DESCRIPTION OF VOLUNTARY SERVICE

The information you will find in this short description are concerning the voluntary work activities and projects that AFSAI offers you.

In many communities and projects there is a strong Catholic influence, this does not mean you have to take part in the religious activities, but you have to respect the opinion and the idea of others.

At last it is very important to remember that this experience is not a vacation, but a year of voluntary service, that often requires a hard physical labor and a great deal of patience.

We also would like to underline that you will be a support to the already pre-existing staff.

Most of the placements are in the field of social work, that can be roughly divided in the following areas:

1. Work with children: All of these projects offer you the opportunity to learn about educational and pedagogical methods and how to handle with children. You are requested to live together with the children and to help in the house hold chores. It will be very good if you can paint or draw, if you can sing, play any instrument and if you can do any handicraft's work.

2. Work with disabled people: people with physical and learning disabilities, blind people. The work is based, above all, on physical assistance. You are also required to accompany the disabled to the doctor, to the movies, etc. In addition you can work in day-care centers organizing cultural activities and taking pert in the rehabilitation. You will support the social operators in their work and you will be asked to be very creative and independent.
   To do this kind of work you must be prepared for an hard physical work and you should have lots of patience and a big willingness to handle with disabled people.

3. Work with elderly people: sometimes at their own houses or in appropriate centers.
   The work you will do is to give them company, to speak and play with them, and also to help with the physical assistance. You should speak some Italian before you start to work, in order to be able to be independent and to communicate from the very beginning with the people.

4. Work with young people: in appropriate communities.Your main task is to “live together” with marginalized or abused youngsters, that never experienced a normal family life; this means you will help the youngsters with their homework, in the house chores and going out with them (e.g. to the doctor, downtown, etc.).
   It would be better if you have any particular quality as to do handicraft, or to have drama experience.
   It is important that you know some Italian before you start to work.

5. Work with former drug addicts: mostly in day-care centers.
   Your main task is to share the daily life with former drug addicts, working together and taking part in the chores.
   At this moment we do not have any projects, which deals with ecological and environmental activities and peace and third world awareness activities and projects. As you can read in the enclosure “Voluntary Work: Placements in Italy” most of the placements are in the area of Social Work. This means that it is possible to find different projects to work with, but this opportunity is strictly connected to the number of families willing to host.

6. Ecological and environmental activities and projects
   Their aims are mainly to inform and to make aware people about the ecological issues like pollution, nuclear plants' danger, waste recycling, etc.
   The volunteer will help with the usual office work such as to publish brochures, information materials, to prepare public actions, to give information about the organization, to help with the mailing, photocopying, etc.
   It would be really a must to speak Italian well before starting with such an activity, otherwise the volunteer will be more devoted to less interesting work (like copying) than to the more interesting part of it.
   The most important Italian ecological and environmental protection organizations are: World Wildlife Fund, Lega per l'Ambiente, Italia Nostra, Federazione dei Verdi.

7. Peace and third world awareness activities and projects
   Like for the previously described activities and projects, the work to be carried out is more the "so-called" office one, dealing with peace issues and third world aids and awareness projects.
   What such organizations and groups usually do is to publish information bulletins and materials, to organize public events or meetings in order to make the people aware of the problems they are dealing with.
   The most important Italian organizations working on these issues are: Amnesty International, Lega Obiettori di Coscienza, Associazione per la Pace, Lega per i Diritti dei Popoli and many other different groups and associations working in the field of development education and solidarity with third world countries.
   It would be helpful for the volunteer to have a good background on such an issues and some former direct experience in the field.