Alemanha

2089

Data de início: 01-09-2013

Data de fim: 01-09-2014

Vagas: 1

Duração: 12 mes(es)

Data limite de candidatura: 01-01-2013

Financiamento: Candidatura

Subsídio mensal (Dinheiro de bolso): 105 €

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Resumo: Cologne has got a million inhabitants and is one of the biggest cities in Germany. It is situated in the Middle-West of Germany, 100km away from the Dutch, the Belgian and the Border to Luxembourg. For it locates important industries it has always been a magnet for workers from all over Europe, so it hosts people with many different cultural and national backgrounds.

Cologne is a university city with more than 60.000 students. It offers a wide range of cultural activities, nice cafés, restaurants, an excellent nightlife and alternative subcultures.

The inhabitants are considered as open-minded and well-humoured. Cologne is famous for its cathedral, roman history many churches and the beautiful Rhein river for its traditional carnival.
The TAS is located in the main train station in the center of the city dierekt, next to the cathedral. The residence, where the volunteers live, is about 20 minutes away by subway.

Perfil: IN VIA is generally open to all applicants. We expect the volunteer to have an interest in people and their histories and needs. They should be open-minded and not look down on the poor people in society (e.g. homeless people). Long-term volunteers should have a basic level of German.

We are happy to work with any sending organisation who will send us a motivated and well pre-pared volunteer. We will provide the sending organisation and volunteer with necessary information.
As there is such a big variety of working fields we prefer volunteers who come for at least 11 months.

Tarefas: The work at TAS is very flexible. The tasks vary a lot. Every day is different. The volunteer will meet people of any age and from all social classes with different problems and questions. It's an interesting project not only for those who are interested in social work or psychology.
During the daily work she/ he will meet different kind of people who are looking for assistance. E.g. families who use Kids on Tour where children who travel alone are accompanied on their trip to Hamburg or Bremen, or young people who have become victims of a robbery, or young mothers who want to change their baby's nappies. New is a children launch where families can wait for their connecting trains. Here, the TAS is offering a child care service that should be particularly taken over by interested EVS volunteers as well.

When assisting people changing the train, the volunteer will meet people with different handicaps. They help e.g. blind people or wheelchair users to switch from one train to another.

In the sitting room of the TAS the volunteers can talk with homeless people, people with mental illness or addictions and maybe provide help or make a contact with homeless shelters.
An outreach team of 2 persons will walk around the station looking for people who might need help and get into contact with them, offering support. The volunteer will gain good knowledge of human nature, empathy, communicative skills and will become secure contacting people with different backgrounds. He/ she will learn about people's fate and how to offer support. Like the normal staff the volunteer will have shift work, i.e. early shift, late shift and two times a month one day on weekend.

During normal work she/ he will help - according to demand, interest and possibility - to welcome the guests and try to find out what kind of support people need and refers to the respective staff member.

Aside of the assistance for changing the train there is no routine work. The activities are based on the daily demand. The volunteer may always assist and if she is interested also work more independently. However, she will never have to work alone. There is always an experienced person within reach. She will also participate in the team meetings.

During the last five years the staff of TAS has made positive experience with international volunteers. They were always very well integrated into the team and offered great support according to their personal interests and possibilities. The staff members had always had enough time to explain to the volunteer why what has to be done. So they were learning helpers. The volunteers felt comfortable in the project and considered the variety of tasks as very interesting and never boring.

Not only for travellers the central station is an attracting point for people from many different countries. An international volunteer in the team of the Travellers Aid Society (TAS) can be helpful especially for foreign people asking for assistance. Due to her own situation - being a foreigner in Cologne - he/ she could have the necessary empathy. For the team and the persons concerned it can be helpful if the volunteer is able to talk to them in their mother tongue or can translate.

The volunteer will learn about all the tasks of the TAS and the different facilities and institutions with which the TAS works together, depending on the various cases they have to handle. So she/ he can assist such meetings and learn about local networks and services. She/ he will get a good insight of the German social system.

Besides the daily work, the TAS is also doing campaign work and public relations. The TAS shall be well-known not only inside but also outside the central station. The offers for assistance have to be described and documented. The volunteer may support the public relations work of the TAS by own ideas. We will support the volunteer in realizing her ideas for the campaign work.

Documentação: CV + Carta de Motivação em inglês

Download: 2089 - Application form ok.docx