I stayed in Thessaloniki as a volunteer in the Action Art organization from December 2021 to August 2022.
After 8 months, 3 seasons, 52 different housemates of 18 different nationalities and an amount of feta cheese that I won’t even try to quantify, here I am now to tell you how great this European Solidarity Corps experience was!
Now you might be wondering how it is possible to live with so many housemates? During the volunteering, we stayed in a big house with volunteers from all over Europe! Being in Greece for 8 months also gave me many opportunities to be in contact with the local culture and people.
About Action Art’s program, it consisted of creating and conducting workshops to develop children’s artistic skills and intercultural awareness. As I studied social work, it was really interesting to see how to deal with social issues through art, which was quite new for me. To accompany the children on this creative journey, I also made a preparation with my own artistic creations. This allowed me to explore my artistic sensibilities and try out different modes of artistic expression.
During these 8 months, I have been in many different environments – from the public school to the public school, from the cultural center to the child protection centre – and have been in contact with children of different ages – from 3 to 12 years old – and from different social backgrounds. This allowed me to discover different dynamics and pedagogical approaches. During the year, I was able to experiment and reflect in order to improve the content of the workshops.
Another good memory and also a skill that I can bring back to France is storytelling. I was lucky to have personal training and to participate in May, in the Intercultural Storytelling Festival ” May of Tales ” organized by Action Art. I performed in various schools and cultural venues, in archaeological sites – in the Roman palace of the emperor Galerius in Thessaloniki.
Now I am going back to France with valuable skills. I feel more connected to European countries thanks to all the people I met! I have also become more independent and autonomous.
