Get to know our ESC volunteers - Lina

Where are you from?
Hiya! I’m from a tiny village in the the Dutch (Flemish) region of Belgium, not that far from Ypres and Bruges.

What is your training or background in circus or the arts?
Unfortunately, I’ve had no training nor background in circus before coming to Galway. I do have some musical experience as I was part of an amateur musical theatre club back in university. This gave me the chance to perform, co-write some scenes and songs in a self-written production, and experiment a bit with meeting and event management as well as sound and lights.

What made you want to volunteer at Galway Community Circus? 
Last year, I was finishing my studies, so I started looking into the possibilities for after graduation. After some research, I stumbled upon the European Solidarity Corps programme. The post from Galway Community Circus immediately gave me a very good feeling, so I applied and voilà!

Who is your sending organisation? Tell us about them. 
My sending organisation is the Centre for European Volunteering (CEV). They are an organisation based in Brussels which promotes solidarity and volunteering by creating social awareness on the importance of voluntary projects. They also advocate for better (political) support for volunteers.

What do you love about working with Galway Community Circus? 
There are many reasons as to why I love working with Galway Community Circus!

Firstly, the people here are all true gems. Everyone is so understanding, patient, open to conversation, supportive and just super skilled in what they do. This encourages one to put their best foot forward when possible or to take it easy if you cannot give it your all, which I think is really important. Everyone aces their job, no matter the ups and downs. Seeing this helps me challenge myself and keeps me wanting to improve professionally!

Secondly, I feel like the circus is a safe workplace where you are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. Like with juggling, practice and failure are needed to achieve your goals and here at Galway Community Circus everyone understands that.

And finally, GCC is super multi-cultural which is great craic! All these different cultural backgrounds create great conversation topics and also offer loads of food for thought and scope for the imagination. That makes me feel very satisfied and happy!

What project or projects are you working on at the Circus and what results do you hope to achieve?
My main task is supporting reception and the admin team by, for example, following up on the inbox and registrations. Other admin tasks include the ESC communication (such as the blogs) and writing the internal newsletter for the company.

As for my personal project, I am working on educating myself a bit regarding accessibility. My aim is to create a little guidebook with details that people have to take into account when creating digital content or posters. Learning more about this crucial topic has been really eye-opening and it has challenged my work methods in so many ways already! For example, I used to make documents and posters with very decorative elements because I thought they would not look nice otherwise. Now, I am slowly exploring how to embrace the simplicity of concise layouts without losing the aesthetic aspect. I also tried out a screen reader to see how assistive technologies read out online text to its users. This made me realise how imperative it is to be mindful of how you write something.

Another tiny task I have this year is managing the Circus Library. Finding the best way to make the library as convenient as possible for both members and tutors is still a work in progress and has already required some trial and error. But I am really loving it and I definitely had the time of my life creating the library booklets!

What do you love about Ireland? 
Ireland has so much to offer to anyone coming to the country! From beautiful landscapes to a rich culture and incredibly kind people; Ireland has truly surprised me. The weather is not even as bad as people tend to portray. I actually really love the greenery and smell of grass after some rain. And of course, I've fallen in love with the sea! So yeah, Galway and GCC have already conquered a tiny piece of my heart and I can most definitely see myself coming back every now and then. ♥

What are a few important things you have learned or are learning while volunteering with Galway Community Circus?
This is a tricky question, because I have probably learnt more than I think without realising!

My computer skills have certainly improved over the months. I’ve learnt how to work with Salesforce, Excel, Canva, and even video editing software. Additionally, I am learning how to be more concise instead of always stirring around the pot when trying to communicate something (as you can see by the long answers, this can still improve haha). Anet, our company administrator, has helped me a lot with this and has shown nothing but patience, as well as in my journey to improve my time-management skills. Oh, and I have learnt how to properly make tea; very important!

Of course, these are all practical examples. Thanks to the experience, I have come to realise how important it is to surround yourself with the right people. Another thing is that communicating frustrations as well as appreciation, is very important. It may be hard at times but better in the long-term to avoid awkward situations.

As for the rest of the programme, I hope to interact even more with people and learn from their stories! I believe this will help me discover and re-define my values and what I want for the future after this ESC journey. Finally, I also hope to further improve my English. I studied conference interpreting and having an extremely English retour can give many opportunities. I'm convinced that English is grammatically and lexicon-wise a far more interesting and rich language than people give it credit. So I feel very keen and eager to immerse myself more in the language!

What is one thing you love about circus in general?
When seeing all the tutors and artists we have met practice circus, I am always left astonished by how far the limits of any human body can stretch. I always thought that body awareness is something you are either born with or not, but these people prove that wrong! So, I would say the fact that circus is about testing your own “cans and cannots” at your own pace, is what I like the most about circus.

Even though I am still not very well-acquainted with all the props, skills, and possibilities out there in the circus world, I can see how much of an impact it has in people's lives. From young children to adults and even entire families, it is great seeing and hearing how our members have fun in the classes and how circus offers endless opportunities to everyone, depending on what they need and want. For example, some children join to just have fun and be with their friends, others find a safe space in circus, whilst others have found a new passion that they can see themselves doing for eternity. The same counts for adults!

Why do you think a programme like European Solidarity Corps is important? 
Everyone should at least once in their lives volunteer somewhere! We live in times in which we are constantly pressured to earn money and strive to achieve many goals. In my opinion, that is not necessarily a bad thing. This mentality just completely disregards the people-aspect. It makes us forget that we belong to a community that gives us support in more ways than we realise, which is quite a privilege.

By volunteering, you can give something back to the community - be it yours or another one - and support those who need and want it. The European Solidarity Corps is one of the few programmes, if not the only, that on a larger scale encourages people to show commitment for a project that aligns with their social values and that also has an impact on a community that in the "conventional" working world tends to not be taken seriously (such as the arts).

Would you recommend that other people apply to volunteer at organisations through the European Solidarity Corps programme? Why?
Yes! I am convinced that volunteering is incredibly important for everyone for several reasons. It makes you reflect on the privileges that you have. It offers you the chance to learn on the job and make mistakes. You get to discover what your values are and what you would like to leave behind. You meet people you would otherwise have never met, et cetera.

Most volunteering programmes require you to not only cover your own expenses and arrange all your own paperwork, but they even ask you to pay money to go volunteering! That can be really discouraging, overwhelming and also discriminating towards those with more limited (financial) resources who want to volunteer. The European Solidarity Corps programme, on the other hand, offers so much support and has a lower threshold to apply.

So, to close this blog, a little advice from me: even if you feel like you are not capable or you are unsure of whether you would be the right person or not, just apply for the projects that interest you! There is no harm in doing that and if you do not get it, then that is perfectly fine. The right opportunity will come. Just never ignore the giddy good gut feeling!

Learn more about the European Solidarity Corps and discover more about the ESC programme at GCC.

Galway Community Circus's European Solidary Corps programme is supported by Erasmus+ and Léargas.