The project involves participants from all over Europe for 59 days. The itinerant action along the various trekking routes and trails of the ancient Via Francigene Siciliane, touches also rural and isolated communities. During the project volunteers will promote Non- Formal Education activities on different topics and they will implement both personal and team actions.
Aims of this project:
- To improve the health and well-being of vulnerable people by promoting healthy, environmentally friendly and positive lifestyles.
- To contribute to the romotion and protection f Sicily's cultural heritage.
- To raise awareness on health, cultural heritage, nature and inclusion.
Şevval Çabuk
Hello! I'm Şevval.
From May to July, I volunteered for two months in Sicily through LIDOSK as part of the "Health, Hiking, Heritage" project. This project was hiking-themed and much more active than other volunteer projects. From the moment I was accepted, I had many questions. Fortunately, LIDOSK connected me with volunteers who had participated in similar projects, making the process much easier for me. Our host organization was also always there for us, and none of my questions went unanswered.
During the project, we hiked and communicated with the people of Sicily to gather information for creating a cultural heritage map. We truly experienced Sicily and felt almost like locals. Additionally, we all improved in terms of teamwork, living together, and communicating with people.
If you want to get to know different cultures, see various lifestyles and perspectives, and have unforgettable experiences, volunteering is a great opportunity. I hope every young person, like me, gets to experience this and discover new versions of themselves.
Arda Jiyan Bozkurt
The H3 project is finally over. We spent a lot of days with many activities during this two-month period and we have come to the end of the process. Before the project started, I had concerns because I did not have such a long-term experience abroad, but I quickly left these concerns behind when I met my other friends in the project. Even though we were given the necessary information before the project, I was excited. I did not expect that we would be able to get to know the cultural heritage and nature of Sicily so closely, or rather, that we would be able to experience the culture directly. We completed every stage of the project with pleasure, with the support of both our host organization and Lidosk. The path we traveled on foot in Sicily helped us to understand better the cultural treasure of the region. Our interviews with local people, being invited to their homes, and the information we received about the architecture and nature in the region added experience to us. We fit paragraphs of information into each day and hiked for kilometers. We formed lasting friendships with volunteers from all over Europe. We discovered the historical texture and natural beauties of Sicily. We walked among historical ruins and breathed among the unique beauties of nature. The support of both our organizations during this process made us feel at home. We had unique experiences, we felt like a part of the region rather than just wandering around as tourists. We felt even closer to the culture, people and natural beauties of the region. With this project, we had not only discovered new places, but also had the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with people from different cultures. Since we were divided into groups, we experienced teamwork to the fullest. We met with different perspectives. The friendships we established with volunteers, each with a different story, enabled us to accumulate lifelong memories. I would like to thank Lidosk for carrying out this entire process meticulously, and if anyone has hesitations about applying for any volunteering project, I recommend them to apply without hesitation.
Reyhan Gümüş
Hello, I am Reyhan
Between 19 May and 18 July, I volunteered in the project called Health, Hiking, Heritage through LIDOSK. I was very excited that it was more active project comparing to my previous 3 ESC experiences and the projects I have read before. Since the first week of the project I knew that my excitement was rightful.
In the first week, in addition to the training required for hiking, we carried out many activities to understand the differences of the people we work with and to build a healthy group. These activities relieved us and gave us a preview of hiking phase.
Neither Strauss nor LIDOSK left us alone throughout the project. Although it is a challenging project, I felt free and safe.
Our main goal was to make cultural heritage mapping . Strauss explained to us how to do mapping during the first week training. So we made our mapping by meeting people in the villages, using all our attention to realize small details and enjoying the road. During this process, we almost became a family with our teammates. I learned interesting songs, foods, dances, idioms and more from different cultures.
What excites me the most about volunteering projects is not only the excitement of reading the information packs but also the things that not written and you don’t know yet. You go to the project without knowing who you will meet, what you will see, or changes that you might experience. Specifically for this project, the camping areas we found every day, watching the stars, and sleeping while seeing new faces of the moon was not the first thing that comes to mind, but it was a very different horizon for Reyhan, who was born and raised in the city.
I hope that young people, like me also have the opportunity to discover new horizons through volunteer programs.
Toprak Eren Hümaz
Hello, I am Toprak. Between 19 May and 18 July, I worked as a volunteer in the project called Health, Hiking, Heritage, in short, H3, through the Turkish organization, non-governmental organization LIDOSK, in Sicily, Italy. This volunteering project was a hiking-themed project, it was much different and interesting than other volunteering projects. From the first moment I was accepted, I had millions of question marks in my mind, and most of these question marks were due to doubts, but I was lucky that LIDOSK had brought together volunteers many times before in such projects and sent its own volunteers to many projects. This easily solved all my questions. Likewise, Italy, our host organization, was also very effective and competent, they did not leave any of our questions unanswered and they were attentive. During the project, we were walking along the route determined and getting information about the region and social structure by talking to local people, thus creating a cultural heritage map. I can say that we felt like real locals due to their culture and climate, and we adapted well. In addition to such beauties, we also developed how to act together as a team, find common ground and live together, and how to communicate with other people, just as we developed our foreign language. Volunteering is the most suitable and wonderful opportunity for those who want to learn the way of life of people from different cultures, their cultures, their perspectives, their ways of living, and who want to share your own culture with others while doing this. I feel lucky to be involved in this project at a young age, and I want everyone to experience these feelings at a young age, to discover and develop themselves.
