Before answering the question “What is EVS”, we find it more appropriate to talk about its function.
Exchange of youth and meeting of youth; gives the opportunity to youngsters to meet other cultures and other facts and new worlds. By this, youngsters are learning from each other and discovering the differences and similarities among cultures. Thanks to the exchanges, they are breaking the negative prejudices and constant thoughts.
Also, the impact of a youth exchange or youth meeting on local population provides the formation of a positive conscience and creates an impact not only on youngsters or their foundations’ activities, but also on local society.
European Union, supports the wide spread youngester-based opportunities by international volunary services that directly and actively involves youngesters in the activities which are developed to sustain the public’s needs.
So what is European Voluntary Service (EVS)?
Working in social projects for a civil society foundation and local society. Firstly and most importantly; no payments like salary is paid for the voluntary work. Along with this food, shelter, language education, local transportation, insurance, individual care, help and a little pocket money is given. An EVS project,provides the opportunity to be volunteer in an EU country short term(2-8 weeks- only for helping handycapped people and disadvantegous youngsters.
The aim of European Voluntary Service is based on three basic principles:
• Enhance the intercultural educational experience of youngesters to ensure that they can activeley participate in urban city life, integrate themselves into society, increase their opportunities to find a job and empower the cooperation sense,
• Supporting the development of local societies,
• Stimulating the establishment of new partnerships and exchange of experience and good applications between partners,
• Youth program appreciates the value of the current partnerships which are established through years and helped us a lot to succeed in voluntary services,.
An EVS Project offers a young person the opportunity to serv voluntarily in another country’s NGO between a particular time period of 6-12 months. Voluntary service activities contain activities like environment, culture, art, protection of cultural heredities and activities with children, elders, youngesters and disabled people.
Young people who are always in motion due to EVS don’t only gain the ability to deal with the life on their own but also they are being equipped by the experiences and informations which will aware them about possible problems through their lives.
To give our own example; Prime Ministery DPT EU Education and Youth Programs Centre confirmed our project “Different Lives, Common Hopes” with reference number “TR-21-58-2007-R4 ve T.C. TR-21-72-2007- R5”. With this project, we have 5 guests from 5 different parts of the Europe( France, Austira, Greece, Portugal, Italy) who speak five different languages, makes friends in 5 different ways, have 5 different types of expressing happines and 5 different melodies of their souls. They are so different that we feel like as if the world moved to our foundation.
We refreshed our ventage points to life and expanded it to 5 more different ways and sometimes we refreshed our guests’ opinions.We think that at the end of this experience, the 4th dimension of the life will appear.Because we change as we combine ourselves with them, we move forward as we share and we reach new dimensions and solutions as we conflict. As we said, this experience will soon give birth to 4th dimension of the life…
Our first guess was Andrea Aure from Australia, we stil smile when we remember her trying to pronounce our names. We remember the curiosity, sometimes excitement and even sometimes worry on their faces when Fabio Vicini, Isabel Mota, Yann Declerck and Eleni Petropoulou…
Lots of feelings have changed in our first meetings…
Our volunteers were secretly analysing the new made friends with weird eyes as their new friends were staring at them as weird and curious as they are…
Yann from France, has been to İstanbul before other volunteers so he was comfortable here and also because he made friends of our local volunteers quickly. Fabio from Italy was in excitement of using his basic Turkish since he has been to Turkey for a couple of months before coming to Başak and Eleni from Greece, was very excited to be in the her mother’s homeland. And Isabel on the edge of a new beginning, saying hello to everyone full of excitement.
Hello World…
On the field works in Sultanbeyli and Kayışdağı …Our people look suprised and then give us a big smile when they meet our European volunteers as if they are in a enjoyable game…
We learn to look at our people through the eyes of Andrea, Eleni and Fabio. How cute, sad and warm they are…
Hello “our” People
As in the Yann’s and Isabel’s painting atelie named “My World”, try to take photos of voyages to distant places and cultures with children…
As our children care Yann and Isabel as if they are the dolls that they made…And I wonder which world’s dolls are these two great people who don’t belong to this world…
“Tamam tamam” ve “Yavas yavas” hello to your hello…
As we told before, this experience will soon give birth to 4th dimension of the life, we really wonder what will be left of them for us and left of us fort hem at the and…Although it looks like it won’t be distinguished during our times together who got what from each other, it looks like everyone will come back to their own lives as they take parts from each other. We wish to live each others’ beauties and differences, not to turn into each other.
Best wishes, bye!
Başak EVS Workers
Başak Culture and Art Foundation
Contact Information
Telephone:(0216) 420 4962
Tel/Fax: (0216) 540 24 62
E-mail:
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Web sitei: http://www.basaksanatvakfi.org.tr/
