Hello! I am Shana, I’m 20 year old and I’m from Italy. I participated in the "I am sports+ volunteer" project in Sivas, Turkey. Trying to sum up this incredible life experience in a few words is difficult, maybe impossible, but I will try to put together the strong emotions it allowed me to live.

Thanks to the association Scambieuropei I was able to take part in the project for a month, as an Italian volunteer engaged in democratic awareness through sports activities experienced as an important tool for socialization among the locals of the town, with three other incredible Italian volunteers who made this experience even more intense. Together with the school guys of Sivas we did many sports activities, from the most classic ones like football, basketball, volleyball, to the more particular ones like badminton, laughter yoga, acroyoga. There was also a chance to blend exploration and sharing with sports, with hiking, riding and biking, one of the first activities during which we learned about the University of Sivas immersed in nature. With each activity, each of us had the opportunity to try to push our own limits, thanks to the comparison and support of others, creating a space in which we could grow all together in a special energy that allowed us to unite the colors of our lives for a very intense time. Also through the weekly speaking club days, ideas, comparisons, thoughts were able to emerge on various issues to which no one remained indifferent but tried to contribute. Within the association there were also creative times when we did workshops, including a macrame workshop in which we learned basic techniques for bracelets and key chains, experimenting with this particular type of meditation. I chose to do a wooden airplane building workshop in the city with a very good teacher with whom I built an airplane that I took back with me to Italy. We Italian volunteers also organized a workshop where all together we cooked and ate pizza, after a fun scavenger hunt near the association to search for ingredients and charge ourselves with healthy competition.

It was amazing the outpouring of kindness and hospitality from the members of the association, with whom very strong bonds were formed, and from every single resident we were lucky enough to meet in Sivas. A continuous demonstration of love and beauty in every sliver of life in a land where everyone cares for each other and where poetry seems to perpetuate in every corner.

I thank the Scambieuropei association so much for committing so many people to these eternal experiences that inevitably never end. I want to choose each day to share and continue the Life I have caught in the colors, eyes and hearts of the souls I have met in this experience.

I feel immense gratitude for everything and I think that everyone should have these experiences