Lord of Volunteers Training Course - INTERVIEW WITH GRETE, ALJONA AND EILIKA

Name of the project: Lord of volunteers

Date: 14^thto 20^th October 2017

Country/City:Czech Republic

What was the main topic of the event?

Grete Liis Kuurme –The main topic was the work in organizations as a volunteer, why and how you should do it, how to motivate yourself and others on this topic, share the knowledge with others in your home country or organization, how to be a good mentor, how to approach people on that subject, also showing that volunteer work can benefit you and others a lot in a fun and interesting way.

Aljona Vassiljeva – Volunteering. The reasons and purposes of volunteering, different types of volunteers, their tasks and motivation in NGO.

Eilika Trummar – Volunteer management

What was the biggest learning moments on the event for you?

Grete Liis Kuurme –I developed my social skills a lot, coming out of my comfort zone, also my language skills. Speaking in another language all the time and sometimes trying to explain yourself when maybe the other person doesn’t understand is also a good lesson on the language area. I also learned a lot about volunteer work, that its just not helping out your neighbor or friends but so much more. You can really change someones life or perspective by doing something simple. My developed as a person and got a lot of motivation for the future to continue volunteer work and join an organization.

Aljona Vassiljeva – Work on the meadow and workshop about collecting letters. Both times there were people who knew the back story, background, reasons why it all had to be done and people with a serious lack of information. It was a really good model of practically every big organization, where boss(es) don`t feel obligated to share information with other workers, and workers don`t understand why they`re supposed to do some tasks, which leads to conflicts and lost motivation.

Eilika Trummar – I’m very honest if saying that this was the TC I literally didn’t learn anything new.

Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Grete Liis Kuurme –Yes, I would love to help people with mental illnesses, also children and animals. In the beginning I would like to participate as a volunteer in an event for whatever the subject is and see, where I could develop myself. I am more interested in people and animals rather than politics and environment eventhough they are equally important.

Aljona Vassiljeva – I plan to continue as a volunteers` mentor in my organization.

Eilika Trummar – Yes, I work as a volunteer manager and continue my work.

Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Grete Liis Kuurme –Yes, I would recommend this to my friends. It’s a good way to meet new people to hire into your organization, or just make new friends and learn about other countries and their problems and volunteer work. Also, you can step out of your comfort zone and see the wider world, learn new languages and culture, maybe learn something new about yourself too. If the person is interested in volunteer work, it’s a good project to learn about volunteer work from people who are working on this field.

Aljona Vassiljeva – Yes, because it was pretty fresh view on the subject, sometimes from unexpected angles and the most important point is that we learned the biggest part through some exciting and creative activities and not through the series of boring lectures.

Eilika Trummar – I would recommend training courses and seminars generally for everyone. It’s a very good way to learn and make connections. Just this particular TC was not enough for me this time.