Life beyond Volunteering

by Mario Urminsky

Anna Katnovska came to Greece from Poland as a volunteer 9 years ago. By the time her project ended, she was in love with the country and decided to stay there.

What was your EVS project? My project was focused on tourism and working with kids. Everything started in village called Prespa in the northern part of Greece. Kids there don’t have lot of activities, just primary school. We were working in the library and organizing different educational activities for them as well as going to other villages during the week to work with other children. Why did you decide to participate in a project in Greece? In Poland, I studied classical philosophy, Latin, and ancient Greek. I wanted to understand greek culture and art better, so I decided to learn more of the language and see how life is in Greece. What was your next step after EVS? After my EVS I was travelling a lot, and then I decided to participate in other programs. Comenius Assistantship that is now part of the Erasmus Plus program. This program gave me the possibility to come to Thessaloniki and work one year in a primary school as an assistant to the teacher, teaching art and organizing programs and activities for kids. There I started again my adventure with the greek language. I was already speaking at a B1 level, so I was able to communicate with kids. We know that you like drawing and you use this skill in your life often, how it started? Until I remember i was always drawing, especially drawing for kids like cartoons. I organized a different workshop for kids, not just about drawing but about creativity in general. During my EVS I met one of the trainers, Elias, who had a lot of ideas for creating one book about chess and the environment, and we started to cooperate. Can you tell us more about the book that you cooperated on? The idea was to make a short story for kids about playing chess. A story about a panda that recognized that on Earth people don’t care about the environment and the world. She is thinking about what she is supposed to do. So she went to space where there is another panda and they are travelling between the planets to collect the chessboard. Every chess piece has some stories. It encourages kids to learn how to play chess and also to understand and take care of the environment and the things that we have from Earth. From the other end of the book, you can learn how to play chess, with different movements and strategies. What is your current job? My current work is as a Destination Manager, taking care of Polish tourists that are coming here for vacation on the islands and organizing excursions for them. I have my team (representatives, animators, guides) and I am responsible for them, and also for the tourists that want to spend a great vacation here. I didn’t plan to stay here, just to learn the language and come back, but you never know what can happen during life.

What do you like about Greece the most? I learned to smile, people here smile more than in my country. People are more friendly, more connected with each other. Going for a coffee without an appointment. People speak with each other more. I feel freer. Great experience of EVS Up until now, I still believe It was the best year of my life. The best opportunity to meet people from different countries. When I started my EVS, my English was on a basic level. When I arrived I understood that if I wanted to communicate I needed to learn English fast. At the same time, I started to learn the Greek language. It was an incredible experience. I was living in one house with five people. My project was in a small village with around 150 people, a small community. The nearest supermarket was 50 km away. We were friends with everybody from the village. You could develop your point of view. I learned cooking from different countries. During that time in Presba, we had the coldest winter with around -20ºC and a lot of snow. We had to chop firewood, and for me, a girl from a big city, learning how to live independently was a great experience. You have to organize everything by yourself (laundry, cooking). When you are living with other people from different countries you are getting more open-minded, you learn to communicate with people. Before EVS, I was shy and afraid to speak publicly. During EVS, I developed a lot of skills. I was really lucky that I had a great team. My coordinator supported me a lot

What will be your message for people thinking about EVS If you don’t have time for a long term project don’t go, but find a short term one. The EU is giving a lot of opportunities for young people, even programs for just a few days. You don’t need to have lot of money to go, the EU is helping a lot. There are so many programs that you can learn different things about sport or social media that every person can choose something that will help them also in future. You can find perfect friendships that will stay with you all your life. If you have an opportunity to go do it. It can help you lot in future, in things you want to do in your life.