Hej! My name is Anete, I come from Riga, Latvia. In three words I would describe myself as an: artist, explorer and traveler.
Before my ESC , I had already participated in around 10 short-term Erasmus+ trainings, youth exchanges and volunteering projects. Therefore, I wanted to also experience how it would be to go on a long term project. I always wanted to live near Copenhagen, so when I saw an opportunity I didn’t think twice.
For 9 months I was volunteering in “Ung i Gladsaxe” ( “Young in Gladsaxe”) youth clubs. Together in Gladsaxe Municipality we have 7 youth centers and I was actively volunteering in 4 of them. Kids I worked with were mostly 13-20 years old, and most of them came from different ethnicities. These youth centers served as a safe space where teenagers could wind down, play games after school.
To continue, I worked alongside local school pedagogues and in my time here we managed to create with them many solidarity events and trips, for local kids to join. I also got to facilitate other trainings and work in music venue “Richter”.
Erasmus+ opportunities for everyone
I was surprised teenagers and teachers I was actively communicating with, were never introduced to Erasmus opportunities. In my country youth exchanges are very popular in university, high school and even between many adults.
Therefore I made educational posters for local youth about European Commision funded opportunities. We received a lot of positive feedback, questions about travelling and most importantly got to bring 6 participants to their first Erasmus+ youth exchange in Turkey, Bursa were they got to learn about sustainably, active lifestyle and biking.
We also managed to organize a trip to Malmö, Sweden for local youngsters. If you want to see more pictures from the trips we organized, see here on our page: @unigtravel
Sharing creativity!
For my project once a week I would also help out and learn Art in GXU primary school. Here together with teacher Hanne I got to see how it is to be an art teacher. I have an art school diploma and I have already sold many of my artworks, so it was very interesting for me to be again in art class environment, share my knowledge and talk with kids, who clearly love being creative. Together with the next local young artists, we designed the local schools cargo bike, went to improve our drawing technique in Copenhagen Glyptoteket and just learned how to be more present through art together.
Representing my home – Latvia.
As I continued my project many teenagers and pedagogues were always confused when I told them I come from: Latvija. Coming from a small country with population of 1.88 million people. I wasn’t surprised many people confused my home country with Lithuania or even didn’t know about its existence. Therefore, I decided to make Cultural Latvian Dinner in one of the youth clubs with posters and create educational social media content.
First I started with making a poster for the event, so people know what to expect. Got permission and funding to host this event. And then found friends who could help me cook. Even tho I was worried about cooking for so many people. In the end, It was a success! And I was very surprised by how many people came and enjoyed food my family back home also loves.
My final message
For the next volunteers, in three words I advise: “Keep it simple.” Days in Denmark can get pretty dark and cloudy, therefore don’t overthink your future, stay present and enjoy your stay. Copenhagen is such an interesting city with many attractions, explore it as much as you can and if not, remember world doesn’t stop in Denmark, travel as much as you can!
To conclude, through all my activities I get to connect with many talented and kind people of all ages. In my home country Latvia there is almost no diversity and acts of racism and cultural prejudice are still active. The biggest thing I will bring home from my project is my new empathy for other cultures, religions.
Anete Krumina
ESC Solidarity Projects 