“Just two connected souls in Athens”

-“How much can I receive back opening my heart?”

 

-“Have you ever tried to ask it to yourself?”

Well, this is a short story of the beginning of a connection between a person who was supposed to be the one who needed something and another one who was looking for someone to take care of in order to feel alive for a reason.

 

Finally, who gave and who had back more from this connection, who knows it, but I am sure about one thing: I had back more, I mean MORE, that I could never expect.I am Edoardo, an Italian EVS volunteer who works in the field of interventions at Iasis ngo in Athens.

 

My job consists in delivering food bought in the supermarket or collected at the Equal Society, the social kitchen of the town, clothes, and other goods to the people’s houses, people who have special needs but also do other activities keeping company, sometimes just listen to them.

K. is an elder woman, she suffers from mental health problems, and she is not that kind of ‘special’ person, she is more than Special, at least I am sure she is, and she lives in Athens.I used to visit her at home once a day every day since three months bringing her the lunch. She doesn’t speak English and I can’t speak Greek, so at the beginning I saw a kind of barrier between us, and actually it is been, then day by day we start to generate that connection teaching one simple word to each other, and step by step we started to communicate, still with some difficulties of course, but I felt a special empathy, I was totally connect to her soul.

 

Actually, I really don’t know who is getting more from this relationship, but I can say for sure that since we will connect ourselves to the other one for a little while every until the end of the time that rests until the end of this experience, none of us will feel that un-useful and alone.

 

Edoardo, Italy.

Evs Project

Hello! I’m Ioanna and I am a volunteer in Iasis NGO. My relationship with volunteering began systematically when I completed my internship as a psychologist in the organisation of Iasis and especially  in the program “intervention of the community”. Volunteering gave me the opportunity to participate in many social activities, trainings, and become an active member of a group of young people with common visions and goals. Below I quote a personal story from my experience as a volunteer that it has a special meaning for me.

 

This summer a big fire broke out in the area of Penteli and Pallini. Apart from natural disasters in the forest area, many houses had serious material damage and the residents had to face a great crisis. Iasis organized groups of professionals, employees and volunteers to record what the citizens needed and be there to offer them immediate assistance. My participation in this group was an unforgettable volunteering experience and it is an inspiration and motivation to continue being a volunteer. We visited all the houses of the area in order to offer food, water, medicine,food for animals and phycological and social support to the owners of each house. We visited the house of a lonely man and gave him food and water. The man told us that all his musical instruments were  burnt as well as many books. It was a very emotional moment when he decided to give us one of his favourite books to thank us for our volunteering offer.

Hello! My name is Zenia and I come from Greece. I study psychology and  I am a volunteer at IASIS NGO, specifically at the Day Center and the youth center «Connect your city», for over a year. During this year I have experienced a lot of things and had the opportunity to meet new places and people ! My time at the Day Center, which is a place where people with mental health issues come and spend their time by participating in teams,  was very productive I can say… Me and my colleague organized some educational and some entertaining teams for the members of the Day Center, we also organized a webinar about physical and mental pain and we visited some people that weren’t able to come in person, in order to evaluate their needs.

 

Although all of these were fascinating and very educative for me as a student, I would like to share my experience about my travel abroad in the framework of “O’visor project”! The travel took place in Tirana, Albania at December 2021.  I really enjoyed this travel and I remember myself being ready to participate again in the rest of the activities in the framework of this project, something that I did later haha.The most exciting part for me from participating in this travel was that I got to know people from different countries and cultures.  I won’t forget the people that I met, the good times we had together, and the new things I had the chance to learn and experience. Being a volunteer makes this even more interesting and fun, because it’s the place that I want to be at this time, where  feel more fulfilled and complete. I enjoy every moment during my time as a volunteer and I think that everyone,who has the time and the chance, should try  it too! 😉

Eua

 

As a volunteer in IASIS I have the chance to take part in a variety of programmes which help you to communicate, know new people, have many experiences, get knowledge and help others who are in difficult situations and it’s very difficult for them to recognize the bright side of life.

Especially as a psychologist volunteer I was very lucky to participate in free psychological phone line 10306, which is  24 hours open line for people who need to talk with a specialist and feel powerless to deal with their feelings, the anxiety and the problems of everyday life. It was very important for me that I was a member of psychological team and  I had the opportunity to help vulnerable people. Hearing “thank you, you made my day. It was so nice to talk with you” was a big prize for me!!

Hello! My name is Deppy and I am from Greece. I am a psychologist and I am currently studying Counselling Psychology as my master’s degree. I have been a volunteer at IASIS NGO Day Center and Connect Your City Youth Center Athens for a year. At first, I did my internship for three months as an undergraduate student and after that I joined as a volunteer. As a volunteer in IASIS NGO, I was given the opportunity to participate in many activities. For example, my partner and I organized environmental teams, cognitive empowerment teams, we were trained in taking the psychological history, we organized and presented webinars about physical and mental pain or the stigma of diversity in the workplace and we volunteered in activities concerning the European Mobility Week

 

My experience as a volunteer made me understand the beauty of giving and how much satisfaction someone feels when they are selfless. I gained a lot of memories and knowledge, I became more mature, wiser and what impressed me the most during this year was the people I met and how each person was willing to help and made every situation more beautiful in their own way. As I said earlier, I made lots of amazing memories that I keep in my heart, and I will try to apply what I learn to my everyday behavior because I truly believe that each person can make a difference. I am grateful for the beautiful experience and memories I have gained!