Volunteers' stories
My EVSJulie Bourillon, France
A few years ago I couldn’t imagine that one day I’d be in Russia ….but….everything is possible. So, I’ve spent my 21st birthday on Olkhon (the biggest island of Baikal lake). If I’ve arrived here, it's a kind of good coincidence. I was looking for an environmental project in one of the Scandinavian countries, and the EVS coordinator of my region met Natasha, who’s working for the EVS in Siberia and also for Baikal Environmental Wave. After I heard about this organization I decided to come here as a volunteer instead. The EVS is a part of European Youth in Action Programme and they paid for all my costs: accommodation, transport, food, plus pocket money. People around me were surprised by my departure for Russia: -It’s so Far! -So cold! -Why go there?? I was looking to be volunteer in an environmental organization and wanted to open my mind to another culture. Before I didn’t know anything about Russia and the word ‘Siberia’ made me think of Vodka, Snow and Bears. Before I arrived at Irkutsk I wasn‘t so worried because I knew that everything was organized (accommodation, organization for work). So I arrived in Irkutsk in August 08. Natasha picked me up at the airport with her lovely smile, showed me my flat and explained me all I wanted to know for the basic things. During my preparation for the project I wanted to live in a good location for meeting people and improving my Russian, but Natasha proposed that I live at her place while we looked for somewhere else. However, 8 months later, I’ m still leaving there because it worked out well for both of us. I didn’t get culture shock because it’s really similar to Western Europe here. There are lots of small things which are different, you just need to get used to them and sometimes you never will! There is also a different way of thinking and the family life starts much earlier. People often asked me if I‘m engaged. That kind of thing doesn’t happen when you’re 20! And I realize that for me it wasn’t easy to have Russian friends, and even if I didn’t want to be I was closer with foreigners. I met in Baikal Environmental Wave Johanna, an Austrian volunteer and we became really good friends. We did lots of projects together and were a good team! (apple and garlic forever ;-) We participated in an international camp to build a trail next to the Baikal lake. Helped to create an exhibition about our organization, finished a project started by other volunteers – an exposition about energy. We also did a project called “natural steep” for finding out about how much energy, water and food we use in our office and where it’s from, how many bags of rubbish we produce. We made for the representation a small theatre. We also went to schools to talk about energy saving. In January we made a short documentary film with the help of a friend from the Netherlands (she’s studying at a cinematographic school). And at the end, I did some translation into French for the volunteer website. The atmosphere at work is good and the people are nice. I really like the fact that every day one person cooks for everybody! I’ve traveled with Johanna to lots of places. We went to the Altai and Buryatia regions, to Olkhon island (to work) and to Mongolia. But in fact you don’t need to go too far from Irkutsk to enjoy the spectacular nature! I had no problem finding my place at the beginning. There were lots of new things, lots things to discover, lots of new people, lots of parties….. But the last month started to get less exciting and monotonous, and I know that now it’s time to go back home and carry on with my life. A small sentence that illustrates Russia: ‘Íèêoãäà íå çíàåì, ÷òî ìîæåò ñëó÷èòüñÿ - Ìîæåò ïoéòè ñíåã ÷åðåç 4 ÷àñà’ “We never know what will happen - It could snow in 4 hours time” So Why not Russia? |
Looking for partnersSTORIES Iwona Frydryzhak and Anastazja Golaj, Poland APPLICATION FORM |
