Asociația SUPER TINERI (ASIRYS)

 “Romania? What is Romania?” Ebet asked herself before taking the decision to come and spend in Târgu Frumos eight months of her life. She’s 29 and came from Mexico for the Arts Lab project, supported and financed by Erasmus+ and implemented by ASIRYS Super Tineri NGO. In Romania was cold at that time and that was the very first thing that hit her here, but the friendly people who welcomed her in the community made Ebet feel a warmth that eclipsed the winter weather. “With me, all the people were polite and gave me attention” she said smiling happily, recalling the nice moments spent here. Ebet Nathanael Bautista studied Communication Sciences for four years in Mexico, but her burning passion is dancing. She started at 17, learning at the Royal Academy of Dance in Barcelona and now she knows jazz, ballet classic, contemporary, belly dance, medieval, ancestral, traditional Mexican and learnt the traditional Romanian dances as well. She came in Romania to discover more dances and to expe

What happens when you travel the world searching to gain more and more knowledge? Valentin has experienced that feeling and he still discovered everyday, motivated by his desire to continue his engagement in volunteering field, as he says. He started with courses for the chess club, back in Reunion, France, where he is from, then continued organizing tournaments, being an animator at different events with different topics like education, sports or music. But then he wanted more and as soon as he moved to Tunisia, he started music courses and picking up trash, which he recognizes that it was demoralizing since he had to deal with a lot of garbage. But he didn’t stop the volunteering activities and decided to try something new, in Romania.   “Travel and change the environment if you want to evolve!” he says after recalling all the things he has improved here, in Târgu Frumos, since his first day as a volunteer in ASIRYS Super Tineri organisation. “I have learnt a lot related to relations

In June, the Asirys Super Tineri association tackled various issues on education. Together with the volunteers, we talked about formal and non-formal education, where the first one can be observed in schools. For example the assignment of a grade, based on the abilities of the pupils, not considering the diversity of talent of the individual. We also talked about competitive and non-collaborative context. On the other hand, when talking about non-formal education methods, schemes that do not contain competition and obligation are applied, but the student himself is driven by his individual interests and abilities to collaborate with his colleagues in a group work, thus obtaining a common goal which is to grow and learn. Research on non-formal education has led to differentiate the types of intelligence. For example, based on the individual reasoning talent of each pupil, there are more mathematical minds and others more creative, musical or linguistic minds and other sports and kinesth

The month of June started with the Miclăuşeni Festival, which was a big event for families. Asirys was participating for different tasks that support the festival, like welcoming, candy floss, taking care of visitors. I was responsible of the media covering, including mainly the event video. It’s a task that I like because it’s related to one of my main skills, video recording and editing. Also because the environment was a really nice place for this, the castle providing a good storytelling potential. I recorded a lot of scenes that I edited during the month, which was a huge work but pretty enjoyable. The feedback was good so I was happy. We continue the workshops at the youth center and I was really excited to launch Iron Mind workshop, which is about convince and persuade art, manipulation, negotiation, body language. This workshop was pretty successful as the youth center was full. We also had the Romanian night after it. I also had this month the opportunity to launch a chess clu

This month passed very quickly, because of all the activities we've done. I made many friends and I loved that I improved my level of English. I can express myself more fluently, although I still want to continue improving. We participated in a festival in a beautiful castle with the volunteers from Romania. I had to give a classical ballet lesson, but because there were other girls that could do it, I decided to do face painting for the kids. That reminded me of a job I had in Mexico on my weekends off. It was exciting because there were so many children. I am very happy to have Sabien, my roommate, because we have very similar ways of thinking and I can express my feelings with great confidence and she also to me. We went to a lake, we discovered a very cool cafe that is where we were going when we want to relax. I started to teach dances in a larger room than usual, which was extraordinary. Because I have more and more students, this room has no windows, which gives a fresh feel

In May, we started to create workshops on an artistic theme such as painting, music, photography and dance, which serves to stimulate the creativity of students and young people. Also, they will give them the possibility to express themselves artistically. It is also an effective way to promote non-formal education. The objectives of the association and the project include combating social discrimination, alcoholism and violence. These issues were also addressed during the time we worked with other volunteers from other associations, who collaborated in our projects for a week, giving us the opportunity to get to know each other and to identify the different social problems of the country without neglecting the rights and duties of the volunteers. We had a training in the capital, Bucharest, for the professional growth of the volunteer which allowed us to meet people from all over the world. During this training we had the chance to express our thoughts on our tasks and we talked to ar

Airports are grey and smell of chemicals, at least that was the idea that I had. To bathe in the scent of flowers and spring was not on my list of expectations when I imagined myself taking my first steps on Romanian ground. But the air was the first thing that surprised me: no penetration of industrial gases but a welcoming fragrance of blossoming trees. Trying a really good dessert that appeared to be Hungarian and not Romanian and of which I forgot the name, crazy skies heavy of thunderstorms, my first glass of ţuica, eating delicious sarmale, witnessing interesting negotiation techniques with an initially reluctant local professional, seeing the commitment of local volunteers, the slight panic I felt right before giving my first ever workshop in the local school, struggling with language barriers, being welcomed on a school with a huge breakfast while they don’t even have running water, and lots more. These are some of the first things I've done in Romania. So what have I been

