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Letter of Motivation

I am personally very interested in doing a voluntary year abroad. I am hoping that my personal efforts in any project will help to leave a positive impact on the people and the environment with whom I hopefully get to share the upcoming year.

For a long time I have been considering to do a voluntary year abroad. I eventually decided to apply for an abroad project after my internship at the German Federal Minestry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is the supporter of weltwärts. Getting first hand insight on current issues influenced my decision. I remember reading plans about watering systems in the Palestine territories before having a conference call with a team in Ramallah. Yes, I found it interersting to get to hear the reports but it urged me to be there and gain first hand experience. To be there and actively do something to help the people who need it.

I realized more and more that there is a world beyond what is familiar to me and that the conditions there are different from what I know and that for many people in this world things I call normal are not self-evident. I aspire to give something to the people of this world and give them a nicer quality of living; whether that be through social activities or through envirnomental aid.

I enjoy helping and seeing the progress I can help to achieve with others. Through voluntary projects that I have been doing at home I am hoping to reach that goal.
My school offers a project where students are teachers to senior citizens and help them to find their way around with modern technology but also languages. It was enrichening to work with people from a different generation as they shared stories and perspectives and showed me new views on things. I unfortunately had to leave the project due to scheduling issues as it is my senior year in high school.
Since in Germany the situation with refugees is getting more and more prevalent I decided to make a stand and get involved. Together with a few other volunteers I set up a child and youth club. It is a weekly meeting point for children but also teenagers and young adults to relax and get out of their heavy every day life. We try to get creative with the younger kids and do different crafting activities while we play parlor games with the older ones. At times we solely talk. I also am seeing this as an opprtunity for a cultural exchange. For example we crafted lanterns for the German holiday St. Martin but we also cooked Syrian pastries. In my opinion it is a good way to integration as neither side is losing parts of their culture and are rather exchanging it.
Along with the refugee situation my school opened an integrational class for children who cannot speak German yet. The students of that class came from a variety of backgrounds (refugees, parents moved etc.) and together with other senior students I helped to teach them German once or twice a week. The work with those kids underlined to me that help anywhere -especially at school- can have a great influence on people and seeing the progress the children made supported this completely.

Indeed, cultural exchange to me is very important but I am also highly interested to discover more about the culture from my future host country. Traveling mostly Europe has risen my interest to see more of the world. A one year long exchange year during high school to Ashburn, VA, USA has helped me to learn to appreciate different cultures more and also to undestand that cultures are very unique and that there is a lot to learn about cultures and their people.
One way of learning about strangers more easily I would say definitely is language. Through my exchange I learned English better than I could have hoped to do during school and I am assured that similar things will happen when I spend a volntary year abroad. I started a language course in Spanish in order to gain basic knowledge about the language of my host country. Yet I am looking forward to learning it more in action as it is easier to apply later on in real life. I learned French in school only and can say that I want to make it better with Spanish and am really grateful I get the opportunity to improve in that field whilst learning more about a foreign culture.

I have experienced cultural exchange especially in regards of music. The choir I have been in since 6th grade has had different multi-national pieces which we performed with for examples choirs from Oxford, UK or Riga, Lativia as well as an ochestra from Leiden, Netherlands. Despite language differences music served as a communicator which left me impressed.
Learning Kurdish and Syrian songs from refugees - and teaching them German songs - in a singing group did similarly. Already without translations a meaning could be transferred along with emotions.

One could say that singing definitely is my passion. I enjoy it a lot for a multitude of reasons. Singing in a group, to me, is even more fun as one can combine voices and get a sense of community. I have also played the piano and the flute for several years. I started to teach myself some guitar, and still enjoy to play, but unfortunately school is becoming more (if not even too) time consuming as the last year comes to an end.

Otherwise in my freetime I enjoy to go running in the forest near my house as well as doing yoga. I would not describe myself as very sportive but I am surely capable of decent exercise. To me, seeing my friends is also very important as I enjoy to spend time with them in whichever ways, whether it is just talking, or cooking or going on walks or day trips to nearby cities.

As for the projects I could envision myself doing I can see a variety of things. Educational projects which involve tutoring or teaching are one of my interests. It is a direct way of showing help. I am also very interested in offering activites for youngsters. Having a distraction and a safe and fun place to turn to can sometimes really alter a person\'s attitude and I would be glad to offer such entertainment nd indirect help in different forms: making music, reading, playing games, going on excursions and anything else that comes to mind. Furthermore I can also imagine to work in an environmentally based project. Creating better circumstances for people to live in, to me, is a very worthwhile occupation as it can influence people\'s quality of living drastically.

I hope that this letter will give you an adequate first impression of myself and I am looking forward to spending the year of 2016/17 abroad!

With best regards,
Gloria

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