Silvia's experience in France
19.09.2023
Trying to put into words what this European volunteer project in France has meant to me is not easy, even a few weeks after my return to Italy. There is a whole host of faces, experiences, stories and flavours that represent these months in Paris, which have just come to an end.
My project took place over 10 months in Créteil, a suburb south of Paris, at a socio-cultural centre and Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture, focused on popular education. The project activities focused on ecological transition, but were enriched by the centre’s many initiatives on gender equality, art and culture, and cooking. I set up exhibition rooms on Syria and Tunisia, organised events on gender equality in sport, and ran workshops with French and European volunteers on reducing carbon footprints. Among my fondest memories are definitely the activities in the community garden of the socio-cultural centre: treasure hunts with the neighbourhood children, planting seeds in the garden with community volunteers, workshops for creating furniture from pallets, and weekly work in the garden throughout the different seasons of the year.
I believe I can say with certainty that the greatest wealth of my mission in France has been the people I met: movie nights organized with the residents of my foyer in Paris’s 20th arrondissement, couscous shared with participants in the activities of the socio-cultural center and with my colleagues, endless walks among buildings and Parisian streets with volunteers from all over Europe, and evening aperitifs in the shared garden after watering the vegetable patch on July evenings. In the people I met, I found—at different times—friends, points of reference, and teachers. They explained everyday expressions to me, recommended places and experiences, and allowed me to discover different cultures and cuisines. Many projects within a single mission.
All of this took place against the backdrop of a city like Paris, where a different atmosphere can be felt on the terraces, in museum corridors and small artists’ ateliers, along the banks of the Seine, and in buildings renovated for local residents. Living in Paris is not easy: Paris is not a city that can be immediately grasped or that welcomes you with open arms; above all, it is a city full of contradictions. I experienced a wide range of emotions—excitement for new opportunities and discoveries, but also days of nostalgia, dissatisfaction, or uncertainty. I believe that an experience like this pushes us to spend time with ourselves, to get to know ourselves better—our traits and desires—and, why not, to create new parts of ourselves as well.
I am proud to say that I have left parts of my heart around the world, in places, people and experiences. In Paris and Créteil, I found people who, in one way or another, will always be home to me.
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