Hello! My name is Joana and for the last three months I have been an Interreg Project Partner for the Festive Pathways to a Sustainable Tomorrow (EUFEAST) project. My host organization is the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (REMTH), seated in Komotini, Greece, which participates in many European projects, one of them being “Eufeast”.
EUFEAST is an international project that aims to boost the cultural heritage, the local economy and the tourism. To achieve this goal, every kind of local festival is being used, such as traditional festivals, art festivals, food festivals, etc.
Currently, seven European countries are participating: Greece, Malta, Sweden, Hungary, Belgium and Poland. Regions from these countries are joining forces, in order to maintain their heritage and to share it with other people, who are curious to explore new cultural modules and ways of collaboration.
During those three months, I have done many interesting things. First of all, I got to explore the local festivals. It turns out that the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace is the perfect place for people who would like to live the Greek culture. Local people are very proud of their heritage, and they prove it by celebrating it. At the same time, the region is placed next to Bulgaria and Turkey, which makes the local people very friendly with foreign cultures. I was very happy to discover that local people keep celebrating everything that they consider important, and they don’t seem to let their roots get lost in the past.
I also got the chance to attend the Kick-Off Meeting- 1st Stakeholder Meeting. It was an incredible experience, and I completed many tasks such as taking care of the registrations, creating questionnaires, taking pictures, assisting the participants etc. By joining this meeting, I had the chance to meet new people and to participate in a very interesting discussion. I also saw how meetings work and what it takes to organize them. It was definitely a unique experience.
I would also like to mention that my host organization has been amazing. Everyone was very kind and good to me. All those months, they have been patiently teaching me new things and sharing their knowledge with me. From the first day I felt comfortable enough to be myself and to not be scared to ask questions or to express my opinions.
This experience as an IVY Volunteer has helped me a lot in many ways. First off all, I am “training” my skills, while I am building new ones. For example, I was already able to cooperate with others, so teamwork was never a problem for me, but I am now building communication skills. Right now, I am not as scared to send emails or to make calls as I was when I started. Besides that, I am developing responsibility, while it expands my perspective over many topics.
All those reasons make me happy with my choice to participate as a Volunteer for IVY. I am very grateful that I was given the chance to be part of something so beautiful and interesting. I would definitely recommend it to young people that want to learn new things, gain new experiences, grow emotionally, build new skills and want to help society.
– Joana, IVY Project Partner at Region of East Macedonia & Thrace – REMTH , for the Interreg Europe project EUFEAST – FESTIVE PATHWAYS FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW
