Being a volunteer at Lydie

How is Marta, our Spanish volunteer, doing in placement Lydie, situated in Český Těšín? What has she learnt so far?

"When I think about my experience at Lydie, the first thing that comes to my mind are the clients. I have discovered a place in which guaranteeing their well-being is the most essential goal of the workers, who make an important effort every day to make them feel as comfortable and safe as possible. They also try to make me feel include in their team, allowing me to give my opinion about different issues and letting me help them with different tasks. I spend most of my day with Irena, my supervisor and the physiotherapist, helping her during the sessions she has with the clients; but I also participate in the activities the social workers plan and do with the children with autism. Finally, I am trying to learn the language to be able to communicate with the clients, so I also spend some of the time at work practicing Czech.

During these weeks I have lived very different experiences: I have gone shopping with the youngest clients to encourage them to be more and more autonomous, but I have also filmed some of the sessions they have with the social workers to be able to appreciate their evolution in the future.  These are some of my favorite activities, because they allow me to see the evolution and behavior of the children over the time, but I have also enjoyed the time I spent creating the materials that they usually use at the sessions: as the children have some difficulties with communication, Lydie’s workers employ some materials that facilitate their learning. It’s beautiful to see that they are, in fact, effective, and actually help the children during their learning process.

Nevertheless, I’m not only spending time at Lydie: I also help Irena at Eden, another center that is dedicated to take care of people with special psychological and physical needs. In Eden I have met some of the kindest people I have ever been with and I have been laughing with Nikki, one of the clients, while I was trying to pronounce some czech words. We go by bike there twice a week, being one of my most appreciated moments, but at the same time one of my most challenging ones: I have not that much experience with people that have physical disabilities, so I feel less confident when I have to help there.

With all of that, I could say that during these weeks I have learnt a lot about the different target groups I’m working with: I have discovered that most of the children with autism have severe difficulties with communication and with keeping eye contact, so it’s important to insist and work in both aspects; and about the clients with physical difficulties I have discovered the importance of making exercises with them, since they help them to feel comfortable and to take care of their health and bodies. But the main and most important aspect I want to include in this writing, using it as a sump up, are all the things that clients are actually teaching me, as the possibility of feeling include and part of the organization even when we don’t share the same language (I will never forget the day in which, speaking a mix of English and Czech, I met all the children from the school and made me feel so appreciated)." (Marta, Spain)