Irish ESC – Fynglass Training Camp

Today it´s time to share with you the experiences of four young people who have been living an ESC experience in Ireland:

Jacob

Even if it seems like it was months ago, it was only two weeks ago when I first visited Ireland, specifically Dublin. When we first landed, I was afraid: afraid of speaking English, afraid of meeting new people, afraid of not liking what we were going to do… basically, afraid of everything.

I only had to meet Marina (one of the volunteers) and Val (the volunteering project coordinator) to know that everything was going to be alright. From the very beginning, they asked us if everything was okay, if we were hungry, cold, or if we needed anything. I felt as if we already knew them. That weekend we explored the city and found ourselves enjoying a place that was far away from home.

On Tuesday, we went to the Finglas Centre. We were amazed by its facilities and by the large staff team. They were all delighted to meet us, and even if Val couldn’t be there, Nickie took care of us. The day couldn’t have started better, with a British breakfast! That week they prepared us for the following one, and we met the volunteers team. We soon became friends with them. Dynamic activities, games, and simple conversations helped us grow closer to everyone.

That weekend, with Dublin already explored and our work done, we decided to visit Galway, Howth, and Belfast. I discovered that Ireland had taken a piece of my heart. Green landscapes and charming places made me fall in love with every place we visited.

On Tuesday, we went back to work again, this time, we met the young people we were going to take care of. At first, I felt that I wasn’t doing great. They didn’t know us, so they hardly talked to me. But at the end of the day, everyone told us that we couldn’t have done it better and that we should be proud of ourselves. That encouraged me to keep trying.The next day everything went even better. I started talking to everyone and felt grateful for having met the young people.
I also learned about the importance of patience and about putting things into perspective, since everyone there had their own issues.I was also asked to help with a video for the European Solidarity Corps, and I really enjoyed doing it! ☺️The week went by so fast, and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.And even if Spanish food is better, Mery cooked for us every single day and made us love her “junky” food. We wouldn’t have survived without her.

During these two weeks veryone made us feel at home, and I am very grateful for that.

From only knowing that we were going to Dublin, and a few other details, to having an experience that I will never forget. Forever thankful for this experience!

See you soon.

Eric

At the begining it was something that scared me as it was all so hasty and we didn’t know at all what we were going to do. The point which calmed down me was that I was going to do it with two friends.

Since we arrived all people were so kind with us (organizers, workers, irish volunteers…) and that has made our staying so easy and fun.

In our free time we have visited some cities such as Dublin, Belfast, Howth or Galway and it has been a fantastic experience which has allowed us to know about Ireland. Altough spanish food is quite better we have eaten good.

Although the accomodation has not been so good (it was the best which was possible) we have had more or less enough and the point of being all the spanish volunteers together there has done the staying fun, confortable and easy (of course, because we get along well). Since first day they have given us all the facilities they could to have access to get food, a room to do classwork (as we are supposed to be in class), transport, tourism recomendations…

Something I would have liked is to have more information about the activities we were going to do with the kids as we didn’t have much and were the irish volunteers who organized all. It is just because in some cases you feel out of the group but in general the teamwork was nice. And also because sometimes child ask you “what are we going to do?” and the unique thing you can say is “ask to another volunteer as I do not have idea”. In addition to that, a little bit more of order with the children could be nice.

In a nutshell, the experience at Finglas Youth Resource Center has been amazing as I have known something new (as we don’t have this in Spain) and I have learned about working in a team, with childrens, be pacient and other skills that can help me to grow up as a person and have given me new experiences.

I would encourage people to participate in this programme and if it is possible do it with friends because you are not going to regret about this.

Thank you so much for all!

Maria:

The volunteering experience here in Ireland has been amazing. From the very first moment, we were warmly welcomed and taken very good care of — we didn’t miss anything.

I loved doing activities with the kids because it’s something different from what I’m used to, and it was so satisfying to see them having fun and to get along so well with everyone. The teamwork with the other Irish volunteers was wonderful — they were very friendly and fun, I’d say we had a great time together.

I really loved the hospitality at the center, they treated us so well, everything there was great in general.

Ireland is such a beautiful country, I’m taking a great experience with me from here. I hope to do something like this again someday.

Thank you so much for everything!! ❤️