The beginning of a new race!!! My EVS is over

 Taking the first step and challenging myself going to Sweden was not an easy going thought. Lots of questions, fears and expectations at the same time. 365 days far away from my friends, family… looked difficult, but I said YES and now... it is DONE.

  During the past 12 months so many things have happened, so many things have changed and so much progress has been made in this period of my life. Looking back and I can say that one year ago I wouldn’t have pictured my life as it is now and the person as I am today.  I achieved my personal and professional goals and some goals that I have never thought I will. Nothing compares with the experience itself. Maybe you have noticed that, ever since I took the first steps of my EVS, I have been repeating that EVS is all about new experiences.  It is hard to summarize them in the text, but I will try.

 First, I want to say, that I am so lucky that I had my EVS at Framtidståget. It is the best place to gain your experiences at your personal and professional level. I had a privilege to work with amazing team – “Project Factory” and learn from them. As you know from my previous posts, we were working with different projects. I learned a lot about project management, I had possibility to be a co-trainer and to train my public speech skills. I tried and put my idea into the action; I wrote my own project and got a grant from the NA. It is kind of result for me and I feel so glad because of this. Thanks to the support of my mentor Kristina I had the possibilities to challenge myself, to travel, to explore new cultures, to meet new people and to believe that everything is possible if you put your mind to it.


  My EVS year was not just working at Framtidståget, also I had an internship at the Embassy of Georgia to Sweden. It is a huge experience for me, as for a person who is interested in international relations. Also it gave me a chance to make a network with Georgians in Sweden and sometimes to feel myself as at home.

   Of course my EVS was more than just a hard-working process. One of the best things which I got is nice memories with nice people.  With my new friends I have visited lots of beautiful places in Sweden and in other countries. We had so memorable times together, I am so grateful to have them in my life.  After my EVS I feel, that I became a travel-addicted person, I hope I will keep this addiction. J 

   Yesterday was such an emotional day. We evaluated our EVS, got so nice words from Yousef, Kristina and from other staff. Also, we got the presents and lots of hugs. We had a Goodbye dinner with our project team, which became a bit sad, because we realized that something wonderful was over. But, I believe that the finish line is just a beginning of a whole new race.

Recommend EVS?  Without a blink!

P.S     I want to give you 12 reasons why you should go for EVS:

1. You will get so much professional and personal experiences / Learning process every day.
2. You will be faced lots of challenges. 
3. You will work in the multicultural environment.
4. You will have the most colorful days in your life and will say NO to routine.
5. You will find the time to do some funny staff and to travel.
6. You will have so many interesting things to do in the real life that you will miss out all the stuff what is happening on fb. 
7. You will be able to make new friendships and risque to forget previous ones.
8. Maybe you will find out what is interesting for you and will change the directions of your life.
9. You will find that the dreams come true and start to change them into the plans.
10. You might be forced to quit all your bad habits.
11. You will become independent, organized, structured, and able to survive in a big and expensive city.
12.  You will get in love with helping others.

ForumSYD conference "Anti-discrimination and equality in Eastern Partnership and Russia"

During my EVS I got into close cooperation with official Belarusian community in Sweden "Sveriges Belarusier" and became a representative of that NGO (in addition to Föreningen Framtidståget) at ForumSYD Eastern Partnership Network of Swedish Civil Society NGOs. Since the end of 2015  "Sveriges Belarusier" together with 8 big Swedish NGOs (ForumSYD, RFSL, RFSU, Östgruppen, Kvinna till Kvinna, etc.) have been involved in the preparation of 2-days conference on the topic of anti-discrimination policies in Eastern Partnership and Russia.

The conference took place on the 15-16 February 2016 in Stockholm. The first day was a closed event with presentations of civil activists from partner countries (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia). Some representatives from local NGOs took part and presented current anti-discrimination law system in Sweden. There were also panel and group discussions to exchange experience and think about future cooperation in the field. The second day was a free open event for everybody at Royal Coin Cabinet - also as a mix of presentations and panel discussions.

This conference covered different forms of discrimination: women, ethnic minorities, LGBT people, elderly people and people with disabilities. For example, "Sveriges Belarusier" invited guests from 2 Belarusian NGO's, Sergey Drozdovsky from "Office of human rights of people with disabilities" and Tatsiana Yakauleva and Dzmitry Valoshka from "Children. Autism. Parents".

Tatsiana and Dzmitry were in Stockholm for the first time and were very excited by the city and people. They stayed in Stockholm a bit longer than the conference to have study visits to NGOs that work with autistic children, and in addition visited us at Föreningen Framtidståget.