Hi, I'm Betti, and I just got back a few weeks ago from my 5-month volunteering in Italy. While I'm writing these lines, funny, meaningful, and educational moments are running through my head. Let's see what happened during my five months as an ESC volunteer!

We lived in a small village 18 km from Salerno, in San Cipriano Picentino, in a huge house with a beautiful terrace. It was a house where the owner and his family lived next to us, and relatives lived above us. I felt that we became part of a large family's life for five months. We often received cakes or other gifts and help from the people living in the house. We took part in events together and they gave us advice or helped us go on picnics in the forest. We communicated mostly in Italian, or at least we tried to.

If I had to describe the project in one word, I would choose "diverse."

We got involved in the life of the Salesian Oratory and Caritas, where we tried to help with the children's afternoon activities (sports and music lessons), helping the Caritas team with their daily tasks, participating in the life of the host organization, where we created online escape rooms and presentations about volunteer opportunities, participating in the life of local schools, and also in the Giffoni Film Festival, where we shared information about opportunities in Europe and our own culture. Between the other volunteers and the hosting organisation team our common language was English, but in Salerno we tried to learn Italian, speak it, and help out, as most people only communicated in Italian. Personally, I learned a lot from the Caritas staff. They were patient and positive with us, and always gave us delicious cookies or chocolate. Of course, we also learned a lot from the children (they taught us in a funny way) and from the hosting organisation team.

The On Arrival Training held in Frascati for a week also gave me a lot of motivation. It was great to meet other volunteers, talk and laugh with them. When we got back, I decided that I would design my own training as a personal project. It was a great success for me to be able to write a detailed plan in English.

In five months, I managed to discover many cities and hidden gems in Italy, thanks to the great recommendations and everyone who helped me/us get there. Sometimes I discovered wonderful places on my own (which was a great adventure for me), but sometimes we went as a group to the cities of the Amalfi Coast.

Of course, there were very beautiful, inspiring, but also challenging moments both in the community and during the tasks. What is important is that we were open to each other's opinions and to the fact that there is not just one solution.

I learned a lot about communication and effective conflict management during the project. Not only from situations, but also from other volunteers. The moments when we were able to solve a problem together, or when we were able to acknowledge our difficulties and laugh together after a challenge, were definitely a gift that I brought home with me.

During the five months, I was able to improve my English and Italian language skills at the same time and I also tried to learn a few words or even sentences from the native languages of the other volunteers. The funny part is that now I'm home and when I’m trying to speak my native language, I mix it all together, but yes...

I'm proud of this learning process. I really enjoyed designing online escape rooms and improved a lot in the areas of design and creative work. I had to practice patience a lot, but I think I improved in that area too. I am glad that everything turned out the way it did. These five months were an important part of my life.

Hosting organisation:

Moby Dick is a non-profit organisation based in Salerno and founded in 2005. The association's main mission is to facilitate the exchange of experiences and ideas through cultural activities in Italy and abroad and the training of professionals working in the fields of culture, social policy and youth policy. 

The organisation's areas of action can be divided into three fields: activities related to young people and European mobility, innovative teaching and non-formal education, and youth participation in democratic life.