Seniors receiving letters. (source: Archive of Pošli dobro)
“Seniors keep letters from us in their pockets. Some even re-read them.” That’s how one young volunteer explains his sense of reward from deciding to help his older neighbours.
Marián Cipár, 17, helps to battle feelings of loneliness and exclusion among elderly citizens via the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) programme’s Pošli Dobro (Send Goodness) initiative.
During the pandemic, many seniors were denied physical contact with their families. More than 400 volunteers gathered to battle the negative feelings that this created.
It was important to bring the two generations together. “We chose handwritten letters, since that’s how people used to keep contact in the past, in the same way we do via Messenger,” said Cipár, referring to a popular messaging app.
Over two years, volunteers and elders exchanged more than 3,300 letters. Seniors report feeling appreciated and cared for: when they receive a letter, they know somebody is thinking of them.
The Duke of Edinburgh scheme is the world’s leading youth achievement award. It aims to equip young people for life and work and allow them to use their free time to make a difference for themselves, their communities and the world via activities like volunteering, skills development and physical activity.
3D-printed patience
Puzzles can often seem too pricey to buy just for fun. Damian Petrík decided to make his own, more affordable cube-puzzle printed on a 3D printer. Wrapping his head around the programme, the 3D printer, the correct components, and the puzzle itself wasn’t easy, Petrík admits. Such a complex project requires the development of logical thinking and orientation in 3D space.
“I’m way more patient after this project. One side of the cube took twelve hours to print. Imagine how it felt to find a mistake!” says Petrík. Each side is a puzzle on its own, and some puzzles need the coordination of two sides. “DofE taught me that if I truly dedicate myself to something, I can achieve it.”
Teens help teens
Answering calls to the helpline Lienka (Ladybird) is not an easy job. The mind of a teenager is tested by all sorts of difficult battles that can become hard to manage. Whether anxiety sprouts from hardship within the family or issues with identity, teens can benefit from talking to somebody from their own age group who can empathise.
Student Terézia Štefanová, 16, decided to support her peers and become a volunteer at Lienka. The line exists to help teens guide other teens through tough times. Terézia has received a DofE award for her work.
‘Never trivialise, always believe’ is the dictum that Štefanová and her fellow volunteers bear in mind as they approach a vast spectrum of struggles. “We were told to neither give advice nor solve their [teen’s] issues. We navigate their thoughts to make them help themselves,” she explains.
The replies given by volunteers are discussed and chosen collaboratively, adds Štefanová. The team discusses the issue at hand, talks it through, and delivers an answer only if all agree on it. This prevents careless and lazy answers that might have the potential to hurt callers, she says.
“Volunteering for a helpline helped me to understand that mental struggles do not have to be visible for them to be real.”
Training and volunteering
Training – and sweating – four times a week while striving for new personal bests is how one teenager won her award. After collecting second and third positions in Slovakia’s triathlon championships, 15-year-old Bibiana Snováková, is determined to keep going.
For Snováková, bad weather is no reason to skip training: the DofE motivated her to train even outside the season (which runs from spring to autumn). Training is not the only thing on her schedule, though.
“We’ve picked up more than twenty 100-litre bags of junk,” says Snováková. She adds that it is sometimes hard to grasp how dirty the country can be due to people’s irresponsibility. Outside training, she spreads eco-awareness and cleans the countryside with other volunteers.
Breaking taboos
Topics like peer pressure, cyberbullying, gender equality, hate-speech and LGBT+ people are often taboo at schools, says 18-year-old Šimon Hajdučko.
The Red Cross volunteer and future doctor started by teaching kids and his peers first-aid techniques. Feeling the urge to break taboos, DofE awardee Hajdučko also teamed up with the project Spolu Ochránime Mládež (Protecting Youth Together).
“At first, students thought that hate speech was not that common. As we talked more, they slowly realised that it is more common than they appreciated,” said Hajdučko. Attending workshops gave the youngsters some important takeaways. One was that even seemingly small decisions, like refusing to make fun of classmates, can have a noticeable effect.
“I just wish for a better world for all of us,” he says.
First trust, then training
Despite having taken swimming lessons as a newborn, Mia struggles to swim. Hope is not lost, though, as 17-year-old DofE awardee Sofia Novotná has decided to help the charming, smart and non-verbal 6-year-old Mia to overcome her fear of water.
Improvised gestures, small steps, trust and friendship: Mia can be sure that if something goes wrong, Novotná is there. The young trainer admits that communicating through made-up gestures and reactions were a challenge at first. But Novotná could not say no to Mia’s warm personality.
From small distances to crossing the whole pool, the bond grew so strong that Mia and Novotná managed to attend a swimming festival in Croatia together. “Mia inspired me with her bravery. She’s not afraid to meet new people, she thinks in the present. She does as she pleases – smiles, hugs and doesn’t think about what others think of her,” Novotná says of her new-found friend and trainee.
Letting off steam
Even in his early life, Filip Vereš was fascinated by trains. It is no surprise that he dedicated himself to repairing and thereby saving a one-of-a-kind vintage steam locomotive, the Albatross. Railways and locomotives run in his blood, since his grandfather used to be a train driver and other family members were railway workers. “My father and uncle have done their fair share of repairing the locomotive,” says Vereš.
Restoration was hard work. Changing the oil, repairing hoses, handling coal – Vereš did not back down. Cleaning the exterior was his favourite part. The difference was immediate, and he likes to imagine all the happy kids and their parents who will take photos in front of the clean, shiny locomotive.
This dedicated DofE award recipient recalls taking his first ride. An additional train had to follow the locomotive, equipped with firefighting tools and water in case of a fire, he recalls; the smell of burnt coal still stays with him.
Magic with wood
“If I want it, I make it,” is how another DofE award winner describes his approach. Why spend extra money on overly expensive replicas? “The only wand that broke during the process was the one that I designed for myself. I did not hesitate for a second, scrapped the project and started over again,” says woodcarver Sebastian Jakub Machel.
The 16-year-old creates realistic wooden replicas of book and movie items, from wands to small figurines. Starting small with a pocketknife and a scalpel, Jakub Machel creates realistic movie memorabilia – including a wizard’s wand. Getting more tools and skills allowed this handy carver to take his talent outside the home: he helped his school to make flower pots that have improved the school’s surroundings.
The DofE programme motivated him to finish an eight-wand set and continue to pursue his passion.
“People ask me whether I make them by myself. Who knows, maybe I’ll grow to be a professional one day,” Jakub Machel concludes.
The Duke of Edinburgh programme motivates young and adult people to truly dedicate themselves to their passions. The awards showcase Slovaks who demonstrate the importance of people helping one another and spreading goodwill where it is needed the most.
