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Here you can read the report of Blanka Debora Kovács about her volunteer experiences in the northern part of Finland:

Breaking out of the comfort zone? Oh YES! In January, I had the opportunity to spend three weeks at the northern edge of Finland, volunteering, gaining new experiences, and making friends. But what was it all about? After twenty-seven hours of travel, I arrived at the fairy-tale place, the Vasatokka Youth Center, located a few kilometers from the town of Inari, in the far north of Finland. What awaited me there? On the very first evening, the beautiful northern lights greeted me from the sky. The next day, we had the chance to get to know the team better, a group brought together by the wind and the desire to act from different parts of Europe. We were a nice colorful team: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, and Italian. After the “warm-up” day, we had the opportunity to get a glimpse into the local culture, what it’s like when most of the day is spent in darkness, how much we can appreciate the little light that illuminates the sky for a few hours, or what it’s like to bathe in the snow after the well-known Finnish sauna. We were also taken to a reindeer farm, where we could meet the reindeer up close and learn more about what life is like for a reindeer at the North Pole. Part of getting to know each other included visiting a local Sámi museum, which showcased the Sámi culture of the people living in this area. This region is home to a minority people whose culture and language differ from the Finns. They have specific clothing and different customs.
After the first few days, we started brainstorming the basic plan, which was to build a Snow World entirely out of snow. The wheels were turning properly, as no one in the team had ever had the chance to work with such a large amount of snow, so we didn’t really know what was actually feasible. And I must admit, we greatly underestimated the snow. We developed our plans, consulted with the snow expert, after giving his approval, we went out to build the empire. But as we started working with the snow, we realized it was much easier to shape, mold, and compact than we thought. So there was a bit of re-planning, and we decided to “bite the bullet” and do something more extraordinary. The next day we went out to build what we had envisioned. We worked and worked for a few days, and then the first big success came when our first “igloo” was completed. We continued working diligently, the empire was taking shape, when one day we woke up to find that the weather was not very favorable, as it was approaching zero degrees. On this day, we couldn’t do much work, the snow was much harder to shape, but the worst was yet to come, because by the afternoon, almost everything had melted due to the weather. We had no choice but to start over the next day, as the deadline was approaching.

Meanwhile, a few of us were selected to volunteer at a local indigenous film festival. At the festival, we were assigned to different roles, sometimes selling tickets, sometimes checking tickets at the entrance, sometimes decorating the hallway with posters, but we also had the chance to sit in and watch a few films/short films. It was a huge experience to participate in this as well, to get an even better insight into Sámi culture, as the festival was mostly about them, and the biggest experience was the cinema made of snow, which was completely new to me, the steps, the seats, the “screen,” and even the walls around were made of snow, and screenings were held here in the evenings. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to work with a very good team at the festival, and I certainly gained a lot of new experiences.

In summary, I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to participate in such a project. I believe I worked with a very cohesive community, with whom we formed a small family by the end of the program. I managed to step out of my comfort zone, experience what it’s like to spend days at the North Pole, in -25 degrees, in darkness, and how much a tiny ray of light can mean in the dark everyday life. Thank you for the opportunity, and I hope I will have the chance to participate in such and similar programs again.

Kovács Blanka Debora