Nicolo’s experience with OCC

Hello everyone! My name is Nicolo and I am from the beautiful country of the pizza, Italy!! I am 27 years old and still wandering in the indecision about what to do in my working life.

That’s why I decided to catch the opportunity and become a volunteer for OCC. I studied sport science in Italy, but I am still not sure about my working pathway, so what’s better than a cool experience in Greece helping people whose way is less defined than mine? I have experience as a teacher, so OCC was giving me the chance to teach (improving my skills (and my CV) in that field) and to help people in needs, discovering in the same time a world that I’ve never met before… refugees and the asylum seekers integration. Yes because OCC is not just a working experience, is a life experience! You don’t just work for the refugees, you work with them, and this make you really appreciate and deeply understand what being a migrant means.

In Polykastro I was giving English lessons to adults refugees and helping with the bike space project; I learned how to fix a bike thanks to Redo, who was breaking all of them (with this didactic purpose? who knows…🤪)

I was also part of the teachers involved in the activities with the pirates, but because of the Covid we couldn’t actually make all the activities we planned..

but anyway thanks to the meetings between the teachers and the plannings sessions, I developed skills on the organization of a didactic plan and new educational strategies. Moreover I was part of the sport project, which aimed to create the opportunities to develop a wider offer to the refugee on a sportive way, learning also how to produce a European Project thanks to my mentor, idol and life-model Sofia.  But as I said, OCC it is now just job… we were a family, I was having a great time with everyone, both local and international volunteer. The time spent in Polykastro

was surely amazing, thanks to all the wonderful people I met there (especially in the meals-moments ) We had fun, we played, we cooked (thank you Rabaaaaaar!) and we shared everything.

I truly suggest this experience to everyone!!!

"This project is funded by the EU Commission, the ESC program and the Greek National Agency Youth and Lifelong Learning INEDIVIM".