I thought to tell you this story briefly, but in my opinion good stories are rarely short. My name is Miko Shakhdinarian and this is how discovery of international youth work and volunteering opportunities turned my life upside-down. Let me connect the dots of the last 13 years for you!
The ordinary world
Growing up I was never inspired by the district where my family lived, it was full of abandoned soviet buildings and people had a lot of different problems in the neighbourhood. My school similarly, was not the best place to be or to study anything. I was in the ninth grade when I started realizing what bullying is, but also that I have rights as a human being, especially the right to education and no one can take that away from me. At the same time, I started to value knowledge as I saw it as a great tool for success and happiness. One of my teachers suggested that I take part in a student’s competition, where I needed to do some test and write an essay. That is what I did, and this is the real beginning of this story!
Call for an adventure
Several months passed and upon completing all the stages of the competition, I was awarded with 3 weeks of English-speaking summer camp. That summer camp changed my life forever. I discovered non-formal education, now it could help me to learn things. I really saw the potential to learn more and grow as a person. At that camp I also made friends who are with me up to this day, 13 years later.
What if not a mentor
One year later I participated in another summer camp and one of the coordinators of the camp was Pati, she was obviously more experienced and older than us, the participants. I shyly asked if I could add her as my Facebook friend and got a positive answer. By that time I was already 17. One day I noticed Pati’s photo on Facebook, where she is somewhere in Europe. I messaged her right away and asked how I can visit the same place; study there or possibly work. Are there any programmes that can help me to do that?! She passionately answered my questions and 2 years later I was already in Romania, doing my international voluntary service.
Stepping into unknown
Now about that beautiful adventure! I was really happy to be chosen for that project, the description said that I had to be a photographer and a reporter for the small local news portal in the Transylvania region. The town where I was going to live was quite small and it had a big Hungarian community. That fact was making me even more curious, because I grew up having two national identities: Georgian and Armenian. Many people in Cristuru Secuiesc or Székelykeresztúr felt the same, having two distinct identities at once.
Inevitable challenges and transformation
There was no direct connection from Bucharest to Cristuru so I had to reach Sighisoara first. It was December when I arrived at the city’s train station and for the first 5 minutes, I felt really alone and scared as there was a lot of snow (very unusual for me). Then one of the local volunteers, Atilla, spotted me and drove me to the “Volunteer’s House” which was my next home. Atilla did not speak much English and neither did Béla (my room-mate) but verbal communication is overrated anyways I thought to myself. I was right, during one year of volunteering I rarely had cases where it was impossible to explain something despite linguistic differences. I think multiculturalism and diversity are really beautiful and I value those a lot! Our team consisted of 11 individuals from 7 different countries. How strange is that mix? We were from Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Hungary, Slovenia, Germany and Portugal. I learned a lot from my fellow volunteers and they learned something from me (oh my goodness, I hope they did!).
Ultimate reward
Some of us got married to their partners and have kids, some of us are engaged or chasing different career opportunities. Most of us went back to their home town to give back all the knowledge and wisdom that came from international lifestyle, volunteering, travelling and all. I am not sure that I can describe what this one year of international volunteering meant for me, it forever changed my outlook on life itself, I will be forever grateful for all the memories and friendships that I made.
All of the “Yellow House” members are indeed my family who I love and respect. We sometimes argued and did not come to a common conclusion but at the end of the day we had dinners together and gave away hugs when it was needed.
A new in the old world
What is the moral of this story? I was not the same person any more. I was indeed better version of myself, an upgrade if you will. I learned this later in university but it is worth mentioning that I felt like the Übermensch. In the famous words of Friedrich Nietzsche a call for personal self-discovery and self-overcoming. It is never a destination really, but we need to go forward and grow. This story was a big contribution to my growth and probably many other whose stories are still waiting to be told.
