My volunteering in Latvia - September

     I am Ana, 20-year-old university student and I come from the beautiful Mountain region of Georgia.
During my school time, I lived in a small village which was eight to ten hours away from the nearest city and this place was full with students with fewer opportunities. When I was 12, I participated in my first youth project outside my country. This experience abroad was so powerful and inspiring to me that it was also the key to knowing what I wanted to do next. That is why I decided to study International Relations at the university. In addition, I joined a NGO - LAG upper Svaneti ( Funded by the EU) first as a volunteer getting involved in youth projects and after as a Communication Manager and Junior Social Media Management Trainer.

A few months ago I accidentally stumbled upon a European Solidarity Corps volunteering project on the Internet, which was held in Riga for eight months and the main topic was social media management. If you do not have information about ESC volunteering project, it is a program funded by European Commission which allows youngsters (aged 18-30 years) to become a volunteer in another country for specific period of the time, usually between 2-12 months. I suddenly decided to set up a new challenge, adventure and experience for myself to get even closer to my main goals. Today I am a member of the Visas Iespējas team and working with them on the creation of various materials to be posted on social media channels for the Go Remote project.

     And now……. Hello! From Riga, Latvia.
I arrived here in the beginning of September and this was a month of meeting new people. In the first week we had a lot of activities and I became a member of the team really fast. The main event of this week was - Go Remote Conference and my tasks were to create posts/stories about the event and publish it on the social media platforms. In the end of the week i heard information about the Riga Food Market event and I went there with other Georgian girls. This event was really amazing, because we saw excellent stands from almost every country, displaying locally produced food and drinks. I was most proud of the Georgian corner, which was focused on presenting the country in the best possible way. I couldn't even imagine that I would be able to attend such an event in the first week after arriving here.
 

    My flight was in the morning, when I arrived as soon as I got home I started to walk through the streets of Riga and discover the place. In one week, I was able to visit all the popular tourist places and now, as an ordinary resident of Riga, I enjoy everyday life. I especially love the Old town, never get tired of walking there, every time I come across different important details. This first month I have visited the Three brothers, iconic Latvian houses that are the perfect backdrop for photos. The Three Brothers are not homes. They are actually part of the Latvian Museum of Architecture. I have discovered that Riga has two famous cats that guard the house across the street from the Great Guild Hall. The house that they perch upon is over 100 years old.

In the middle of the month I learned information about school/university student meetings and became really interested in this project. When they asked me, if I wanted to share my experience and participate in meetings, I was very happy and of course agreed. Here begins my journey outside of Riga and around Latvia. When I say that I have already visited fifteen cities in Latvia, no one believes me. I especially liked the towns by the sea and Sigulda, which is a true autumn paradise. Meetings with young people is a separate topic, due to the fact I was a youth worker in Georgia and worked on youth projects. I like to share information about youth opportunities and communicate with young people living in Latvia. Sometimes we are going to schools which are located near the borders, where the students don't have any information about study programs and exchange projects, and here I often highlight myself as an example – years ago I lived in a very small village and had very few opportunities.

      At the end of the month we held one of the most important and successful events - Speed-dating event, which was the first this kind of event for me and I gained a lot of new experience and knowledge with being involved in preparing materials for the companies. It was important to see how it works in person. We will have Speed-dating online soon as well.
If you are still reading this, I want to inform you that I will have my personal blog section on Visas Iespējas platform and you will be able to read about my volunteering life in Riga, Latvia for the next eight months!