The following was posted (or will be shortly) on the official Bridge Year Program Website as an Individual Update. It was written while we were still in Novi Sad so bear with me! Our group update is soon to follow.
I first started discovering this aspect of service after a few days of working at my NGO, Novi Sad Humanitarian Center (NSHC), when the full-time employees there started approaching me with questions regarding how to say this or that correctly in English, or needing corrections on their English reports and pamphlets. While I spent hours making corrections to a legal report intended for a philanthropist organization from the US, I realized that while this wasn’t exactly the kind of service I had in mind when beginning the placement, I was doing what needed to be done. I would have to simplify my view of service in order to live out its true meaning, and the perfect opportunity arose on September 14th. On our way back from a Saturday field trip to the countryside, full of fun games and crafts for the Roma kids, my boss, Dejan, brought up the fact that several NSHC volunteers wanted to learn Spanish. Never having taught Spanish or learned it in a formal classroom setting, I initially declined. I soon realized, however, that it would be silly not to teach my fellow volunteers Spanish; they wanted to learn something that I knew--wasn’t this service, in essence? I agreed to teach Spanish twice a week in the NSHC conference room. Some days I had seven students, while a few time only one girl, Jelena, was able to come; but this didn’t matter. As long as there was someone who wanted to learn, I taught.
“Why Serbia?” Every time I interact with a new group of local people, I get asked the same question. For many youth here, it seems puzzyepling that I chose to leave behind “The American Dream” for a whole year--and, even more so, that I chose to spend it in Serbia. My response is always the same: the service opportunities here in Serbia appealed to me. After responding this way many times, in December I realized that while this may be true, my understanding and perception of service have changed considerably. The girl who chose Serbia because of wanting to work with marginalized groups, youth empowerment and civil rights now finds herself with a more holistic and personalized understanding of service.
At the Bridge Year Program orientation before we left for our respective countries, we attended a group session on service. It was here that we attempted to reconcile our previous experiences with and preconceptions of service with the opportunities that we would encounter abroad. We discussed the more formulaic aspects of service, breaking this concept down into three categories: immediate aid, long-term projects, and social change. My experience with service in Lancaster led me to hold certain expectations, such as the belief that most of my service in Serbia would fall strictly under one of these categories. This, I would later learn, was not an accurate assessment of the non-profit work that I would be doing in Novi Sad. I found that service is about meeting the needs expressed by your community and those around you. These needs might not always be dire, and they might not be what you expect, but they are needs and desires all the same, and you serve by meeting these to the best of your ability.
While engaging in other types of service, I learned that sometimes, what falls under the category of service does not feel like work at all. Such was the case with the Tuesday night English conversation classes at the American Corner lead by the five of us. We always had too much fun, but it was through these methods that the kids who attend our classes practiced their English. We often played games such as “Through the Green, Glass Door,” “Madlibs” or “20 Questions.” We also posed debates and discussions and tried to get everyone to participate. It was a simple idea, yet for many of the youth who came, we were the only Americans that they ever met in person, or our Tuesday nights are the only time that they got to practice their English with native English speakers.
Creating and maintaining a good working environment is also something that my coworkers at NSHC taught me throughout my four months there. The perfect example of this is when once in a while someone in the NSHC offices cooked a snack for all of us. We would gather around the big table in the conference room on the second floor, eating and chatting. I once got recruited to make funnel cakes, and after semi-successfully converting American cups, teaspoons and tablespoons to European grams, milligrams and milliliters, they were a big hit!
As someone who loves to have everything planned out in detail, my work in Serbia has shown me that flexibility is a necessary attribute for those who wish to serve others. During my four months in Novi Sad, I had the opportunity to lead English and creative workshops for Roma kids at the József Attila School on Saturdays. This NSHC program provides extra academic aid for kids ranging from ages 6 to 15 or 16. Planning the creative workshops and English workshops required hours of preparation, which included shopping for and organizing the materials, writing formal proposals for the workshops, and traveling to the school on Saturdays to lead the workshops. Flexibility, I have realized, is an asset that I acquired in larger amounts working with these kids than ever before. I have had to change my workshop at the last minute based on the supplies available, the number of children present (I had to have everyone make Christmas cards instead of 3D snowflakes because there were too many younger kids in the workshop), and what the kids want to do (sometimes we have one game planned, but the kids don’t like it so we have to come up with another game on the spot.) I have learned to improvise, accept changes and modify my plans according to the circumstance and needs presented.
It has become clear to me that service is a two-way street; you learn just as much from those you teach as they learn from you. Since I saw several of the volunteers from the Saturday school on a regular bases through my Spanish classes, I got to know several of them better and on a more personal level. My friendships with these amazing volunteers have allowed me to gain a better understanding of what service work means to the locals and has given me a better appreciation for their work at the Saturday school. It is inspiring interacting with these University students who devote themselves weekly to improving the quality of life of these children.
I am fully aware that I have changed during these four months in Serbia. The change in my view of service is only one of the ways that Serbia has impacted me and my perception of the world. It is exciting to think that my transformation is not yet complete. Quite soon I will embark upon the second leg of my journey, Niš, where my understanding of service will continue to change. I look forward to seeing how this knowledge and my experience in Serbia will shape new realizations and my life at Princeton and beyond!
No comments:
Post a Comment