THE FIRST DOD OF 2013/2014 COMPLETED! :)

THE FIRST DOD OF 2013/2014 COMPLETED! :)

It was a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of October, when seven Slovenian scouts gathered together to do something good for community. It’s the DOD project (in English, Days of Social responsibility): we visit organizations that help different minorities. We try to brighten up their days with different activities – whether is that a talk, some help with chores, taking a walk or just a game of chess. As lord Baden Powell once said: “Do a good turn daily!” Ana and Tajda, who led the project this time, decided to take us to the Daycare centre for the homeless in Ljubljana, supported by Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, to help people who lost their home/job/family and to get them know a bit better. At 3.20 p.m. the first DOD of 2013/2014 officially began! Simona, a social worker in the center, was in charge for the activities going on that day, so she told us what to do. Some of us helped to wash, sort and give out fresh clothes in the laundry room, others made loop locks, which are later used for coffee machines, and some scouts had fun by playing board games with the homeless, such as chess and four in a row (by the way, we lost every single game). We talked a lot during the activities, and those talks helped us to slowly forget the stereotypes about homeless. We realized that it is sad how the difficult circumstances forced those people to live in the street. Among them, there were also many young people, excluded from the society. At 6 p.m., about 60 people came to have dinner. We served the meal that was previously cooked by two other volunteers, helped washing the dishes afterwards and sorted out the clothes in the laundry room. We also prepared some notes with motivational quotes and Bible verses on them. When the work was done, we all gathered around the table and had a discussion about the past day. We heard some truly sad stories about lives of the homeless people, and once again we realized how important it is to help them. At the same time, we started thinking: Are we grateful enough for the things we have? Surprisingly, the activities did not exhaust us but filled us with lots and lots of positive energy instead. We left the centre with a new, special experience, decided to come back someday. Ready for next DOD? We’ll be there! ;) [written by Sara]
Number of participants
7
Service hours
4
Location
Slovenia
Topics
Youth Programme

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