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European Volunteer Scheme

 

Every year we have up to six european volunteers staying with us for periods of between 9 and 12 months.  They have come from a wide range of countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Germany and Romania.   Their placements are arranged through and supported by, the European Volunteer Service, which aims to develop solidarity and promote active citizinship and mutual understanding among young people.  While here our european volunteers benefit from a true 'learning experience', gaining both new skills and language, as well as being of  benefit the local community and discovering other cultures.  We believe that it is an important part of the experience of our service users that they get to hear about  the variety of European culture which our European volunteers bring with them. 

The Case Studies below give a flavour of their life and experiences whilst here and demonstrate how this works out on a day-to-day basis.

  My name is Elisa Masini, I'm 30 years old and I come from Italy. I've been a European volunteer at Options for Life for 12 months.  During my placement I've worked in three different services: Smethwick Leisure, Roshni and Warley Leisure. In Italy I used to work in a Mental Health Centre where the Drama Therapy was considered very important for the self-expression of people with disabilities, therefore in Smethwick Leisure I found something familiar but a different approach to what I was used to! Participants worked very hard to set the choreography of Thriller, with a great support from the staff, and I'll never forget the look of deep satisfaction in their eyes after every performance!

In Roshni I had the precious opportunity to know the Asian culture from very close, I enjoyed singing classical Indian music with participants, going out, watching Bollywood films and I definitely loved the meals! But, above all, what I will never forget is how the staff managed to make me feel part of a family, a very warm and close family!!

And finally Warley Leisure gave me so much fun!!! Participants, staff, working with the other EVS..what a great time!!! Through the sharing of sad moments and happy with participants I could get to know them better and create pleasant relationships!!

Lastly, living in England has been my dream since I was a little girl. The EVS experience has been excellent and I have to thank OFL for giving me the chance to stay in this country.

Hello, my name is Tobias Heuser. I am from a lovely small town in the heart of Germany, one hour away from Frankfurt, the metropolis of Hesse which many people may know because of the Frankfurt Airport. I am 28 years old, I am a management assistant in wholesale and foreign trade and worked in that job for the last eight years. Before I got here I did a further education to business administrator.

As you may have guessed, I have no experience at all when It comes to work with people with a learning disability. So why have I applied for a placement at Options for Life? Actually I had many reasons for applying to Options for live. First of all, I wanted to see Britain again because I´ve been here before. Unnecessary to say that I liked it then. But I think the most important reasons for me were that I wanted to something totally different and to get new ideas, inspirations, perspectives, more knowledge and to improve my interpersonal skills. And of course to get an idea of what I want to after my voluntary service at Options for Life. Also I wanted to improve my English, even though I learned that the Black Country is not the best place to learn "the queens English".

Last but not least I also wanted to get an idea what I want to do after my voluntary service at Options for Life and so far things have been working out very good for me. The atmosphere at Options for Life is super, everyone is very friendly and forthcoming and I like the Black Country and the Albion. I hope things will continue like this because it has been a great experience so far!

Ciao from Vera!  Here I am again writing from Sicily, my island, on the south Italy, just a week back from my fantastic year in England. Thinking about my time at Options for Life, I already feel nostalgic, but I think it is natural, especially after so many enjoyable times.

Before leaving, I got a nice photograph album from Smethwick Leisure full of pictures with all memorable moments spent there. I could never forget our enthusiasm performing Thriller choreography, their excitement and satisfaction hearing the first claps coming from the audience. I will always remember the cheerfulness and the gaiety that our drama lessons used to instil, while little by little everybody was gaining self-confidence and self-esteem. I will always smile remembering the first time we played the drums and all the fantastic stories hidden in the sounds and rhythms we produced. I will always look with pride at our CD and show it to all the friends that I will meet in my life.

EVS has been a true ‘learning service' for me. Beyond benefiting the local community, I developed important skills and a wide range of competences. I have learnt a lot about people with learning disability, about their expansiveness and their wonderful simplicity. I have learnt from them to smile with open heart and look with surprised eyes to every little and beautiful aspect of life. I learnt how to work with them and achieve good results for their and my personal growth.
Experiencing a period of time in another country has been a good occasion to develop my sense of independence and to feel confident about my possibilities. Furthermore, thanks to living in a multicultural and cosmopolitan environment of Birmingham and working together with people of different nationalities, I raised my cultural awareness and learnt a lot about intercultural dialogue. I feel to be part of a big community made of different people and different countries. We can share and learn from each other and by doing this develop new ideas and become stronger.

My EVS project is probably the best and amazing experience that I have ever lived. It has opened my horizon and allowed me to realize lots of things about myself and my ideals that I didn't know before.

My name is Marlene Pretl and I am Austrian. I am 24 years old. In my home country, I studied physiotherapy. During my studies I recognised how important the English language in the research, dealing with participants and every day life. Furthermore, I always wanted to stay in a foreign country when I finished my training so I decided to go to England. As a result, my time here is my first long-term stay in another country. EVS was a great opportunity, you are able to work and to live on your own but if you need any help there is always someone to help you. I was also very thankful that the paperwork for my placement was done by my hosting and sending organisation.

I arrived in England in April and I am going to stay until December. I started to work in Roshni- a service for Asian ladies. At the beginning I was quite surprised, I expected "people like me" in England but quickly settled down and enjoyed my time with Bollywood dance, spicy food and another sight of life. After some weeks, I joined two services: "Roshni" and "Making Tracks". I think the two services couldn't be more different. The fact that I worked with different patients in Austria meant i had no problems working in Making Tracks. I really enjoyed the combination. Working in Making Tracks was better for my English and life in Roshni was filled with different, new experiences.

After more than 3 months in England, I know that every young person should spend some time in a foreign country and should get experiences in social work. In my opinion, it's very important to find yourself, to recognize the important things in life and to get a lot of experience you could never get at home.

My Name is Fabio, I am 24 years old and I come from Italy. I come from Vicenza (a city situated in the north-east of Italy). In the last year I had a degree In Economic Studies at the Verona University. I am not new to the volunteer world as I've supported the activity of the Caritas hostel of my town and thanks to advice from Options for Life I spent from January my Saturday mornings by enjoying the time with people with learning disabilities in an informal group called "Bucaneve".

I have chosen Options for life with the aim to improve my skills, especially human and language skills. But I am very interested to help people. Indeed for my catholic belief is very important help people in trouble. And this agree in totally with the line of this organization that has a Christian ethos that is at the base of all the services and activities provided. Options for Life represents for me a challenge with myself, where I can spend a little part of my life not for myself but for other people. I like challenges that permit me to be more open minded. Of course to be here with other people from other countries is a good chance to get to know other cultures and different ways of thinking. All to all I am here to become a better person.

I am here from few weeks but... one good thing that I've seen in this month of permanence is the expression "extra mile". Actually with the words "extra mile" I mean that there are some persons in this organization that give also their extra time to help the organization. I am really happy because sometime it is the "extra mile" that makes the difference! The difference between a cold professional job and a real interest in the world of the people with learning disabilities. This is one of the reasons that I am glad to be an Evs in Options For Life!