Volunteering in "Kaziukas" fair

On March 7th, me and my four classmates volunteered in the "Kaziukas" fair, or "Kaziuko mugė". This is a traditional Lithuanian fair lasting three days and taking place in the beginning of spring in Vilnius centre. I love this fair myself as it is very colourful, vibrant, and always full of action.  Therefore, this year I decided to join the action myself and see the event from the inside.

We volunteered on Saturday (7 March) from 11:00 to 15:00. Our responsibilities were to ensure order  in a large tent that stood in town hall square, also to help prepare the place (carrying stools, tables, stands etc.), take the rubbish, also provide people with information about the fair.

The activity required adaptive skills as we needed to adapt in a new situation quickly and give information about the fair (for example, I helped a lady find out about parking around the fair) also it was unexpected since at first we thought we would help in tastings of traditional food but it turned out that this activity was not going to happen so our expectations, responsibilities and plans changesd immediately and we did totally different things. In addition, there was a physical difficulty in this activity as it was cold and we spent about four hours outside. The volunteering in "Kaziukas" fair required a lot of collaboration and communication, as well as flexibility. It was an interesting and valuable activity.

P.S. 4 CAS hours

Below you can see our volunteering team and the fair:

 

Helping with children's New Year's party organisation

This activity happened a few months ago, on 10th January. There is an annual children's New Year/ Christmas party organised in a company "Eslauda", where my mother works. Help is always needed as there are many children coming and somebody has to take care of order and entertainment.

This time, I decided to join the organisation team, which mainly consisted of the head organizer Rima, Santa Claus man and me. There were about 20 children with their parents participating in the event. Thus there were quite much to do. What I did was help with the gift packing: I packed candy bags together with Rima a few days before the event, also helped to choose gifts for children of certain ages. Also, on the day of the event, I coordinated the guests and played with children, engaging them in various games and dances, which were led by the Santa Claus. Finally, I played some chrildren songs with the guitar in the beginning and in the end of the party.

I greatly enjoyed this activity as I love having business with children, as well as I like organizing things and playing the guitar. The activity involved group work, communication and creativity when interacting with the children and required some organization skills. Of course, there were some difficulties in the process as it was at times difficult to manage the children, also it was a little stressful to perform in front of about 40 unknown people the songs that I have just learnt, and it was also challenging but both interesting to find and learn those children songs. I believe this volunteer activity in children's New Year/ Christmas party was both fun and challenge for me and allowed me not only to help with this beautiful event but also to develop my skills and confidence in my abilities.

P.S. 3 CAS hours