What’s up with the volunteers of Maailmanvaihto? Two of them share their greetings. Anna-Maija Kanerva traveled from Finland to Bolivia for ICYE volunteering, and Yara Felten came from Germany to Finland to work as an European Solidarity Corps volunteer.
Yara Felten: Volunteering at a special folk high school in Finland
I wanted to join international volunteering because …
… I wanted to do something different after school, something that felt more meaningful. I also didn’t know yet what I wanted to study, so a year of doing something new and exploring the world and myself in different ways seemed like a good idea. (Spoiler: It was.)
I volunteered at…
…Lehtimäki Opisto, a school for people with various disabilities. There I helped out in different lessons like handcrafts, music, languages, cooking, gymnastics, and woodworks, as well as worked in the kitchen and the horse stable.
When I was looking for a volunteering project, I was searching for something in a more rural area, ideally working either with disabled people or in an environmental context. So Lehtimäki Opisto was perfect, being situated 60 km of forest east of Seinäjoki. It also let me integrate my love for horses, music and various kinds of handicrafts into my work.
Which tools have you used to make your volunteering project greener?
Mainly, I used the Green Travel option. It is a slightly higher budget for traveling to and from your project in environmentally friendly (or at least friendlier) ways. In my case it meant taking the Ferry between Germany and Finland (by far not an emission free mode of transport either but at least possibly less damaging than a plane), and I had a great time onboard! Free gym & sauna, lots of time spent reading on the sun deck, no luggage limits…
Otherwise I tried to make things greener in all the typical small ways, like trying to avoid overconsumption and mainly buying winter clothes second-hand, buying food locally as far as possible, avoiding unnecessary plastics, not eating meat and not too many other animal products, and so on. I am far from perfect in that regard, and there is still more I could have done – there always is – but I feel like all those things are already a good start.
Have you learned something new about Sustainability during your project?
What I have definitely gotten more conscious of is the intersectionality of so many topics, including sustainability. Without international collaboration, climate change cannot effectively be fought. Without addressing social injustice (on a national and global scale), the wealthiest percent will continue causing the most emissions. Even many of the choices I am able to make in my Everyday life in order to live Sustainably are only possible because of my own place of privilege, and most of my emissions are caused because of that too (which makes it even more important for me to try my best in that regard).
But as much as I believe that those little choices are important and might even cause butterfly effects, real change can only be made when big corporations and the wealthiest are being held accountable, on a global scale. So we need to address all those different issues together, which makes it both more complicated and even more important.
My project also showed me how beautifully international collaboration can work, so I am now much more hopeful, that if there is a will, there will also be a way. National and global politics only need to find that will.
What would you say to those considering joining international volunteering?
Simple: go for it! It will most likely be an amazing time for you (and if not you can still quit XD).