but also myself. Thanks to the intercultural dimension and its non-formal approach, is a unique opportunity to come into contact with cultures different from your own and to acquire new skills and abilities useful for your personal and professional growth.
When you have a year in one of the most beautiful cities in the Europe, you use it well. Walking around the streets of Gamla Stan (the old city), visiting museums, kayaking through channels of Stockholm, camping in beautiful untouched nature just outside of city, or having creepy city tours by night, is just a fraction of my experience. Not even to mention, that the experience is better when you do it with one of your lovely colleagues and friends.
I can say, without a doubt, that this one of the best decisions in my life and a life changing one also. I progressed in many ways, personally and professionally, and now I feel more ready for the new chapters in my future.