Lili in Poland

Team volunteering for organizing a youth festival

Between 4th of June and 6th of July 2026, I took part in an ESC volunteering project in Poland. It took place in a small town close to Zakopane and the Slovakian border, called Rabka-Zdrój. The aim of the project was to organize and take part in an event series called the Małopolski Youth Festival (Małopolski Festiwal Młodzieżowy in Polish).

Since it was my first volunteering project, I was not 100% sure what to expect. I had taken part in youth exchanges and training courses before, but not in a project which lasted more than a month. I was a bit nervous about going for a longer period of time, but in the end, it turned out to be an amazing experience.

On the first day, when I arrived at the location, a very big and beautiful house welcomed me with a huge garden and a swimming pool. It was already quite late, so I quickly got my room and unpacked my suitcase while having a nice conversation with my new roommate.

The first few days were dedicated to getting to know each other. We were 25 volunteers altogether from different countries, so we really needed those first days to learn about each other. People mainly came from Spain, Italy and France, but there were volunteers from Sweden, Norway and Portugal as well. We had introduction rounds, name-learning games and other fun activities throughout our sessions. We were lucky enough to receive 3 amazing meals per day in the dining area of the house, where we also had the opportunity to get to know each other during meals.

After we became a proper group, we spent the first two weeks learning about youth work (both in general and how it is implemented in Poland) and about the way our hosting organization operates. We had very interesting courses where they told us how to work with young people and teenagers, how youth centers work, what the law requires from youth workers, etc. We gained basic knowledge so we could be prepared for the upcoming events we were going to be part of.

Once we learned everything we needed to, the time came to actually be part of the Małopolski Youth Festival. Altogether, it consisted of around 10 events. However, because we were 25 people, we decided beforehand who would go to which event. This way, I ended up going to 4 events in the remaining 3 weeks. I also became part of the social media team, where we created content to be posted on Instagram regarding the whole festival and each event individually as well.

The first event took place in Bukowno. It was a Children’s Day celebration in a center for disabled children. We prepared activities beforehand, and when we arrived, we implemented them according to the circumstances. We sang and danced with the children, their parents and their teachers. We also made pancakes and snacks for them and ate them together.

The second event took place in Rabka-Zdrój, in the town where we were staying. It was a small festival called Old Rabka’s Charm, where people dressed up in 1920s–1930s costumes and celebrated their old traditions. We were given traditional costumes by a local lady so we would fit in with the vibe. Our biggest task there was to perform a traditional Charleston dance for the audience. We practiced it daily together with the group until the day of the festival came. We also performed short, 2–3-minute-long silent theatre plays during the 2 days of the festival.

The third event took place in Libiąż, where we cooked a traditional Polish meal with a local group of teenagers and youth workers. During the cooking process, we had great conversations, shared our experiences and played some games with them.

The fourth event also took place in Rabka-Zdrój. It was a volleyball tournament organized by us. We put up posters around the town and made social media posts to advertise it. Unfortunately, the day of the tournament ended up being the warmest day of the heatwave, with temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius, so participants were not showing up. However, we still made teams and played short games among ourselves.

Of course, besides the events and the learning sessions, we had a great amount of free time as well, so we travelled a lot too. We had the opportunity to visit places like Krakow, Warsaw, Zakopane and other smaller towns surrounding Rabka-Zdrój. When we were not travelling, we were chilling at the pool, going for walks in the local park, going to the cinema together, playing board games in the common room or dancing until collapsing in the basement. Through these experiences, we went from being strangers to becoming a real group, and we made great friendships during the 5 weeks we spent together.

I also feel like this project did a lot for my personal growth. I learned a lot about youth work and practiced working in a team. It was also very useful to practice using English in daily life, and I feel like I became more fluent and brought back a lot of passive knowledge I had.

Summing it up, it was a really good experience, and I’m so grateful I could be a part of it. I gained a lot of unforgettable memories and made friends from different countries.

Hosting organisation:

Europe4Youth's main goal is to ensure that all young people have the conditions and opportunities for education, development, participation in public life, and thus create a healthy and democratic civil society at levels from local to European. The organization seeks to achieve this by providing European information for young people and support and consultation, supporting young people in organizing exchanges and youth initiatives, supporting people and organizations working with young people through trainings, seminars and building tools for working with young people, participating in the development of youth policies at levels from local to European and strengthening the tools and structures of youth participation.

Malopolski Youth Festival 2026 project organized by Europe4Youth

Date: June - July 2026

Volunteer: Lili Bárdfalvy

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