The beginning
Ever since I was young, I have always wanted to travel abroad, learn about other cultures & meet new people. My journey with Erasmus+/Youth in Action started in 2012 when I went on my first youth exchange project to Romania. Afterwards, I got to learn all about Erasmus mobilities & opportunities. I was very interested in doing EVS back then specifically in Italy so that I could practice the Italian language I learned from 2010-2011. I went on several youth exchanges to Italy during 2013 & 2014, however, it wasn’t easy to participate in an EVS, especially if you are Egyptian, finding a project for you, getting selected & processing your documents are such difficult processes. In 2015, I gave up on doing an EVS when I applied for my master’s studies in Italy and got accepted. Then I thought I don’t need to do EVS now because what I wanted was to live in Italy, practice Italian, meet new people, live alone in another country, experience new environment, culture, cuisine, etc. And I got what I wanted.
Fast forward to February 2019, one month before my graduation. I was in an Erasmus+ training in Berlin where I got to meet the team coming from Latvia. I got emotionally attached to one of them after keeping in touch for a while after the project & it was during that time when I was thinking about what should I do after my graduation in March 2019. Then one day I decided that I will use the EVS mobility so that I can live in Latvia for a while and also be closer in distance to that person. I wrote to many Latvian organizations checking if they had vacancies & luckily, Piedzivojuma Gars had an open call for EVS-ers at that time. I applied specifically to their project because it was an outdoor project. Many other Latvian organisations had other interesting projects as well and they were willing to host me, but when I gave it a thought, I realised that WOW (Woods of Wisdom) is the most suitable project for me.
Fast forward to February 2019, one month before my graduation. I was in an Erasmus+ training in Berlin where I got to meet the team coming from Latvia. I got emotionally attached to one of them after keeping in touch for a while after the project & it was during that time when I was thinking about what should I do after my graduation in March 2019. Then one day I decided that I will use the EVS mobility so that I can live in Latvia for a while and also be closer in distance to that person. I wrote to many Latvian organizations checking if they had vacancies & luckily, Piedzivojuma Gars had an open call for EVS-ers at that time. I applied specifically to their project because it was an outdoor project. Many other Latvian organisations had other interesting projects as well and they were willing to host me, but when I gave it a thought, I realised that WOW (Woods of Wisdom) is the most suitable project for me.
The journey
I came to Latvia because I was following my heart. However, it wasn’t only that… My first time to visit Latvia was in 2016, as I visited one friend who was on the same job-shadowing project with me in Berlin, September 2015. I got to experience Latvian nature and forests for the first time & I knew for sure that I will have to visit again one day. Therefore, my choice of WOW as a project was based on my desire to experience more of Latvian outdoors & nature. I couldn’t see myself sitting in an office preparing indoor activities most of the time. With Piedzivojuma Gars, I got to experience various school visits, excursions, hikes, Orienteering Games & team building activities in different cities like Riga, Kegums, Cesis, Pārgaujas Novads, Kuldiga, Jurmala, Viesite & Valka. I wanted a project that would mostly be outdoors dealing with nature and physical activities. Woods of Wisdom was the perfect project that suited my interests.
Dancing is one of the activities I have been passionate about since childhood. During the project, I was so much inspired by nature, so it made me want to dance more often. While having camps or training with school kids, I used to dance every morning during their break time & sometimes they joined me & we danced together. After a while, I met one ecstatic dance DJ who was visiting my organization in a vegan festival I was cooking in & after having a long conversation with him, I realized that I have been into ecstatic dance all my life without naming it. Then after attending some of his events, I decided that I would start hosting my own dance events because it is something I am extremely passionate about. I started creating my own ecstatic dance events on Facebook, inviting members and other friends, choosing my music, preparing my playlist, setting up the place, DJ-ing for my own events while dancing myself & fully enjoying what I love doing with others who shared a common interest.
In addition to dancing, I am passionate about cooking. It was the primary task I contributed in, before starting my dance events. Before starting this EVS, I participated several times as a part of the cooking teams in various Erasmus+ projects in Germany. I am used to cooking for large numbers of people with different nutritional needs. Not to mention that I find cooking very interesting and I love doing it. The first activity I did with my host organization was cooking during one spring gathering for a large number of people. And throughout the project, I was mainly in the cooking team during LEC training that happened several times throughout the project. During those times, we learned so much about how each of us functions on a team level and personally. We got to know what best suits & works for each of us and what helps us perform better on both levels. Other than that, I like to cook creatively without recipes & during gatherings & meetings, I brought cakes and other oriental desserts I baked for the members of my organization and they loved it. The best part of cooking for me is watching the smile of content of the person eating and enjoying my cooking. Sharing food is the most rewarding action in the whole process of cooking.
