And this fall, as support for our work, two lovely girls arrived from Spain and Germany, who will be with us for a year. Maybe you have already seen and met them on the street or in our COD, but if you haven’t, they introduced themselves in an interesting way and wrote a few facts about themselves… well, meet our Eva and Neele.

EVA

I’m Eva from Valencia and I’m doing a year of voluntary service here in Jajce. For the last two years I’ve been thinking about doing a year abroad to get to know myself better and gain new experiences, rather than going straight to university. Since my school encouraged such ideas and my family supported my idea from the beginning, I finally decided to do a voluntary service. Because of my will to work on social problems and diversity in the future, I was looking for a place that was somehow adapted to these ideas, and I found the organisation “Friedenskreis Halle” through the website weltwaerts.de. Their programs brought me to Bosnia-Herzegovina and finally to Jajce. I hope to feel comfortable here and learn more about the country. For the service, I hope to get the chance to implement my projects and get positive feedback. As I’ve only been here for a month, I’m still getting used to all the new impressions and culture, but what really impressed me at first was the beautiful nature that surrounds the city and the huge coffee culture that the country has. Most of the young people I have had the chance to meet are wonderful people with a very different outlook on life to what I was used to, which is perfect for me to open up to this diverse culture. I can contribute by promoting positive values such as openness, inclusivity and diversity through some community and youth work activities such as gardening, photography, playing sports together and much more.

NEELE

My name is Neele-Marie Lofruthe and I’m 19 years old. I’m from Oldenburg, a city in the north of Germany. As I just graduated from high school, I wanted to take a break from studying and see more of the world. Exploring the world in the form of a voluntary service is a great thing to do because besides from the new experiences you get yourself you can also do something good for others. Additionally, I’m very interested in developing my self-image as an European and getting to know Europe from a new, non-German perspective. That’s why I decided for this voluntary service in Jajce.

 I like the town quite much, klein aber fein (small but nice), as we would say in German. It’s nice to have so many places to just sit and enjoy life. With the supermarkets and shops you find almost everything you need. Above all, I’m excited by the beautiful landscape with the Pliva and Vrbas, the Pliva lakes and forests. Just going for a run or a walk in the nature is amazing and reassuring.

Almost everyone I met so far was/is kind to me and I appreciate the open and welcoming attitude of the people here. It’s nice that COD has so many young people who are committed to the organization and who helped us finding our way around when we first came here. Still, I don’t feel that integrated in the youth structures yet and I hope that will change.

I’m a very musical person so I’m definitely down for starting any kind of musical activities like a choir project or karaoke sessions. Also I’m really into creative things like doing handicrafts, upcycling, etc. and I can imagine organizing some workshops regarding that. My overall goal for my volunteering year is having a good time and making encounters and experiences that will be enriching for my future life.