In 2015, I spent about 5 weeks as an EVS volunteer in Lisbon. For those who aren't familiar with the EVS concept, it's short for European Voluntary Service and it's aimed at young people (in Europe). As part of this program, you get a small stipend to go live and volunteer for a while in a foreign country. You usually have a sending non-profit organization back home and a partner host organization that manages your volunteering project, handles your activities, accommodation, language classes, pocket money and so on. The main objective is to help young Europeans develop their skills, network, increase employment opportunities and facilitate immersing yourself in another culture. All in all it's really a valuable, life-changing experience.
The context for this project was a partnership between Cluj-Napoca, my city in Romania (that was the European Youth Capital in 2015) and Lisbon, the European Volunteering Capital of the same year. A group of 15 Portuguese volunteers were sent to Romania, and I was part of the 15 Romanians sent to Lisbon. Our goal was to promote volunteering among youngsters, of course, do some volunteering in the process and get to know different non-profits that were active in Lisbon. I was selected for the project thanks to my video production skills, as short videos were also expected as deliverables. You can see below some of the things I've done with my team as a result of our volunteering experience. Our idea was to associate volunteering to classic films, so that people can get to see the fun side of it as well.
1. Spin
Spin was our hosting organization, with a team of wonderful people. Among other cool things they do, they have this great project that focuses on social inclusion in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Lisbon. They set out to rehabilitate an old primary school building and turn it into a social hostel. Spin also brought its headquarters to the same building and our group of volunteers was hosted in this hostel. The idea is to promote cultural exchange in this neighborhood that is otherwise ignored by tourists and to bring events and non-formal education to the community. This is where our 5 week mission started and we gave it a Western twist :)
You can probably guess by the name, it is the municipal animal shelter of Lisbon. They bring stray dogs and cats in here, treat them if they are sick, neuter them, bathe them, walk them, promote them for adoption. As volunteers, we got involved in the dog walking and bathing, as there's never enough people to walk all dogs everyday. And they really were the happiest to be taken out of their cages (even though it really was less crowded than other shelters I've seen). Also for us it was an absolute pleasure, as you can see.
3. Conversa Amiga
This one was very interesting. Conversa Amiga works with the homeless, but they focus on actually talking to the people. While there are other organizations that offer food and clothing, these guys go to the main areas where the homeless sleep, after dinner has been served. Their aim is to lend an ear to whoever needs it, together with a warm cup of tea, because so often the homeless feel ignored and invisible for society. A great outcome was that they realized the homeless have a big issue with storing the little things they have. For instance, one man had a job interview and left his clothes and cans of food in the place where he was sleeping. By the time he got back, everything was stolen. It is increasingly more difficult for these people to get back on their feet and they told Conversa Amiga they could really use some lockers. So the NGO got funding and approval from the city hall to install a few lockers in a select few places around the city.
I actually felt very useful in this particular mission, as the NGO really needed Romanian speakers to be able to communicate with Romanian and Moldovan citizens that had come to Portugal to find work and were now homeless and sleeping in the Lisbon Central Station. There was one particular person who was more troublesome, as he'd get depressed, drunk, couldn't speak Portuguese or English and the volunteers had no way to actually communicate with him. I got to meet him. He had been drinking so he didn't make a lot of sense, but he did talk about not having papers and money to return home, his kids that he really missed (at some point I felt pretty helpless as he started crying) and doing whatever work he was able to find, from car washing to gardening. After the fact, I discussed with Conversa Amiga about what could be done and apparently they had already been in touch with the Romanian Embassy about his situation, but it was difficult to work with him. I hope things eventually got better.
4. EntrAjuda They do something really cool that should be replicated in all major cities in the world. They partner with big companies (supermarkets, corporations) and gather everything that is obsolete, out of use, about to expire / expired but still edible or usable: fruits and vegetables, old office computers, desks, chairs, clothes with defects that can't be sold etc. All these items go into their warehouses and get sorted: good condition/ needs repairs, edible / not edible, for kids / for adults etc. Everything is then packed separately depending on the destination and given to other NGOs that split the items among those in need. The system seems to work really well; EntrAjuda does not work directly with beneficiaries. They fix and sort items, hand them over to associations who know better the needs of the people; some are churches that work with poor families, other are schools that focus on educating and clothing the children. EntrAjuda offers support while recycling and I think that's really amazing.
During the time we were there as volunteers, we helped sort and pack things in the warehouse, from food to old electronics, clothes and washing powder.
5. Monsanto Forest Park
Parque Florestal de Monsanto is the largest green space in Lisbon and it has several protected areas, so it's more like a reserve than a park, really. We went there to help plant trees (we even named each sapling), clean some of the spaces, paint, pretty much do handwork around. And then we took a well deserved break in the sun. It was probably the activity that demanded most manual labor, but it's more fun when you do it in a group of 15.