How can you organize a unique volunteering project? Take 6 people from 6 different countries, put them in a classic hippie bus and let them travel across Lithuania. Add lots of new places, a dozen of new skills and a pinch of adrenaline. Is that all what it takes to create a perfect space to promote responsible tourism? Let’s see if there’s some ingredient missing.
Our trip continued in Šiauliai, the fourth biggest city in Lithuania. We stayed in a charming hostel called Simona House, very close to the city centre. ‘So, what’s the plan?’ Well, the plan was to discover and learn new things.
We started to complete this task when we saw the famous Hill of Crosses, a place near Šiauliai, where, from 1831, Lithuanian people started to put
crosses. Of course it didn’t survive the Second World War, because of Soviets’ attempts to destroy every religious act. Luckily however, the crosses continued to show up, and today’s Hill of Crosses consists of more than 100 000 crosses from all over the world. Wait, 100 000…? That’s a lot, how can you fit all on a small hill? Well, as we could find out during this trip, it is possible, and the crosses are still added there every day. Visiting The Hill of Crosses is definitely an experience worth recommending to anybody, no matter if one’s religious or not.
The experience didn’t fade away as the sun did. Excited but frozen - Lithuania was challenging us every day with its changing weather. Still, this way we were able to develop the sense of predicting the weather (‘it’s gonna rain today!’), and also a skill of adjusting to any conditions, such as for example walking bravely in a hail.
Of course we had more important concerns than the weather. On Wednesday we visited Agapao Rehabilitation Center, where we were supposed to give presentations about our countries and ourselves. To be honest, we were quite worried about what exactly we can say to our audience. We didn’t know how and what to communicate and how to behave. As we saw however, it turned out to be completely different than we’ve expected. Imagine this feeling, when you are standing in the middle of a classroom full of adult strangers, and you have to deliver a quality presentation that should interest them. I guess this is what they call ‘being out of your comfort zone’. So yes, the first few minutes were quite challenging. But as soon as we all started to give our presentations, we found out that it is going to be much easier than we suspected. We talked about our countries, about ourselves - no pretending – and it worked! Somehow we managed to start this curiosity we wanted to achieve. Our viewers started to ask questions and interact with us; we could feel that they are truly interested in what we want to tell them. At the end of the meeting we just sat there and asked about their stories, names, professions, interests. This impact, happening at the spot, was simply visible and we could experience and enjoy every second of it.
A similar situation happened in the afternoon the same day, when we visited an Šaltinio Orphanage in the city. This experience was also very intense, because those kids didn’t speak any English, so we could communicate with them only by gestures, looks and few Lithuanian words we already knew. But, as it turned out, the language barer was not able to interrupt us with having a proper communication with them. Again – we just started our job. Rogelio, Zé and Li played basketball with the older ones, and Kamia, Cate and Karo were playing some funny games and songs with the younger children. And it took only few moments for them to bond with us! After just 2 hours, when we had to leave, they were really sad, and so were we. This feeling, when you know that you’re probably not going to see those kids again, was quite devastating - especially when we realized how much this kind of visit means to them.
The next day, when we visited Agapao Day Care Center, the situation looked quite the same. At the beginning there was a little prejudice, shy looks and not that much interest, but once we all sat on the floor in the circle and put out our flags, traditional candies, jalapenos and other gadgets, the spark turned out into a curiosity flame. Those kids were hungry for our attention, and as soon as we started to talk to them individually, they opened to us completely. Again, it was so hard for us to leave them, but at least we can be sure and calm that we gave them a pleasant and nice time, made them interested about something different and, hopefully, started a wave of positive changes in their lives.
In the evenings, when we were all summing up those days, I could see that they were very impactful for every each one of us. I realized that travelling and meeting new cultures is just one part of the ‘recipe’ of the project. Our presentations and games with kids and social impact we could experience is another thing – and this is what makes the project unique and fully meaningful.
But what about the team itself? Well, after 2 days spent on delivering presentations and organizing activities with kids, we had one day when we could focus on discovering the beauty of Lithuanian nature. On Friday we had a canoeing day and it was very… interesting. Quite challenging too, because we didn’t expect a lot of what may happen - from the weather (yes, it rained a little), through the adventures in the meantime (being stuck in the rocks with the water inside the canoe), to end with a fact that we did almost twice more kilometers than we thought we will do. We spent almost 7 hours in the canoes, but it was perfect for our team bonding. Even though we were canoeing in pairs, we created kind of a common trip; helping each other to get out of the rocks, randomly sharing cookies in the meantime…
At the end of the day, exhausted, wet and hungry, we went camping in the forest. That was not the most comfortable situation in the world, especially after a tiring canoeing day, but as soon we all sat by the campfire, it was all OK again. Adventurous day ended like from one of the Jack London’s stories; staring at fire, telling stories, enjoying each other’s company.
The next chapter of our great RoadTrip adventure came to an end. It was a very intense week, full of changing landscapes around us, kind people on the road, unexpected situations and impactful moments. We discovered the other part of the project’s recipe and we enjoyed it, so we are waiting for other opportunities to positively change the environment around us.
How can you organize a unique volunteering project? Take 6 people from 6 different countries, put them in a classic hippie bus and let them travel across Lithuania. But also, add a lot of scary situations, when they have to challenge themselves and interact with completely new people. Let them do the change – and is that all? Let’s wait and see how it’ll go!
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