Our Experience in Project Friendship

Hi, we are Lieke from the Netherland and Petronilla form Italy.

We participated in a volunteering project called “Project friendship” in Kokkola. We joined this project because we wanted to help children and experience new cultures and learn form each other.

During the first weeks of the project, we focused on preparation. We had to think about the main activity that we wanted to do with the children. While brainsorming different ideas, we realized that bullying is also a very important topic. We had several possible activities to choose from, but in the end we decided to focus on an activity that included both friendship and bullying. Also we found it important that the children did somthing with their hands.

At the schools we didn’t just do the workshop. During the breaks, we played games with the children, like football and finnish games that the children teached us. That really helped us connect with them.

During school time, we joined different classes like math, history, PE, religion and woodworking. Honestly, we think we learned the most during those lessons and got closer to the children there.

At first, the Finnish children were a bit shy, but after a few days we really built a bond with them. That gave us a lot of motivation to continue the project and just enjoy it. And we got the feeling that the children liked having us there and learned form our presence.

We now feel more confident meeting new people and stepping into unfamiliar situations. One important thing we gained is definitely communication.

In our free time In our we did many activities including bowling, canoeing and mountain biking, but we really enjoyed visiting the cafés in Kokkola and tasting a typical Finnish dessert. We loved the international evening, where everyone prepared a traditional dish from their own country, and we were truly surprised to taste dishes from other nations. Our favourite was an Ukrainian dish.

Another favorite activity was swimming in the cold sea, it was an amazing feeling. And lastly, we loved seeing the Northern Lights, it was our first time ever seeing that.

So our message is come and experience this fun opportunity! It might feel a bit challenging at first but it will be worth it, so don’ t be afraid .