Feedback about the volunteering experience Tomás Pinto Moura 26-02-2021
Volunteering in Estonia was an amazing experience. To start off, I always felt extremely supported by my sending organization, ProAtlântico, in the person of Isa Correia, by my hosting organization, in the person of Julia Rätsep, by Vitatiim, in the person of Beata Lamauskaite and by my mentor, Dmitri Lohmatov.
My hosting organization was Narva Keeltelütseum. In the beginning, when the COVID restrictions were not that tight yet, I was rapidly involved in several English classes at my hosting organization, with different age groups, from primary school to high school. My initial activities concerned presenting myself and speaking about my country, but later on evolved mostly to speaking activities and supporting the students with their assignments during the classes. Afterwards, when the COVID restrictions started getting tighter these activities started taking place online.
Since I was living in Narva, comprised of more than 90% Russian people, I am not quite sure I have experienced the Estonian culture, except when travelling around Estonia. When I arrived, I was surprised that there seemed to be no one outside compared to Lisbon, where I was coming from. There is this feeling that there is a lot of space, but few people and most of them either very young or elder. However, people really value taking walks outside and in the nature, which is quite amusing (including if it is freezing cold outside!). Another aspect which impacted this experience was that most of the people do not speak English. Gladly, we had the opportunity to take an intensive Russian course, with an amazing teacher, which helped us to get around. Also, people really make an effort to communicate, even though they do not feel comfortable speaking English.
Narva is a comfortable city to live in, since almost everything is on a walking distance and it has everything one needs to live comfortably. However, it has a very different pace for those coming from capitals, even though it is the third biggest city in Estonia. The best part of the experience for me were the people. First of all, being involved with the kids at school and learning more about them and figuring out that we really develop our personalities at a very young age. I also felt they were excited to be able to practice their English with a foreign. Secondly, the close bonds that were formed with my fellow volunteers since we were either living together or spending time together almost every day. Considering we all have different backgrounds, I really feel I have learned something with everyone and also have grown as a person. I am grateful for having taken the decision to take this volunteering journey.
For future volunteers, my advice is to arrive with an open mind and ideas to implement your own projects and be prepared for a lot of snow! I am sure it will be a memorable time.
Project number: 2020-2-EE01-ESC11-078077 Project title: „Solidarity for Sustainable Life“