18 Oct Are you an EVS? No, just Human.
EVS. Three letters that sounds like a real enigma for many of you. Laura and I will explain more in details in further posts how the European Voluntary Service is organised and its aims. But for all those who are wondering, no I am not an “EVS”.
EVS is a contract that allow me to be here, in Örkelljunga for a limited period of time and to carry out specific tasks for IFALL. It is temporary state, a period of my life that I chose for a various reasons to dedicate to volunteering.
When you are moving to a different country, you are confronted to a different culture (or several cultures). People will ask you a lot of questions. You will find yourself wondering about small details of daily life (cf last post). You will necessarily have introduce yourself or you will be introduced in some simplistic way. Saying “Hi, I’m Malika and I’m from France and I’ll stay here to do my European Voluntary Service” is not enough to define myself. Because if I’m definitely from France, I’m also from Morocco. And I also have Italian roots. Because this is what France is today: a melting pot. So no, not all French are named Jacques or Monique. Being named Malika or Mohammed doesn’t make me less French (same thing here in Sweden, it doesn’t make Mohammed or Panida less Swede than Kerstin or Lasse).
So how would I define myself? I’m a “Grassoise” (from a city called Grasse located on the French Riviera). I’m Mediterranean. I’m European. I’m a volunteer. I’m a woman. A friend. A daughter. A sister. An aunt. A basketball fan. A reggae and French rap enthusiast. A muffin specialist 😉 A jewelry maker. A hiking fan and an infusion addict. 
But I’m also much more than that… To make it short: I am just a human. And as everyone else, I can’t be defined in one word. So try to know me better before defining me in simple way 😉 So let’s meet if you want to know more about me!!! (I will be in Stockholm this week for an “EVS training”, but I’ll be back 😉 ).
If you have some spare time, I strongly recommend you to watch the movie “Human” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (click here for the English version).
Have a great week!
Malika
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