The European Solidarity Corps (ESC) is a programme funded by the European Union with the aim of enabling young people to engage in volunteering activities abroad.
The objective of our current programme is for our ESC volunteers to enrich the everyday lives of residents in institutions across Szeged, including nursery and primary school children, secondary school students, patients in child and adolescent psychiatry, members of day-care centres for people with disabilities, and residents of care homes for older people. One group of hosted volunteers prepared musical and dance performances, while others created murals and delivered arts and crafts activities. In addition, the volunteers participated in local and national events promoting volunteering and visited local secondary schools to give presentations in English about their own cultures during language lessons.
Bring Joy with Music (01 October 2023 – 31 May 2024)
Between 1 October 2023 and 31 May 2024, two international volunteers joined our Foundation from Turkey and France. During their project, they visited various institutions, including kindergartens, care homes and clubs for older people, hospitals, and organisations supporting people with disabilities in Szeged and nearby settlements. In these institutions, they delivered musical performances and shared joyful moments with participants. Older residents not only sang along, but also clapped and danced to the music. In commemoration of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, several care homes and secondary schools listened to the National Song recited in Turkish and French, and sang it together in Hungarian with the international volunteers. On this occasion, the volunteers proudly wore the traditional Hungarian cockade. During their stay, the two volunteers also delivered presentations in English to secondary school and university students about their home countries and cultures.
Art for Society (01 March 2024 – 31 July 2024)
As the first individual ESC project of 2024, three young volunteers were invited to support different target groups through art-based activities. Our volunteers arrived from Spain, Georgia and Italy, bringing joy to older people, disadvantaged individuals, people with disabilities, as well as kindergarten and primary school children. Within the framework of programmes implemented in various institutions, they conducted arts and crafts workshops.
Cultural Bridge
Within the framework of the Hungarian–Turkish Cultural Season, ten Turkish volunteers were invited to implement a group volunteering project. Between 29 April and 20 May 2024, the young volunteers organised programmes in various institutions, creating opportunities for mutual cultural exchange and for discovering similarities and differences between cultures. The project included Turkish–Hungarian dance events organised as charity fundraisers, as well as concerts held in care homes for older people.
Thousand Faces of Volunteering
To conclude the year, we implemented a project primarily tailored to kindergartens. Between 1 October and 20 February, two volunteers from Germany and Greece joined us. The volunteers mainly delivered cultural, musical, dance and arts and crafts sessions in kindergartens. Their project was further enriched by occasions when they brought similar activities to other target groups, including older people and people with disabilities. In addition to these activities, they delivered presentations about volunteering and their home countries in several secondary schools in Szeged, within the framework of English and German language lessons.
