My first volunteering experience at Caritas

I spent a week at Caritas’s Budvár Center where employees held an Art and Craft week for children. There took place a wide range of activities held in day center style, where kids spent four hours with us every day. This time included breakfast and lunch, too.

I helped with the breakfast preparations during the morning, then I was asked to participate in preparing some tools and equipments for the kids’ daily activities. I liked this, as I love doing arts and crafts: cutting, glueing, drawing, creating new art objects.

After breakfast I joined in to the activities. I enormously enjoyed being part of the story telling, drawing, coloring, making objects from clay, doing sports – to name a few.

I liked to see the originally and cleverly prepared activities the kids loved every day. It’s been a great experience not just for the kids and teachers, but for me, too. From day one I felt part of the team, I felt equal with the others, I felt welcomed and fully appreciated. I had no difficulty to fit in to the team. I felt being trusted and the teachers asked regularly for my opinion and feedback, too.

This week’s biggest gift was, that a child told me, he felt happy, because I had been there all week. I enjoyed participating and helping each day at Budvár Center, and I look forward to the next occasion.

It’s been a great experience as I’ve learnt a lot about the organisation, about their routine, their teaching style and I loved to feel helpful and useful for the team, too.

Teréz Fazakas, 
volunteer