Preparation Seminar 1 (Germany)

From July 18 to July 25, I was at Burg Ludwigstein in Witzenhausen (Hessen) for the preparation seminar from Icja. The purpose of the seminar was to 1. exchange ideas among the volunteers who will depart through Icja in 2024 and 2. raise awareness and understanding of social issues that one faces in everyday life, but especially in a volunteer service in a foreign country. Besides team-building games and leisure activities with fellow volunteers, the whole thing was structured in workshops, exhibitions, films, lectures, and discussion rooms. Here are summarized highlights from the seminar days:

Day 1 (July 18) - Arrival, castle tour, getting to know each other, team building

Day 2 (July 19) – Topics: Identity and values; Leisure: Karaoke

Day 3 (July 20) – Topics: Perception and power, perspective shift; Leisure: campfire

Day 4 (July 21) – Media Workshop

Day 5 (July 22) – Topics: Gender and sexism, awareness of boundaries, country-specific information

Day 6 (July 23) – Topics: (Post)colonial continuities

Day 7 (July 24) – Topics: Power of storytelling, fundraising calls, relationships in volunteer service, Leisure: packing, family birthday visit :)

Day 8 (July 25) – Departure

Every day was full of sessions and getting to know each other. Especially the first two days were super exhausting. I had to orient myself first and, of course, wanted to get to know all the new faces. You can compare it well to a holiday camp. I was in a room with 8 girls, with whom I’m now in the same project. This way, we could get to know each other better, and each one is mega sweet <3 Otherwise, I also spent a lot of quality time with the other volunteers. I’m already looking forward to seeing the people again in a year!

The preparation seminar in Hessen feels so far away, even though it has only been a little over a week since I boarded the plane. So much has happened since then, and I’m incredibly curious how I will reflect on this in a few weeks.

☆Tine☆