EFHR – the host of the discussion „Future strategy: how volunteering, interships and the “Erasmus+” Program educate the multicultural generation”

On July 25th 2017 The European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR) organized the discussion entitled “Future strategy: how volunteering, interships and the “Erasmus+” Program educate the multicultural generation”. The purpose of the discussion was to spread the positive factors of volunteering and to raise the interests of young people.

The discussion took place at the Vilnius Youth Information Center and the volunteers from organizations such as the Lithuanian Gay League (LGL), EFHR, AIESEC, Vilnius Special School “Šilas” and Vilnius Youth Information Center took part in it.

Agnieszka Malinauskaitė, the EFHR Administrator, thanked all the participants, at the beginning she presented the activities of the Foundation and she informed about volunteering interships and opportunities, such as European Voluntary Service (EVS).

Volunteers LGL Tatiana and Giordano talked about EVS. Tatiana Kováčová emphasized in her speech the importance of volunteering, even if one is not exuberant, an enthusiasm can destroy the wall of silence. Giordano Campanelli revealed how he discovered volunteering. He said that he was doing less than he could but he promised that he would use the next 5 months better.

The EFHR trainee Maciej Grześkowiak talked about his path to social activity – why he has chosen the lawyer’s path, how his way of thinking was changing year by year and how one, spontaneous decision of travelling has changed his life. When he has been travelling in Asia and Africa, he realized that we sometimes underestimated what we had.

The EFHR trainees Yaprak Boyacioglu and Anna Mitrowska talked about the AIESEC organization. The girls presented the structure of the organisation, its history, and the opportunities of exchanges and all the challenges they had to face.

In particular, all the participants were touched by the subject of Milda Savickaitė from the Vilnius Youth Information Center. Milda metaphorically compared a volunteering and a self-realization with the plant: “We can grow as diverse plants but it is important to remember from which seed we come.”

Akvilina Jurkšaitė talked about opportunities for volunteering at the Šilas Special School in Vilnius. Akvilina inspirationally said about the children who are learning there and about a helping volunteer David from Spain.

The EFHR would like to thank the speakers and the participants in the discussion. We are extremely proud to host about 100 volunteers and apprentices each year. In addition, the young people enthusiastically embraced EFHR leaflets. We are glad that the stories of volunteers and trainees could have inspired and motivated young people to work in a variety of fields.

EFHR