Preparation for a new beginning

On the 20th of October we organized the training of our volunteers for their work in this school year. At this event participated trained and less trained volunteers, and as such we accorded them a means of getting to know each other as well as letting them take a peak into the mutual work. We`d like to give a glimpse of the event from the perspective of some of the words of the volunteers themselves.

„With the multitude of the last year`s memories and experiences in my mind and with their warmth in my heart I went to the team building event this year organized by the Tg. Mures workpoint of the Caritas Alba Iulia`s volunteer program, which I was looking forward to for many days. I did not know what was ahead of me, but former gatherings and experiences helped me to be sure that everything was going to be swell.

I had a positive feeling when entering the hall, I took my place in the circle, and looking around I noticed that everyone was looking forward to something exciting. There was a familiar atmosphere in there and our little adventure started. They read out our names and some rules, after which we could share orally as well as in writing our expectations towards this event, which was followed by a contextual conversation, and we chose a card that represented the mood in which the subject arrived there, and at the end of the day another card was chosen for the same reason.

The organizers prepared us a variety of interesting, funny, but often challenging games. There was a game that demanded a high attention, but there were ones that made us laugh our hearts out, and some yoga-like games in which we paid attention to ourselves, thinking about the importance of our own values. I was set against a brick wall by the tower building game, which demanded of me to build blindfolded and only with the help of my partner the highest tower possible from sugar cubes. The funniest game for me was the “dress faster” game which implied taking up as many dresses as possible, and the sweetest one was the chocolate game for which we worked hard but in a team effort. After the team building games and careless laughter I quickly found a good company, as it took only a few hours` worth of time for the meaningful talking. Paying attention to the others got me the illusion that I knew the other members of the team for long, whom in reality I had never met before. We ended the day with a delicious snack.

It is hard to form a team, where the people really pay attention to each other, they listen, learn from the other, they work together and help the other to develop. During the event we became a real team, and I am very thankful that I had the chance to be one of them. This team building, just like the other gatherings was a wonderful opportunity for me to look deeper into my own self, and secondarily I had the chance to meet many wonderful, open, curious people, thanks to whom the time spent with them was a thrill. If I were a time traveler I`d go there again.”

Fazekas Blanka, volunteer at Târgu Mureș

(translated by Botond Teklesz)