March has come and gone, and our two volunteers have had the chance to settle down even more in Riga and even experience some Latvian sun.
Our two girls started the month by assisting a cultural event called ‘How to Become a Latvian’, where they had the chance to learn a few words of the language and test their dancing skills. It was certainly an entertaining evening! This was also part of a meeting with some international youngsters that came to Riga for a K2 Project on film and intercultural dialogue, so there was some friendly chatting and delicious food shared at the Fat Pumpkin besides all the dancing.
And they were not the only international people they met! In the middle of March, we had some Danish guests in our youth studio BaMbuss, so Laure and Khristina had a chance to show them around the studio and tell them their experiences as volunteers and what we do in BRF.
The truth is, BRF is now busier than ever! We had a fun photo session with our pandas, lead by Laure and her camera, and now we are training some new local volunteers. Our girls are closely working with the new youngsters to organise some new, exciting events in the following months – which will be about sustainable fashion, zero waste, charity concerts, creative workshops, etc.
BaMbuss is also getting greener thanks to Khristina’s sense of initiative, which has resulted into some master lists and checklists on how to keep our kitchen greener and how to organise sustainable events. Also, at the end of the month, she presented her first workshop on her own, which was titled ‘Zero Waste for Beginners’. A lot of people were interested in it, and we at BRF learnt quite a lot from it! Laure, on the other hand, got a bit more creative and started brainstorming about upcoming arts clubs. She also assisted to an NGO Networking event at Autentika and cheerfully promoted BRF’s work and projects.
It hasn’t only been work for our volunteers, though! Laure spent some days exploring Vilnius and going to a concert. Together with Khristina, they also have had some more time to explore the city in depth, including some museums, the KGB house, old Riga… and some delicious restaurants like Miit Café and Terapija! Also, they had the chance to participate in one of the latest editions of Repair Café, and Laure even created her own tote bag from scratch!
Finally, our girls have finally started their Latvian lessons. They are quite exciting about it (especially to get some basic sentences to go to Centraltirgus!), and they seem to be quite quick learners!
April only seems to promise more exciting events!
Project “BaMbuss Volunteers” is financially supported by the European Commission “Erasmus +: Youth in Action”, which is managed by the Youth International Program Agency in Latvia.
