Interview with Andreea Tundrea - President of Team 4 Youth Association

Andreea Tundrea

President of Team 4 Youth Association

When did you start your adventure with voluntary service?
Andreea: In 2008, September I left from Romania to be an EVS volunteer in Bystrzyca Klodzka, Poland for 9 months. I didn’t know exactly what I was supposed to do there, I was just happy to join such a project after finishing my university studies. I spent 9 months working in EFM office, dealing with different activities for youngsters and children. This is how I started my adventure as a volunteer and this is how I decided that I must start my career as a youth worker.

 

What was the reason that you decided to go abroad as a volunteer?
Andreea: After finishing my university studies I was too confused regarding what my future career should be. I decided to go abroad for an EVS in order to broaden my horizont about different cultures, different people, different possibilities. It helped me a lot!

Where did you spend your voluntary service and what kind of project it was?
Andreea: I did my European Voluntary Service in Poland, Bystrzyca Klodzka. It is a small town in south-western part of the country. Mountainous region, beautiful landscape. My project was about the EUROWEEK, school of leadership. It is a national training course for youngsters. It takes place one week every month. I was one of the trainers and facilitators of the event. I also worked with English language classes in the local community. What is more, I got involved with some of the projects of the hosting organization and this helped a lot in gaining experience about what youth work is. As a multiplying effect I work now with an NGO in my own country.


Why Poland? Why EVS?
Andreea: I didn’t choose the country, the country chose me. I sent lots of applications for EVS to different organizations that I found interesting on the EVS database. The Polish one called me first and the idea of the project seemed very interesting to me. Also, I wanted to get to know a culture that I didn’t have access to before and Poland was one of the best choices. EVS, because I find it to be a great opportunity for youngsters to live in a different environment, to grow up, to learn to be active, to have access to different ideas, opinions. It is a way of forming a new perspective about the world, about your own life.


What is the difference between Amicus and EVS?
Andreea: This is an easy question for me, as I spent days and nights trying to find the answer when I was helping in the preparation of the project in Poland. What I found out: Amicus is a programme concentrating on promoting and encouraging civic work and voluntarism. It has three main parts: dissemination of information on a national level (this means information campaigns, national events, competitions in the applicant country), research in the partners country (with the help of the AMICUS volunteers and the partners, the coordinating organization must provide a report stating the level of civic work and voluntarism in the participant countries), and voluntary service (this is pretty much similar with what EVS is, that is hosting and sending volunteers abroad in different activities).


What is the main reason that you decided to work in your own organization in Romania?
Andreea: My friends and I always say that once you join youth work you do it for life, it’s addictive. Being an EVS volunteer in Poland was my first step towards this addiction. I couldn’t stop afterwards so I decided to open my organization in Romania. What makes it so addictive: non-formal education is one of the things really missing in the lives of youngsters, especially in central and eastern European countries. When you start a project for non-formal education and you see how youngsters develop so fast under your coordination and how much they enjoy and need that you provide activities for them, the personal satisfaction is so significant that you can’t think about working in another field. The intercultural part is also fascinating and really important.

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