Dancing is one of the activities I have been passionate about since childhood. During the project, I was so much inspired by nature, so it made me want to dance more often. While having camps or training with school kids, I used to dance every morning during their break time & sometimes they joined me & we danced together. After a while, I met one ecstatic dance DJ who was visiting my organization in a vegan festival I was cooking in & after having a long conversation with him, I realized that I have been into ecstatic dance all my life without naming it. Then after attending some of his events, I decided that I would start hosting my own dance events because it is something I am extremely passionate about. I started creating my own ecstatic dance events on Facebook, inviting members and other friends, choosing my music, preparing my playlist, setting up the place, DJ-ing for my own events while dancing myself & fully enjoying what I love doing with others who shared a common interest.
In addition to dancing, I am passionate about cooking. It was the primary task I contributed in, before starting my dance events. Before starting this EVS, I participated several times as a part of the cooking teams in various Erasmus+ projects in Germany. I am used to cooking for large numbers of people with different nutritional needs. Not to mention that I find cooking very interesting and I love doing it. The first activity I did with my host organization was cooking during one spring gathering for a large number of people. And throughout the project, I was mainly in the cooking team during LEC training that happened several times throughout the project. During those times, we learned so much about how each of us functions on a team level and personally. We got to know what best suits & works for each of us and what helps us perform better on both levels. Other than that, I like to cook creatively without recipes & during gatherings & meetings, I brought cakes and other oriental desserts I baked for the members of my organization and they loved it. The best part of cooking for me is watching the smile of content of the person eating and enjoying my cooking. Sharing food is the most rewarding action in the whole process of cooking.
The culture
Our project was nature-based as most of the activities were outdoors. Thanks to that, I got to see more of the Latvian nature & learn about Latvian forest life & creatures. Not to mention experiencing and learning more about Latvian climate & weather. During the project, I had the chance to climb trees, which is something I am not used to nor did in my childhood. The nature of my birth country is not as green as in Latvia so this was not possible. I was thrilled each time I climbed a tree and that I got better at it at some point. Also, I had the chance to rope jump twice from a tree. Moreover, I learned about ropes, knots, tree houses, Jacob’s ladder, bonfire, kayaking, long forest hikes, walking on glass, different music instruments, cold soup, smoked chicken, Rhubarb juice, team building games, & other new things through my host organization.
There were lots of encounters that I came across because of living within a Latvian family, like Eastern celebration, egg drawing using leaves, making gingerbreads for the first time, as well as decorating Christmas tree and receiving gifts, eating special cheese during Jani/Ligo, celebrating name days, Biezpiena Cake, Karums, etc. Moreover, because of the deep interest of my host family in trees & flowers, I naturally learned so much about trees and flowers & even helped with cutting trees and brushing away leaves and branches, visited different locations with different flowers & learned more about them.
Additionally, I got to learn different cultural & artistic aspects related to Latvians, their culture & traditions. Like attaching leaves to eggs and boiling them with onion petals during Eastern to draw on eggs. It was the first time to see this technique of using natural ingredients to draw on eggs. In Egypt, we just boil them with hibiscus, parsley or turmeric for giving them colour & if we want to draw, we just use food colouring. Not to mention, how they celebrate during mid-summer festival & make crowns & tiaras out of leaves & flower petals. This connection with nature is just a spectacular aspect that amazed me. I love nature, but the nature I was born within is different, so adding this to my life experience was utterly worth it.
Last thoughts
During my stay in Latvia, I got to experience living in another area of Europe with its different traditions. I had the chance to meet different people and volunteers from different countries and various cultural backgrounds & increase my circle of connections. Moreover, I had the chance to have so many valuable long conversations with different members of the organization on different topics that enriched me & opened my heart and mind to different dimensions, views & perspectives. A lot of added values, insightful opinions, precious advice, and relieving discussions. In addition, I learned more about Latvian history, way of living, life views, celebrations, cuisine, and other aspects of life… I will not be able to deny that a part of me is Latvian now. My love for nature and the forests everywhere in that country had grown fonder. My connection to my host family & celebrating all the events with them throughout the entire year definitely added up to the whole experience. The various experience I had with my hosting organizations and activities with school kids in different cities was also an important factor. My Latvian host family, as well as my host organization, were both supportive and encouraging during the whole project and after it ended. Going for an EVS is definitely a highly recommended experience for personal growth & self-development.
Raghda's Gallery*
*We have excluded many pictures with groups and school kids because of GDPR and general needs of privacy.