On 22nd December, participants of the Volunteering & Christmas celebrations webinar felt the end of year holiday atmosphere and shared emotions with a strong festive vibe. The webinar started off with opening remarks from FVLA organisers Albina Rakhmatullina and Renata Zinnatullina. Following which participants were introduced to the Volunteer Celebration by Mevan Induruwa (Sri Lanka) and Yun Chia (Chinese Taipei).

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The highlight of December was the staging of the Volunteer Academy in Argentina. Tatiana Alonso spoke about this astonishing experience. Then Michal Cmelik (Slovakia) introduced the volunteer opportunities, and shared information about upcoming events with opportunities to participate as a volunteer.

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Moving on, Emmanuel Aupal (Uganda) conducted the entertaining Christmas quiz and right after Karen Lozada (Ecuador), Karim Harik (Lebanon), Michal Cmelik (Slovakia), Mutale Kamana (Zambia), Min Joo Kim (Korea) and Lina Hult (Sweden) spoke about end of year celebrations and traditions worldwide. At the end of the webinar, the participants were invited to dance and join in on the fun together.

 

In the frame of the upcoming holidays, a great initiative was launched – Secret Santa, where the FVLA Community sent presents worldwide. “It’s absolutely amazing to receive a gift from another continent,” said Karim Harik, FISU Student Ambassador for Lebanon. “I am able to get to know the culture of my fellow FISU Student Ambassador. It’s quite an interesting activity that should be implemented next year as well.”

 

Article and photos by Timur Tufetulov, FISU Student Ambassadors programme, Media & Communications manager