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Being an ESC-volunteer in L'Arche will change your life forever

• Be a volunteer for one year at L’Arche Flanders (Belgium- Ghent or Antwerp)
• Change your heart and your life through the relationships with people with learning disabilities
• Free volunteering year offered by European Solidarity Corps of the European Union.

Why do a volunteering year at L’Arche?

• Because it is life-changing!
• You learn a lot about yourself
• You make friends for the rest of your life
• You learn to love and to be loved
• You have fun and learn to appreciate the simple things in life

In fact, you learn how it is to be a human of the heart.

Watch this small movie about Dorothee who was one year in L'Arche Moerkerke-Brugge.

Who can become a volunteer? 

• You are between 18 and 30 years old
• You like to live in a community
• You love to make friends with people who are different than you
• You don’t need a special education or degree in social work of pedagogics
• You speak English or French and you are willing to learn Dutch
• Because of the language, we ask you to stay at least 9 months

 What do we offer? 

• A life-changing experience
• Free volunteer year: food, travel costs, pocket money, medical insurance,…
• You have a room and food for free in the house
• Personal mentoring
• Trainings for young volunteers in L’Arche projects in Flanders & Holland
• Free intensive language course and private language training. If you want, we can organise an online Dutch language course for you before you arrive at L’Arche
• Advanced visit is possible
• The volunteering work is an official project of European Solidarity Corps of the European Union.
• Family and friends are welcome for a visit during the year

What do you do as a volunteer in L’Arche?

You will share life in our home in De Ark Gent, Antwerpen or Moerkerke-Brugge where people with and without disabilities are living and working. By sharing life, going out together, eating at the same table, sharing up and downs in life,... you will participate in the life of the people with disabilities and discover how much you can learn from them. The volunteer feels that solidarity starts with recognizing the independency of people. In the house people with disabilities, other volunteers, students and a paid professional live together. 

The volunteers will be assisting people with intellectual disabilities in their daily life. They will support them where needed, so activities will vary. The whole projectdescription you can find here.

How to apply?

• Just send an email to anja@ark.vlaanderen and we organise a skype to talk about it. You can also call me on +32 495 48 96 27
• Or you contact your supporting organisation and they contact me
• We do the application process preference as fast as possible (best before July 2020).
• We prefer the volunteer to stay 9 to 12 months between 01/08/20 and 31/08/21.