Estonia

Voluntary contribution in promotion of lifelong learning - the Ireland visit

Voluntary contribution exists in Estonia too, may be not in such an organised way and extent as it is in Ireland, though. It is probably the matter of awareness - in our case people just do not acknowledge it as voluntary work because there is no such widely recognised movement. At the same time, people do things at their own free time without being paid, and the reasons they do that are mostly the same: in order to feel useful, find new friends, feel satisfaction from helping someone, get a sense of belonging, be a part of the team, share one's knowledge, etc.

The event in Galway reminded me of our own elderly day care centre where there are singing ensemble, dance group, handicraft circle, computer courses etc. Personal contact with a lady of such local centre led me to invite them to participate in our ALW activities.

Thanks to inspiration gathered in Ireland there have been numerous extra ALW activities in Võru County this year, e.g. grandfathers' day in one of the nursery schools where the learner of the year 2006, Luule Metsla, works. Together they did handicraft, played games of grandfathers' times and had a lot of fun during that day.

Also, nursery school children were invited to the elderly day care centre where old games that grandmas and grandpas used to like were played. There was also an ALW newcomer this year - Võrumaa Chamber of Disabled People.

The students of the Võru Adult Upper Secondary School visited Võru Järve School for mentally disabled children. The result of this was a joint visit to Hämsa tourist farm where students baked bread together.
Media coverage on volunteering is a key issue. This helps to concentrate the focus upon it and make it recognised in the society. There are definitely people with interesting hobbies who are ready to contribute to the community on voluntary basis. Media coverage on this can encourage people to contribute to the community with their knowledge and experience.

That kind of motivation is absolutely necessary for regional coordinators - this enables us to see what is done elsewhere, gather inspiration, and realise that we are doing a good and useful thing here. Yes, we might do things slightly differently, but we have a common goal - promoting lifelong learning and the ALW.

Merike Ojamaa - regional ALW coordinator in Võru County