Will I continue? Yes, definitely.
I am 64 years old. I am retired now.
Together with the members of NGO Grannies.lv we went to Romania for the project activities. This was my first Erasmus Plus project experience as an adult educator. Rita Liepiņa is an active project promoter in the association. She asked me if I would like to take part in a senior volunteering testing programme. Yes, why not? With the greatest pleasure. The field of culture and education is the closest to my heart. But this time I chose the fields of event preparation and project implementation. I learned a lot of new and useful things about the project field. We planned and hosted an intercultural evening event about Latvia, its culture and language. Also about project planning.
Before the event itself, we had to do a lot of planning, finding information on the internet, also preparing the presentation materials. But it was all very close to me, because I have organised and participated in many Latvian events and the topic is very close to my heart.
On top of that, everything had to be recorded in the Participant’s Journal and photographed or I had to ask someone to capture the processes. Because those 10 hours of volunteering must also be accounted for. I acquired new skills -organising the event, drawing up a plan, selecting information, running the event, and in English, which adds to the excitement. I also learnt how to plan a project and its activities, write reports.
There was a lot of enthusiasm at the beginning. I liked working in a team. But I also realised that I get a bit nervous in stressful situations. I want to do everything perfectly and not let my colleagues down. A longer preparation period for such activities would be needed. I felt good, a bit worried and stressed, but okay. I really like being active, most of all outdoors. This time it was organising an event indoors, in a foreign language, in a foreign environment, at quite a fast pace to get everything ready. Sometimes I even forgot that I also had to record it all in the Registration Journal.
Will I continue? Yes, definitely. I love being active and it’s so much fun with the Grannies.lv!
