PAOLA GAFFIERO VABATAHTLIK TEENISTUS / EUROPEAN VOLUNTARY SERVICE

Name: Paola Gaffiero

Age: 21

Country/City: Rennes, France

 

 

 

 

 

Activity Dates: 02/01/2018 – 31/08/2018

Total Months of Volunteering: 8 months

 

Hosting City in Estonia: Keila

Hosting Organisation: SOS children’s village  Keila SOS Lasteküla

Main Activities Developed:

 I work in the SOS children’s village of Keila, 30km from Tallinn. SOS children’s village is an international NGO, that offers to kids without parental care living condition based on the family model. We have 12 houses with up to 6 kids per house, living with an SOS mother who takes care of them. I am here as a support person for the kids and the mothers.

• English workshops and games with kids: Each week, I meet a few kids who are motivated in practicing english. I try not to make it boring by making them express themselves and improve through games and activities for all levels.
• Gymnastics lessons : Each week, I use the gymnasium in the village to teach gymnastics to 5-10 kids. I also try to make it fun through different activities and games, and they are improving a little bit more each week. At the end of the year, I would love to organize a performance/competition in the SOS village with them.
• Different activities/games : I try to propose different activites each week, they are times for children to play and discover new activities. We play a lot of playboards together, Xbox, but also yoga, cooking… I also have the project to do some cultural events more often : for exemple, for Vastlapaëv, I made some crepes with the kids because this is what we eat in France for this occasion.
• Replacing the SOS mothers : the SOS children’s village is a substitute home for kids whithout parental care. In total, we have 12 houses here, and each house host up to 6 kids, they live with one SOS mother who take care of them. Sometimes, these mothers can’t be here (personal reasons, meetings, illness…) so I am here to replace them. It’s very interesting and helps me knowing the kids better.
• Participation to seminars: I have been to Narva, a city in the Est of Estonia, to participate to a meeting with others SOS workers there. We exchanged on a specific social program they would like to set up here in Keila.
• Participation to the ski trip with the kids : In february, we are going to have a ski trip with the kids, where I’ll help the social workers here as a support person

 

It’s already a lot of fun and interesting tasks, activites I have done here, but some other and new ones are of course coming in the following months!

 

External Links of Blog or Description: SOS children’s village website : https://www.sos-lastekyla.ee/en/