Filantrópia: an “Island of Gratitude"

Filantrópián nagyon fontos számunkra, hogy legyenek ifjú, önkéntes segítők, akik 1-1 évet nálunk 'szolgálnak'. Többször írtunk erről, az Európai Unió által támogatott programról, ami az elmúlt évek során több névváltoztatáson is átesett, volt EVS, Erasmus+ és most épp ESC, ami az Európai Szoldiaritási Testületet jelenti. Elia Olaszországból érkezett hozzánk szeptemberben, egy évre, és most sikerült kikönyörögni belőle az első blogbejegyzését. Angolul olvashattok arról, hogy hogyan telt az élete az elmúlt 4 hónapban Filantrópia kis szigetén!

September/October 2019

Imagine.

You’re sitting alone in your studio in Italy, after 1 month of painful unemployment because you just quit the most comfortable 9 to 5 job in the history of dead ends.

You are a 27 years old guy, scrolling the internet hoping to find the purpose of your life in your underwear, when suddenly you stumble upon a webpage titled “The Island of Recycling 2.0”.

It offers you to leave your current house, move all your belongings somewhere and go live in Budapest, working as volunteer in a Charity Shop, with people you don’t know, for 1 year.

Departure scheduled in… 14 days.


What do you do?

I will tell you what happens if you select “Yes, go for it”.

I will share with you the victories and setbacks of these first 2 months of volunteering at Filantrópia Charity Shop and how this experience is turning me into a better, more caring and loving human being.

I will share this with an open heart, because I wish to inspire you, if you are pondering a similar decision in your life, or to enlighten you, if you're just curious about the cool stuff happening behind the curtains of an Erasmus+ Project… or a Charity Shop.

In either case, brace yourself dear friend, ‘cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Let's begin.

Before I even signed up for this experience, I never worked outside of an office desk, let alone a busy popular store in the middle of a new country.

I didn’t know what hardships awaited me nor what kind of people I would have met but I was still very excited about spending a whole year living in Budapest.

I was all in for an epic adventure! Boo-yah!

But “Be careful what you wish for!” I would tell myself, if I could go back in time and sit next to me on the plane, because the first unexpected plot twist stroke me right from the start.

The plane I was on was delayed, and so I missed the last shuttle bus linking the Budapest airport to the city, where I was supposed to meet with my future roommates and colleagues.

So here I am, with no internet connection, jumping from bus to bus at 3 in the night, carrying two suitcases, a backpack and a very fun Russian tourist I just met at the airport (she was walking, I was only carrying the suitcases) who, for some spooky coincidence, was also lost and headed right next to my hosting house, where I was going.

After some more disoriented wandering in the empty suburbs and many hysterical phone calls in which my roommates and I were trying to figure out where I was and how to get home, I finally found them at 5 am, waiting for me in the street, wearing pajamas and yeah… under a very unforgiving last minute heavy rain!

Sheesh! That was quite a start considering that two hours later, I was heading to my first day of work.

My work consisted in helping to run of one of the most popular Charity Shop in Budapest, called Filantrópia Adománybolt, and I must tell you, I learned the hard lesson right away:

Running a Charity Shop is a tricky business!

As a team, we must simultaneously coordinate “front-end tasks” like operating the cash register and helping the buying customers, with “back-end tasks” like storing and sorting the abundant goods we receive as donations because, well, it’s a charity shop.

At the beginning, I wasn’t speaking a single word of Hungarian, so I spent most of my time in the back of the shop, while Zsuzsa, Beci and Sara (my team-mates) were taking care of the communicative tasks.

Anyways, it wasn’t long until I was encouraged to spend some time behind the counter, as soon as I learned some essential “behind the counter” Hungarian, like how to tell prices and expressions like: “Ennyi lesz?” (Is that all?) or “Mennyibe kerül?” (How much is it?).

But honestly, not knowing the language almost at all, I swear, I was literally praying:

“Please God, let nobody enter the shop right now”

And when, of course, they did I was like:

“PLEASE God, don’t let them ask me any questions”.

When your prayers go unanswered

So scary!!

But of course, as with every frightening thing, after some weeks and with the loving support of my team, I was able to get over the fear and be a decent cashier, making just a few mistakes here and there (but SHHH… I didn’t tell you that).

I also started to enjoy the once-scary-but-now-just-goofy interactions with the Hungarian customers.

As a matter of fact, they all turned out to be very understanding and friendly with me, everybody in his/her own way, and relationships formed between us, a kind that does not require much spoken language, I guess.

But anyways, learning the skill to be a cashier in Hungary, overcoming the fear of language barrier, was my first big challenge here in Budapest, and it surely reminded me how life is much more fun without fear.

I’m greatly grateful for this.

So, in conclusion, that was my first impact with Hungary and the people of Filantrópia, which really is an “Island of Recycling” but that really deserves an “Island of Gratitude” for all the good impact it is having on the world and on myself.

There’s so much more that I want to tell you, so stay tuned and I’ll see you on the next post!

…or who knows, maybe we’ll meet in person when you come visit us!


Arrivederci,
Elia.