Nicola Herd a Sandra at the Christmas market in Brno 2018.

Sandra

If you had to choose one experience that was the most important for you during your stay, what would it be and why?

Be part of one Evs project i think generally is difficult, but that difficult moment make you more stronger for your future.I can't choose just one good experience because I think everything is connected.I have my independence and live without my family,manage my skills and use them in the best way,be more flexible, improve my potential in some jobs that were new for me and also try to listen and appreciate different cultures. It is normal when you leave your contry for the first time that you feel that kind of emotion because you go out of your confort zone that you build for long time- friends,hobby, free time etc..

That for sure makes the begging more difficult but now I'm in the end and I can say that has been a good opportunity to become more mature and be what I want be.

               Nicola a Sandra went to the Feminist and Queer Camp in Tabor.

Nicola

Which gender topic were you the most interested in and why?

I contacted Nora about doing my EVS with the organisation as the work Nora does regarding raising awareness about the gender pay gap and looking at ways to reduce the figure was appealing to me. When I sent my EVS application I was writing my master's dissertation on access to menstrual products as a human rights issue. As part of my research I looked into reasons why women are more likely to experience poverty and through this I looked at the issue of the gender pay gap in the UK.

Sandra

Which gender topic were you the most interested in and why?

For me is intresting know how every country manages the balance between men and women in society for example starting from school, in the family, work place and after when you get a pension. To take that information, I think, makes you more informed also about your country to see the difference and to think what will be a good solution to make progress in the future.Also I find interesting the integration of roma in Czech society and everything about the LGBTI movement. When I started to understand more about the world of gender, world because it really is a big extensive word, I see every minimal aspect about it during daily live that before I didn't give attection to: like adverts, discimination, stereotypes about women, the rights during maternity and during employment.

Nicola

If you had to choose one experience that was the most important for you during your stay, what would it be and why?

During my EVS I have been involved with the GenderSensed project which is a collaborative project with organisations and academic institutions in Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary to create a training course on the topic of gender sensitive education for school teachers and students who are training to be teachers. I would say my most important experience was being able to attend one of the project meetings in Vienna. It was very valuable for to me to see how the different ways organisations work as well as realising the challenges and advantages of a collaborative effort where different organisations have different experiences and areas of expertise.

How does volunteering look like in practice?