Online experiences: When volunteering becomes digital

by Emela Fazlic, EERcomt Volunteer; YAC Eco Project (ESC11)

Nowadays everything is becoming more and more digitalized, from schools to public services to shopping and it has taken its toll on the NGO sector as well. We'll present how volunteering looks like in the age of COVID, through the series of articles written by our new online volunteer Emela - this is her experience.

Who is the person behind the screen?

Who am I? Well this is a hard question in general and something you don’t ask yourself often, or at least not often enough. There are many characteristics that determine one’s personality, but I’d start by saying that I am a nature lover, so I like to spend my time outdoors, exploring, hiking… I’ve always appreciated the nature and all its gifts, so I wanted to somehow incorporate its protection in my everyday life through studies and further on in my future professional career therefore I chose my Master studies in sustainable development.

Besides these I am also passionate about languages, it’s one of the most useful skills one can have because it breaks the cultural barriers and allows you to communicate freely with people around the world, and it makes your travel quite easy – another thing I enjoy profoundly. In the last few years I’ve managed to blend something I love – which is travel, with doing something useful – volunteering and it has been the best decision I’ve made, since it taught me much more than any school will ever be able to do. This was the reason behind my application for this volunteering project, however COVID had other plans for me, but I still hope that through the blended experience I'll manage to also have a taste of Greece at the end of this journey.