Saturday coffee break with Yoana Barakova- PTPI The Dolphins Varna
Yoana Barakova from PTPI The Dolphins Varna is describing how her chapter is preparing for Global Youth Service Day . In her interview Yoana is telling about the four year experience she had with The Dolphins. The fun part of being member in PTPI and all the parties are also mentioned by her. The participants of this year European conference will have the opportunity to party with the Dolphins. Yoana's recommendation for PTPI is :
„I recommend PTPI to everybody who wants to have fun while helping the society and meet great people who will never forget. “
1.Tell us something about you briefly.
Hello guys! My name's Yoana, I will turn 18 the end of this year and I'm a member of PTPI “The Dolphins”.
2. What chapter are you currently member in ? How do you like the atmosphere in your chapter?
I am a member of PTPI for 4 years. I was even a vice-president for one mandacy. For me being a PTPI member is absolutely life-changing. I didn't realise how much I was talking about it until my friends mentioned me this and as a consequense they joined my obsession and most of them are now members as well. I can compare volunteering with drug addiction because once when you have become a volunteer , it's very difficult to change your attitude to life and the things that surround us. Of course there aren't any side effects like with the heroin, totally the opposite you improve yourself on maximum – your working in a team skills, being more organised and independent , communicating easily with people and improving your English skills. The atmosphere was the thing I instantly fell in love with – the place where we gather together is the coziest place you will ever be. It's full with pictures of us, on most of them we are doing weird funny stuff, but one rule in PTPI should be never to be ashamed of what are you doing because maybe a lot of people won't agree with the campaigns or will eckon that some of them are pointless, but our aim should be to change their mind, to start thinking in a different angle and light.
3.Can you tell us something more about the current projects you have in your chapter?
Our current projects with the organization are mostly connected with the orphanage “Knyaginya Nadezhda”. For Globul Youth Service Day we plan to make a Geography Day in the orphanage so that the kids will improve their knowledge, which is on a very low basic level due to the less attention and care of the teachers who neglect them because of their origin. We also continue doing our annual Christmas campaign where we sell hand-made postcards and every year help a great deal of people by renoveting and buying the needed equipment for hospitals, orphanages and the school for blind kids in our city. We also help individualy to people in nedd with these money – a girl with blood cancer, a boy with jaw cancer and a girl in coma. For St. Valentines we were selling origami hearts and organised a freeze flashmob in one of the shopping centres in Varna, so that we raised enough money for one of the girls in the orphanage, on whom was poured sulfuric acid and she lost her one eye. In the moment she is having several operations and at the end of them she will be happy with her new glass eye, which will raise her self-esteem and make her feel normal and as everybody else. Moreover, we are organizing a beach cleaning campaign next week, so that we can meet the summer with a smile on our faces and with pleasure we will go at the clean beautiful beaches of Varna.
Have you been given the opportunity to travel via PTPI programs? How would you describe this experience ?
I have been part of several traveling projects via PTPI. Two of them were abroad, the one in Berlin where I got accuainted with your amazing members and I still remember the games of Stevica and we now play them in our chapter .The other one was in Cyprus. This one was very adventurous for me because I went there on my own – I was the only representative of my chapter and country but I enjoyed it because it was like a Christmas surprise, I didn't know what to expect. I have been on one more project. That one was in Plovdiv – a city in the center of Bulgaria.
What would you recommend to the youth that are still thinking whether to be part of a local PTPI Chapter or not?
I recommend PTPI to everybody who wants to have fun while helping the society and meet great people who will never forget. They will go to places where they have never been – orphanages, hospitals, places for old and retired people. They will organise flashmobs and do spontanious , crazy things of which they have never thought of. Oh and trust me, the parties or the so called” teambuildings” are worth it! ;)
„I recommend PTPI to everybody who wants to have fun while helping the society and meet great people who will never forget. “
1.Tell us something about you briefly.
Hello guys! My name's Yoana, I will turn 18 the end of this year and I'm a member of PTPI “The Dolphins”.
2. What chapter are you currently member in ? How do you like the atmosphere in your chapter?
I am a member of PTPI for 4 years. I was even a vice-president for one mandacy. For me being a PTPI member is absolutely life-changing. I didn't realise how much I was talking about it until my friends mentioned me this and as a consequense they joined my obsession and most of them are now members as well. I can compare volunteering with drug addiction because once when you have become a volunteer , it's very difficult to change your attitude to life and the things that surround us. Of course there aren't any side effects like with the heroin, totally the opposite you improve yourself on maximum – your working in a team skills, being more organised and independent , communicating easily with people and improving your English skills. The atmosphere was the thing I instantly fell in love with – the place where we gather together is the coziest place you will ever be. It's full with pictures of us, on most of them we are doing weird funny stuff, but one rule in PTPI should be never to be ashamed of what are you doing because maybe a lot of people won't agree with the campaigns or will eckon that some of them are pointless, but our aim should be to change their mind, to start thinking in a different angle and light.
3.Can you tell us something more about the current projects you have in your chapter?
Our current projects with the organization are mostly connected with the orphanage “Knyaginya Nadezhda”. For Globul Youth Service Day we plan to make a Geography Day in the orphanage so that the kids will improve their knowledge, which is on a very low basic level due to the less attention and care of the teachers who neglect them because of their origin. We also continue doing our annual Christmas campaign where we sell hand-made postcards and every year help a great deal of people by renoveting and buying the needed equipment for hospitals, orphanages and the school for blind kids in our city. We also help individualy to people in nedd with these money – a girl with blood cancer, a boy with jaw cancer and a girl in coma. For St. Valentines we were selling origami hearts and organised a freeze flashmob in one of the shopping centres in Varna, so that we raised enough money for one of the girls in the orphanage, on whom was poured sulfuric acid and she lost her one eye. In the moment she is having several operations and at the end of them she will be happy with her new glass eye, which will raise her self-esteem and make her feel normal and as everybody else. Moreover, we are organizing a beach cleaning campaign next week, so that we can meet the summer with a smile on our faces and with pleasure we will go at the clean beautiful beaches of Varna.
Have you been given the opportunity to travel via PTPI programs? How would you describe this experience ?
I have been part of several traveling projects via PTPI. Two of them were abroad, the one in Berlin where I got accuainted with your amazing members and I still remember the games of Stevica and we now play them in our chapter .The other one was in Cyprus. This one was very adventurous for me because I went there on my own – I was the only representative of my chapter and country but I enjoyed it because it was like a Christmas surprise, I didn't know what to expect. I have been on one more project. That one was in Plovdiv – a city in the center of Bulgaria.
What would you recommend to the youth that are still thinking whether to be part of a local PTPI Chapter or not?
I recommend PTPI to everybody who wants to have fun while helping the society and meet great people who will never forget. They will go to places where they have never been – orphanages, hospitals, places for old and retired people. They will organise flashmobs and do spontanious , crazy things of which they have never thought of. Oh and trust me, the parties or the so called” teambuildings” are worth it! ;)