S3 E1 Volunteering, Perception in our countries & Stereotypes

We talk with Alessandro, one of the SPW volunteers who has managed to adapt better to Poland. He is from Novara, in Italy, and without any previous experience in the world of Slavic languages, he managed to learn Polish in less than a year. Today we are going to find out how he did it and how knowing this language helped him to enjoy his experience in Warsaw.

Exploring folklore is a nice and interesting way to discover how a country works. That's why we dedicated this episode to talking with Sara, who is volunteering in the Library of Pomiechówek and has always been interested in this topic. With her, we will discover some aspects of Polish folklore that can be very useful to you in order to understand a little bit more about the culture of this nation.

A part of hosting acting as a host organization, SPW is also responsible for sending polish volunteers abroad. That is the case of Michalina, a volunteer from Żyrardów who spended the last months in the French city of Amiens. In this episode we talked about her European Solidarity Corps project and about the things that she learned while being aborad.

We talk with Bartek and Paweł about their experience mentoring volunteers from all Europe and about the cultural activities that they are organizing in Pomiechówek. If you want to know more, you can follow them on their Instagram profile: @chitchatpomie.

The recruitment for the summer workcamps season has just started and we think that the best way to recommend them is to talk with someone who can be defined as an expert in the field. Her name is Ola, she is from Szczecin, and she will be sharing with us her experiences in Naples and Berlin.

If you want to volunteer and you don’t know how to do it, this is the episode which will reveal to you all the things you need. We explained the main steps to follow in order to apply for an opportunity, but also some advice for your CV. The process could seem cumbersome, however, if you follow the whole podcast episode, you will be ready to go for volunteering through the European Solidarity Corps.

This third episode of the season is about three peculiarities of the European Solidarity Corps. On the one hand, the length of the programs which it is to choose between long-term and short-term volunteering. On the other hand, the money the volunteer will receive to go on the project, to live there and the accommodation. Finally, we explain the different topics and areas to volunteer.

In this episode we explain the differences between volunteering abroad and in your local community, but we also talk about the various projects we can choose depending on our disposition. Additionally, we answer some of your questions regarding requirements, affordability and availability of programs.

This new season is to talk about volunteering in general, how does it work and the different opportunities we have. Thus, in this first episode we discuss if our tasks are considered volunteering and how this action is perceived in our countries. Additionally, we demystify the most common stereotypes, and we found a correlation between volunteering and improving our mental health.

This is the last episode of the season and we wanted to talk about how is volunteering in a cultural center and at a library in Poland. Our volunteers told us which are their main tasks, why they chose these projects and the most shocking things they found here. Moreover, we introduced a very well-known Polish footballer and we ended with two songs that are very special for our guests.