Baia Mare is mine volunteers' opinion – Fabiola
- Yellow Shirts
- Dec 5, 2022
- 2 min read
Fabiola was one of the 11 volunteers in Baia Mare is mine project, in autumn of 2022. Here is her opinion over the activities and her volunteering story.
Volunteering in Baia Mare has been an interesting experience. At the beginning, the activities introduced us slowly to the city and the project itself that was about three main things: culture, history and nature of the city. The volunteer’s group was composed by foreigners and Romanians, and we were sometimes mixed for the activities when the different schedules allowed it (cultural dinners from foreigners, internal game nights and some others). The following weeks the activities were diverse, going to schools to help the teachers to implement activities with children, help at the Butchers’ Bastion, (in my case) visit to museums to do an infographic for foreigners, and writing several articles about different topics: musical instrument, buildings, female historic figures; ask locals about what they like and miss in the city…
“Baia Mare is mine” allowed us to develop a lot of independence since we were in charge of the idea development and implementation of the main activity on our schedules: the personal project. However, we still had orientation, enough supervision and coordination regarding time management. In my case, this project was very rewarding, giving me the chance to get to know different women of the city.
The volunteers also had weekly mentorship meetings in which we do group activities for self-knowledge, creating a safe space to talk and to get to know each other’s point of view.
Finally, my favourite part of the project’s activities was visiting and helping in a school that worked with Roma kids, as I felt that my work could have an impact, even if it was small due to our limitations as volunteers (different languages, limited time, we were not professionally trained…). The other part, of course, is the connection with the people. Being abroad “on your own” can be difficult, but the people you meet in the journey make it really worth it!
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