🇪🇪 Mariam's European Solidarity Corps Journey: 10 Months of Youth Work in Tallinn

At Youth Works Hub, we love sharing the real journeys of our community. This time, we are proud to feature Mariam, one of our followers, who spent 10 months volunteering with the European Solidarity Corps at a youth centre in Tallinn, Estonia. Here is her experience, in her own words.

My name is Mariam, I am 26 years old, and from Georgia. A few years ago, I started a 10-month ESC project in Estonia.

I was a lucky volunteer at Kesklinna noortekesus, a youth centre in Tallinn city centre, where I had an opportunity to gain first-hand experience in youth work. I worked closely with young people aged 6 to 18 and became involved in the centre's everyday activities alongside an amazing team of youth workers. I organised cultural evenings where I introduced participants to different cultures, including Georgian, Greek, and Bolivian, and gave English and Georgian language classes. I also supported weekly youth events planned together with the youngsters, which made my volunteering experience even more engaging. Towards the end of my project, I organised a sustainability-focused event on one of the islands near Tallinn, bringing together participants to learn, collaborate, and reflect on environmental responsibility.

Estonia changed me personally; it taught me independence, resilience, and adaptability. Living in a multicultural environment introduced me to people from different backgrounds and gave me the courage to pursue opportunities I might have considered impossible before.

If someone is considering joining the European Solidarity Corps, I would fully encourage them to do it. It is much more than volunteering. It is an opportunity to grow personally and professionally, to discover new cultures, build lifelong friendships, and better understand yourself. Years later, the friendships I built and memories I made in Estonia are an important part of my life. I am grateful to the European Solidarity Corps for giving me an experience that broadened my horizons and played a significant role in shaping the person I am today.

What is the European Solidarity Corps?

The European Solidarity Corps (ESC) is an EU-funded programme that gives young people the chance to volunteer on projects across Europe. Standard volunteering is open to young people aged 18 to 30 who are registered on the ESC Portal and residing in an EU, associated, or partner country, with a lifetime volunteering limit of 12 months in total.

As Mariam's story shows, ESC is about far more than the work itself. It is a chance to live in a new country, join a multicultural team, learn through non-formal experience, and grow in ways that stay with you for years.