My name is Doris Lalević and I am a third year law student. Through my previous education, I participated in many activities. I was a founder of a volunteer club in my high school with whom I was part in many activities such as raising money for local  NGOs for helping stray animals, helping children with disabilities, cleaning local parks, and making a presentation for awareness of overweight children and the importance of physical activities. I was a project assistant in the music festival ’’Danilovgradation’’. I took part in UNICEF’s UPSHIFT where I had a chance to present a project that could contribute to the development of my community. I have been a Red Cross volunteer since 2018 and I was a volunteer at NGO Zid for two years. I participated in the workshop ’’No impunity for the past ” that is supported by the EU. I was also part of the Student Council and I represented first and second year at my faculty of Law, where I provided protection of student’s rights. Currently I am volunteering in NGO Mladiinfo and I’m putting effort in improving the position of young people, providing information, promoting volunteerism and active participation in society, as well as raising society’s awareness of issues and problems concerning young people. I have also been volunteering in ESN – Erasmus Student Network since this year.

Volunteering in Mladiinfo Montenegro brought me two things: new friends and new knowledge. Through their activities I had an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and improve myself as a person. Through the two trainings I attended with them they showed me how you can learn, work, socialize and explore new places all at the same time.

 

-Valentina Danaj

 

Hello! My name is Omar and I’m from Tuzi, a small town in Montenegro.

 

I started volunteering when I was 18. My first experience with an NGO was here in my town. We were helping poor families and that was the only thing we were involved in. Days were passing and I wanted something bigger, something of international character… So this is when my story with Mladiinfo Montenegro begins. So today, after two years being in this NGO, I’m sure I made the best decision because I traveled a lot and learned so many things about leadership, digital media and the EU.

 

As a young man my advice to everyone is that you should never stop improving and searching for opportunities, especially for places that could make that easier.

 

–Omar Lekic

My name is Anja. I am a 17 years old girl who is a volunteer in the Mladiinfo Montenegro organization. It was my pleasure to be a part of this organization, where we young people can show our knowledge in different spheres, meet new people and be involved in bringing decisions about young people.

 

In this organization I get a lot of benefits. I improved my communication and leadership skills. One of my favorite experiences in this organization was Karl Popper debate in Sarajevo which was amazing .Then, I was at a seminar in Montenegro, where we were talking about our projects and humanitarian actions.

 

In conclusion ,I am grateful because I am a member of this organization.Volunteering in Mladiinfo Montenegro organization was an amazing opportunity for me and I spent a good and quality time in this organization with incredible people who have good potential and want to advance our environment.

 

–Anja Vojvodic

Hello, my name is Lorena and I’ve been volunteering in NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro for more than two years. I won’t write about my general experience, but I would like to look back at one of our humanitarian actions that had the biggest impact on me. 

 

On July 12th and 17th, 2021, we organized humanitarian actions for the Kulic family from Podgorica. The parents couldn’t work, and they had three daughters (1, 3 and 6 years old), two of which had health problems. The baby wasn’t developing enough and had to undergo surgery, while the three year old had a cyst on her head, and also struggled to talk. Since they were also paying the rent and visiting doctors all the time, they struggled to cover all the expenses, and had to borrow food from the neighbors a lot.

 

The mother couldn’t read and write, so she would send us voice messages explaining how they live and what they would need most. 

We organized humanitarian actions for a lot of families, but none of them were as thankful as this one. While we were collecting donations, the mother sent us so many voice messages, thanking us for helping them. 

 

After that, we went to their house to bring them the groceries, and they kept thanking us the whole time. We were surprised because not every family was like that. They even taught the little daughter to say thank you and to hug us. I’m mentioning this because, as a volunteer, there is nothing more fulfilling than realizing you did something meaningful. Some may say “You can’t help everyone, so why try”, but these experiences showed us that the point isn’t to help everyone, it’s to help as much as we can. Personally, I had the chance to visit the families and deliver the help we collected. All I can say is that, each time, I felt grateful for days, for everything that I have, and I didn’t dare to complain about the things we all take for granted in our everyday lives. 

 

I wish everyone would experience this, because in the process, you become a kinder person, and you get to know some emotions you didn’t know you had. 

 

“Only what you give is yours” perfectly describes this, as by helping others and in general by being kind to everyone we meet, by asking politely and saying thank you, we not only help and show appreciation, but we also feel so much more human. And in return, our hearts get filled with goodness and joy, which we want to share with everyone.

 

 

–Lorena Ujkic

Humanitarian actions are very special, it is hard until the desired outcome is reached, but in the end we succeed and get many sincere smiles and satisfaction on the faces of the people we make happy. From personal experience I can say that it is an incredible feeling when you manage to help someone. I have had many wonderful situations with people, many are positively surprised and are very happy to participate in the action, but there are also many more who are not interested in it and who reject you immediately. It happened that the people we approached and told about the action, answered us that we should collect for them as well. In addition to all this, I can say, humanitarian action is a special activity and that people should get involved as much as possible, because a little of us means a lot to someone.

-Nejla Kalac