Denis' EVS story

My journey to Latvia

I want to express my acknowledgements to NGO Miroir Vagabond which introduced me to NGO Compagnons Bâtisseurs and its activities. Thanks to them it was possible to spend 6 weeks in Latvia during my project. And I want to tell my gratefulness to people of Radi Vidi Pats particularly to Linda, Agata, Zura and Sanja. 

 After preparatory meeting with Anne-Sophie COLLARD from Compagnons Bâtisseurs I was interested by different topics of the project.

One of the previewed themes was cycling as sustainable type of transportation (in Liepaja it was very easy to use bicycle, they are everywhere there).

Other things that I liked a lot were activities in Youth house, renovation of building of RVP and working in bio farm.

Moreover during this journey I travelled a lot that let me to discover new countries and new cultures.

 When I arrived to Liepaja I has been welcomed very good. The place where I was accommodated was really nice, it was big and well decorated. “I loved the idea how they decorated the place with recycled objects”. I had some troubles with keys for the house but the issue was solved fast.

Soon after my arrival Marika Zveja and her friends showed me part of the city. “I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised”. Than another day Sergey Morozo, Jana Perenko walked with me in the north part of Liepaja. “I spent a really great day with them and they explained me a lot of things about the city”.

Thanks to this opportunity I could contribute to renovation of the house of RVP, work together with the team and learn something about renovations. The team was really great.

I also went to youth house and took part in different activities with kids. I met very good people there and they gave me a lot of ideas for activities that I can use later. I liked a lot that in this house they work with youth of different backgrounds as one group all together. I learned a lot from this. Great thanks to Karosta Kids.

And finally I went to the village. First time I went there to help with preparation of summer solstice celebration. The work was a bit hard and exhausting, but we prepared everything in a big group together. I was lucky to work in such a wonderful team, I loved them a lot. Thanks to them I saw and did a lot of things that I have never expected to do in my life: take care of goats, milk them and make cheese, jump above the fire. Funny tradition, but it was cool.

Second time when I came back in the village I helped with everyday tasks there. I realised that people there are very generous and kind. They like to play music, they told that they know how to play one or several instruments.

And here I am in the middle of my project in Latvia the most difficult thing that I experienced was to understand what the others tell me in English. But they do their best to make me understand maximum what they say. Sometimes it makes me frustrated, but day after day I am learning more.

Denis Detiege