Motivation (English)

1.How would you describe yourself as a person?

I will begin with a short formal overview to my person and my interests.

My name is Yannick Lebert and I am born on 14.12.1987 in Darmstadt, Germany. I am still living in Darmstadt, a city which has about 130000 inhabitants.

From 1994 to 1998 I was in primary school, then from 1998 up until today on a higher school.
This year I will take my school examination, the so-called “Abitur”.

In my freetime I like very much to follow my passion for music. I am playing electric and accoustic guitar, for my own and in a band. In former days I have intensively done sports,
maybe it was to much, because one day I was tired of it. I still like doing sports for fun, but not in serious competition.

Besides, I am very interested in politics and cultural life. I have worked for one year in the student council of Darmstadt, an organization which represents all students of the town.

2. Please describe at least four aspects of your motivation to do a voluntary service abroad.

Trying to figure them out is not easy for me, but I think the main reason is that I am very interested in other countries’ culture and people. I would like to spend some time in a completely different environment… maybe that is hard , but otherwise it could be looked at as a challenging opportunity, too.

When I was in Kenya in autumn 2005, travelling the country, I saw pretty much and the idea of spending a longer time here came to my mind. I did not only want to visit the country, but stay and live there. I think it might be a possibility for a kind of communication between members of different cultures. We can learn from eachother and I would experience that there is more to this world than my own country and its way of living. In my opinion it is an essential basis for living in our world if one has the goal (as I do) to behave with respect towards all their ethnic groups.

Another reason of all this is to help others, to help people who depend on it, instead of serving in the military service. On the other hand I would love to learn the local language (like Portuguese or Spanish), adapt to cultural differences and just learn for life.

3. Give us some examples in which areas you would like to do your voluntary service. What do you expect to learn in these areas? What do you think you can offer the project?

For choosing a type of voluntary service I would like to do, I took several possibilities of work into consideration, which might be interesting for me. And of course I tried to figure out if the type of work fits to my abilities.

So I would prefer to work with children and/or with adolescents. I have read a lot about these projects (especially these in Brasilia) and had also good conversations with people who have been working in such organizations. I like it very much having to do with younger people. I can imagine many things I could do with them. These are for example making music together ( I will take my guitar with me), making sport, help them with school work and just take care of them. But of course it always depends on the project’s opportunities, what I can do with the children.

I would be very happy if I had the possibility to take influence on the things I do with the children/youth. That I can decide from time to time on my own what I want to do with them and to organize these things.

But there is another reason which led to the choice to work in this area. I think it is much easier for me to learn Portuguese or Spanish ( which are more or less new to me) if I have to do with younger people. In addition to that, is not so important for the work with children, to speak their language from the first day, as it might be in other areas of voluntary service.
All in all, I think that this would be the best way for me to do my voluntary service.

Apart from the work I just described, I could also imagine to work in a project of a human rights-, cultural- or environmental- organization. I still would like to be directly in contact with the country’s people. I could imagine that for instance in form of organizing small events which inform people about certain things. This could be AIDS, other illnesses, informing about claiming one’s rights in the state, environmental problems, etc….
I think such a work corresponds quite good to my skills because I am very interested in politics, society and culture. Through such a work I will possibly gain a good insight into connections in society which is very interesting for me. But the same I think of the work in an organization for youth and children, even if it would probably be a different way to experience the country’s culture.

5. How does the voluntary service fit into your current and future life planning?

As I described already, I will have my graduation this year (2007). When a german man is 18 years old, he normally has to absolve a year in military service in one of the following years. If one refuses to do that, it is possible to do a non-military service for conscientious objectors.
I decided to go this way. And because the german state accepts doing this non-military service abroad, it is the perfect opportunity for me to combine the dream of living and working for one year in a foreign country with the service I have to do anyway.

I think that I will go to university after that year, but I do not have plans for certain subjects to choose. I hope that such a year gives me time to think about my life and my future plans.

I guess that my character or at least some basic ideas concerning the way of living will change during the voluntary year. So I am looking forward to spend an exciting and impressive yearwhich will certainly influence my further life.