The beginning of the May month starts with the arrival of Michele, new Italian volunteer. Michele is an economic student and will stay here for 3 months. We introduced him to the youth center and the activities, presenting the project and the mission of Asirys. The next Sunday was marked by the arrival of Sabien, Belgian volunteer specialized in handcrafting, who will stay 6 months. Also the month of May was the month of the elaboration, testing and implementation of the art labs. I created the photography lab, who was pretty successful as the students seem interested in photography, and after the intervention were happy and able to do quick progress by showing really good and creative pictures. I also created the music lab, which for the moment is only implemented in the youth center because I want to discover some methods in order to manage a lot of people for this lab. So, I’m currently thinking of a new version that will be more adapted for big groups. The middle of the month, 24 y

This month was different, in a good way, as the weather improved. By saying this I mean that the weather stopped being cold and rainy. What I like the most about this country is its landscapes and that everything smells very good. During this month I have improved my English. I want to travel through Romania in order to learn more about its culture and people, because they are different depending on the geographical area (north, south, east, west). I would also like to have more language classes here in order to communicate easier with people here. Also, it is very similar to Spanish and I can learn it easily. At the end of the month we went to Bucharest, which I really loved because the center smells like flowers and the people are super nice and friendly. I met during the training week volunteers from Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Georgia, Algeria and many more. Different cultures, different education, different way of thinking; I had the opportunity to talk with each one and their s

Hi, I'm Sandro, I'm twenty-six and I come from Sardinia, an island in Italy. I left for Romania about a month ago to start a volunteering project. Why? Because I have a dream: to be able to give an emotion and help people with my artistic expression, painting. From the very first days the Asirys association welcomed me warmly, introducing me to other volunteers from other parts of the world such as France, Norway, Belgium, Mexico and Romania. Despite my elementary English I didn't have big problems communicating, they were all patient and understanding and thanks to this environment I was impressed to know the diversity of culture and tradition of the different countries. In the following days I collaborated with them in some nearby schools with children of all ages. It was a very strong experience. I helped blind children to express themselves with artistic games, I played with other kids to give them the opportunity to open their minds, to be curious to know the world wit

Sandro and I arrived in Romania at the beginning of April. The first fifteen days were quiet intense because we were meeting Romania's environment, new work space and a lot of people. Among them, the Norwegian team. Through their stay we created workshops around the thematic of multiple intelligence. By small groups we started to run it in different types of schools, some that has high failure rates, particular community appurtenance, some with autistic or blind students. I was not used to this kind of work, with this kind of audience in this new environment, so the learning process was highly stimulating and efficient, despite the fatigue. The common life and structure of the place we stayed was an interesting human experience, as Alin, our host, and Nikolia, made us feel comfortable and introduced us to the Romanian life. Meanwhile Mihaela try her best to support our arrival and planning our activities. So, the Norwegians and us get the most we can from this experience. After tho

Empowering Youth in Uganda through EVS is a KA2 - Capacity Building project, financed by Erasmus +. The project consists of 12 main activities, 2 transnational meetings and 2 mobility of youth workers activities.  Activity 1: Creation of Project Management Tools and Settlement of the Project . Activity 2: Transnational Meeting in Kampala, Uganda (4th Month) The transnational meeting will be based on round table discussions and study visits to the Ugandan organization's sites to see how the situation is and what can be useful to implement with the involvement of EVS volunteers. Every organization will involve one participant who will be responsible for dealing with the recruitment of volunteers as well as educational materials. We will create a work plan for the project, deliverables and check the measurables during the project. Activity 3: Development of Educational Material and E-learning Module (3th – 6th Month) Activity 4: E-learning module   (6th – 8th Month) The participa

As you may know, we are hosting at the moment our first EVS volunteer, Nikolia, from Greece. She will spend 12 months with us, helping to develop our youth center and create a more active community by volunteering! Each month our volunteer, Nikolia Papadopoulou will share her experience in Romania through a small report which we will post it on our blog. I will start my article sharing with you what I learned every week but firstly I would like to thank Mihaela, the project coordinator, who gave me the opportunity to learn all these things, to my mentor Dragoş who supported me, my Romanian language teacher Alin who helped and teach me the language and the history of Romania and to the volunteers of Asirys who helped walk in the EVS path. From the first week I learned from Mihaela a lot about Erasmus + programs, as she informed me about it and answered my questions. I met my mentor Dragos and talked about our cooperation during the program. Mihaela showed me the way to write yout

If you want to invest in your personal development, to share your passions and artistic talents with other young people, if you want to learn about European projects and achieve important experience in organizing events, "Building Bridges" is the Erasmus+ project that will fulfill your expectations!  SUPER TINERI (ASIRYS) Association, with 10 years experience and more than 250 international projects portofolio, is inviting 2 young volunteers (18-30 years old), from European Union countries, to be part of Building Bridges volunteering activity ( 6 months long term EVS ).  The volunteering activities will take place at the Tîrgu Frumos Volunteer Center, where you will be involved in the organization of cultural events and art projects dedicated to Iaşi county communities. All cost are covered by Erasmus+ programme. We will offer you the chance to explore your artistic passions, come up with innovative solutions, being supported throughout your personal developmen