ABOUT MYKYTA

Hi, my name is Mykyta/Nikita. I'm 19 years old and originally from Uzhhorod, city in western Ukraine near the border with Slovak border. My life in the last years has been quite an adventure so far. As I was graduating, the last years of the school and most of my free time I`ve spend at home, because of the COVID-19 and the subsequent full-scale invasion (War), so Ive felt hollow. I felt a critical need to socialize, improve my mental health, and in general, I needed to get out of the
comfort zone that I had created over the years by staying at home.

A few years ago, because of war, I moved to the Czech Republic, where I lived for around three years. Those years had so many things so far, that gave me a lot of experience in adapting to new culture, people which helped me grow as a person, and which taught me to appreciate the richness of different cultures. But it was hard to be there, as of my hard labor job as a carpenter, and the toxic environment of small Czech city, where bad adventures can happen everyday in any time, I felt horrible.

Recently, my best friend suggested me to try and volunteer in an ESC project, I was kind of stunned at first, but as I thought for some time, i decided that it can be a great opportunity to open to myself a whole new world with a lot of things to discover and improve. And from this moment, my life turned upside down. I threw out everything, quitted my job and decided to start a new life by moving to Košice, Slovakia. As Uzhhorod (my hometown) is relatively close to Kosice, I had heard a lot about this city and visited it for the first time when I was 11 years old. It was my first trip abroad, so it made a big impression on me and became symbolic in a way, given that the roads brought me back here again.

I have a lot of hobbies, since I was a child, I liked music, art, gaming, fashion and all sorts of alt (non formal) ways to express myself. This helped me to adapt to environment in this project and organization. I've started to study at university in Ukraine as a Computer Scientist, but as the program they gave (Online form), I did not like it and I quitted. But as the volunteer here, I think that in period of this project I will adapt and assimilate to the Slovak culture and environment, that would help me to apply for university in here. My life turned out much happier, colorful and happier, as I found a lot of new friends, I finally can spend time with my best friend and also I found my love in here.​

This is not my first experience of volunteering, as I have previously helped forcibly relocated people due to the war to settle in my hometown. So I had an idea of what to expect, but the reality exceeded my expectations several times over. I did not think that volunteering could be so interesting, filled with a friendly atmosphere and really exciting. I'm here as a volunteer, spending my time and energy to help LGBT community and to learn organization and social skills.
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Volunteering was the bestway for to meet new people, make a lot of friends, learn new skills, and make a difference in a my whole life. I learned much more about the problems of LGBTQ+ people and how important this topic should be in society. Before, I didn't care much about the problems of other social groups, but volunteering with this organization taught me not to be indifferent to others.

This experience greatly expanded my horizons and helped me look at life from a different perspective. I realized that living in my bubble was extremely boring and uninteresting and that life is only in my hands and everything depends on me, whether to use the right opportunities or to sit in the same place dreaming of new friends. In my opinion, volunteering helps to develop the ability to organize literally everything, from your personal time to large projects involving a huge number of people and sponsors. So I will definitely apply this experience in my future work, which I hope to be related to programming, which will require a clear organization of my time, thoughts, and people around me.

As i was living here for some time, I started to love exploring new places, connecting with people from different countries,spending time in new environments and making all sort ofopportunities that can push me out of my comfort zone. I changed my habit of staying at home to daily walks with my closest people. My time in Košice is not only about giving back but also about personal growth, and I'm excited to see where this journey leads me.

Every week, we have a variety of meetings that include both serious discussions and various kinds of fun activities. I like the fact that one day we can discuss the importance of equal pay and the next day we can have a great time at karaoke. This diversity made me realize that it's okay to like a bunch of things at once and want to do literally everything that interests you. I really liked volunteering in this organization, and despite the fact that I plan to go to university in Kosice, I will definitely stay volunteering, because in this way I feel really useful to society and that I am involved in something great.

I am infinitely grateful for the opportunities that have been given to me, because I finally feel happy in a long time, needed and also that I can be useful and people will appreciate it. Although I've only been here for 3 months, I think I've gained more practical experience than I did in my entire school. So far, the best thing that has happened here is that I have met a lot of people my age who have also decided to give up everything and try to change their lives through volunteering. These moments made me realize that I am not alone in this situation and that I am moving in the right direction. I'm already looking forward to the new adventures this 'journey' will bring me and am ready to work on joint projects side by side with cool people.