The “PROJECTOR – Student Volunteers” Program and the Polish Humanitarian Action (PHA), despite seemingly different areas of activity, have a lot in common. “PROJECTOR” develops student volunteering aimed against exclusion of children and young people from villages and small towns in Poland. PHA helps civilians suffering from humanitarian crisis and long-lasting poverty all over the world. Both “PROJECTOR” and PHA, although each of them in own way, want to give people hope for better future. And they decided to join hands.
The Polish Humanitarian Action volunteers will use the opportunities offered by the “PROJECTOR” and give lectures on global education at schools all over Poland. They will teach how to help wisely, what our links with people on various continents are, and what our place and role in a chain of global co-dependency are.
Kamil Wrzos, the “PROJECTOR – Student Volunteers” Program Director expresses his satisfaction with cooperation. “I’m very glad that we have started collaboration with Polish Humanitarian Action which operates for levelling global social inequalities. I believe that will allow us to develop jointly our values and objectives. I hope it will be a perfect opportunity to cooperate in various areas, where we can engage young people to social activities.”
The projects can be implemented not only by PHA volunteers who register in the program basis, also “PROJECTOR’s” volunteers may join that action and organize classes on global education at a school selected by them; they will also have the opportunity to participate in a training session carried out by PHA.
Basia, a Polish Humanitarian Action volunteer, a Jagiellonian University student, has already carried out such classes at Local-Government Elementary School in Siercza: “Running these classes was a very positive experience. Our project was addressed to elementary school children, so we were a bit afraid if they behave, if we can make the classes interesting for them; we had a lot of doubts at the preparation stage. However it turned out that there was no reasons to be afraid. We met with enthusiastic reaction and great interest, and the children were really nice. There were moments when they evidently were losing interest but we managed to react quickly and adjust our plans so that no-one was bored.”
Thanks to that cooperation children and young people at Polish schools will have an opportunity to learn more about the world, and Polish Humanitarian Action volunteers will get new experiences of sharing knowledge with young audience. Maybe one day this will make young students join activities aimed at improving the situation of the needy all over the world.
Basia sums up her project saying: “It was a great experience not only because it was a great success – and it was, as tutors of other groups asked us to carry out our classes with their students as well, but also children met us with great joy, and that is probably the best evidence that they enjoyed it. And during the classes, as well as during our preparations, we learned how to work with children, and working with them sometimes needs a lot of patience and creativity.”
How to design your studies?
You may join various activities. Students wanting to join the “PROJECTOR” Program must only register in the Internet volunteers base and select a school where they want to implement their projects. The program will pay them back the costs of trip and of the necessary materials, they will get certificates, and extra training. But first of all, they will get a smile of young participants of their classes. The schools wanting to invite volunteers may apply through the program base.
