by Asry Tesalonika (EVS from Dejavato, Indonesia to CJD, Germany)
It was a pleasure for me to do a voluntary work in Deutschland, also known as Germany. I worked in a vocational school named CJD (Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands) Frechen and support the European Project Management Department. REC, which stands for Reflect, Experiment, Capture, is a project co-funded by Erasmus+. This project is about experimental video making to prevent violence in youngsters. For me personally, this project was so exciting because I support a Germany typical school meanwhile my background before I did this voluntary work was a teacher. I supported the project by planning the workshops and helping the students with video shooting and editing. At first, I was confused about being involved in the planning and implementation of the project, but my mentors guided and taught me many things. I was taught to plan and carry out my learning independently, express myself creatively, plan and organise tasks and activities, and use internet and PC for my studies, work and personal activities such as online training and language training.
In general, from my one-year experience living in Germany, I am more able to adapt and to act in new situations. It was my first experience living in Europe, clear to me that the culture and way of life were very different from Indonesia. One thing I never expected was that I would face the pandemic when I was in Germany. It was challenging, both for my personal life and for my work. I should be able to attend a project seminar in Italy and the second seminar for volunteer, but everything is cancelled and I have to stay home. As the saying goes “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, I am profoundly grateful for any challenges I have experienced over the past year because it makes me stronger and have a new point of view. I am lucky that even in CJD Frechen I live privately but I have neighbours, friends, and mentors who are so caring and so supportive.
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. I thank to Dejavato and CJD Frechen for giving me the opportunity to accomplished my first step into a thousand miles journey both on my personal and skill. I hope there is still many good opportunities for doing internship or voluntary work on projects in Europe. I have personally found this to be very beneficial and to be one of the doors that Asians, and specifically Indonesians use to study European culture.
