LIFE ON FARM THROUGH THE EYES OF CITY GUY
I'm Uros, I am 23 years old and I'm coming from Maribor in Slovenia. For this EVS project, I applied, because I always wanted to travel, meet new people and their culture, but this was prevented because of my financial situation. I applied for a 3-week project, because this experience is the first one for me, and it seems to me that 21 days are just long enough (not too long, not too short).
10 DAYS OF LIFE ON FARM
On June 17th around 13.30, I and another volunteer from Slovenia - Manuela arrived at the airport in Riga - Latvia, where Stanislavs, our coordinator was expecting us. In Riga, we picked up the volunteer Francesca, which otherwise comes from Italy, but it was 5 years ago, after the first EVS experience moved to Latvia. On the way to Dimzeni farm, we stopped at the store and buy some food. When we finally arrived at the farm after a long drive, we met Edgars and Oskars. Edgars is the owner of the farm, and Oscars is his foster child, who lives on the farm since he was 14 years old. When we all presented ourselves, Stanislavs showed us the interior of the house (bedrooms, storage, kitchen, toilet facilities, etc.) and surroundings; river - where we took bath because we could use shower only for 3 minutes, because of the limited amount of hot water, garden and sauna - in which we occasionally relaxed a bit after a hard-working day. After the tour of the farm, I was very shocked because I am the city guy and I'm not used to living like that and I thought that I will not be able to finish this project.
The next day we went to pick up the 4 member team of volunteers from France. When we picked them up, we went to the store to buy some things for work (gloves and shoes), the rest of the day we were free because very hard days were followed. When we were all in the farm, we divided into 3 groups: the Goat team, the Working team, and the Kitchen/Cleaning team. The next day was very hard, because we dig out the pillars, which we needed for building a bridge, so they can deliver winter supply food for animals. Then we had two free days because Latvians celebrated Ligo and Jani day. We saw how this day is celebrated in the city because we went to Jelgava every year’s festival, where a lot of people dressed their traditional clothes, they made crowns from flowers, leaves, and branches and then they danced and sung by the fire. It is similar in the countryside, but friends and relatives come from the cities to the countryside and build a fire at sunset on the highest hill and wait until sunrise. They believe that the light of fire will give power and fertility to the land and people to whom it shines. After the free days, we were waiting for the next task: upgrading the road for tractor, we were digging out the pillars again, we needed to transport stones that are 3 times heavier than us. And after that, we made a road with these pillars and stones. It was hard, but we did it. The last day on the farm run slower because we were preparing for departure and in the end, we painted on the wall some characters of the country we come from.
During these 10 days of living on the farm, I learned how to live in a community with a lot of people, which was a bit challenging, I realized that I am stronger than I thought physically and mentally, and I learned a lot about Latvian culture.
Definitely, I will remember this forever.
Uroš
Project “Dare to Act” is financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
This publication reflects only the viewpoint of the author.