Well, I can honestly say the start of this volunteer trip to Naples,
Italy has been great. Most people don’t like these kinds of trips because of
all the long and sleepless travel and the jet lag you get from the flying. For me,
that has not been the case, because I’ve been blessed with the ability to sleep
anywhere if I’m tired enough. For the first flight, I traveled from Toronto to
Rome, which takes about eight and a half hours. When I got on the plane, I sat
in my chair and instantly fell asleep. I was fortunate enough to sleep the
entire plane ride. This made for a great start to the trip. When I arrived in
Naples I was well rested and completely ready for adventuring into the heart of
the city and Italian culture.
The first few days were
a little disorienting. There was so much to do and so much to explore. On the first
full day, we got a very brief but very helpful orientation, where we learned
the basics about our volunteer program, the history and culture of the city, and
some basic Italian for communication. Then, we got a tour of the city. This
tour lasted for about two hours, but it covered a good portion of the
historical center of the city. Of course, because Naples is in Italy, we saw
plenty of old and beautiful churches and lots of ancient architecture. This
first day was very short and easy, but it was very helpful in preparing us for
the work ahead.
On our second day in
Italy, we had another orientation. However, this time, we actually got to visit
the volunteer centers where we will be contributing for the next month. This
was definitely interesting, since we got to meet many new and interesting
people who we will work with. I got to meet a very nice lady who is my specific
volunteer coordinator at LESS. LESS is a non-governmental organization that
helps refugees in Italy. My coordinator’s name is Lucia. Luckily, she is both
intelligent and very fluent in English. She has also been an excellent guide,
teaching me about my role in the volunteer headquarters and the work I will be
doing, which is mostly administrative.
These past few days
volunteering at the headquarters has been rewarding, but challenging at times. Mostly,
I am engaged in project coordination with other refugee organizations,
translating resumes from Italian to English, planning fun events for the
refugees, and communicating with both the United Nations and the European
Union. My job has mostly involved communicating with coordinators from these
international organizations. If LESS actually becomes a partner of these larger
organizations, it would receive many benefits, including access to resources from
them.
It honestly feels
amazing being here. We haven’t even gotten to our first weekend yet, and I’m
already having so much fun on this trip while still learning! My fellow
classmates and I are already planning trips to Pompeii, Rome, and even Germany
for the coming weekends. All of these trips will help broaden my cultural
understanding, while at the same time being very fun and interesting.
- Christopher Niepsuj
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