“I’m happy to be part of your stories”

On Thursday, 12 January 2023, MEP Irena Joveva took part in a voluntary Slovenian language teaching activity at Slovenian Philanthropy. The participants were mostly from Ukraine. The MEP expressed her pleasure to have been given the opportunity to participate in a project that supports integration into a new environment. “I am happy to be part of your stories. Your lives are anything but easy and your willingness to learn is enviable,” said Ms Joveva.

The course was very interactive, and the way it is run is that everyone converses in Slovenian from the very start.

In her short address, Joveva remarked that over the past year, the war in Ukraine has been a major issue the European Parliament has dealt with. She clearly condemned any military aggression. She expressed her support to all volunteers and course participants and pledged to continue to do everything in her power to ensure that the EU helps all refugees and other people in need as best as it can.

She also expressed her awareness of the difficult situation in which Ukrainian citizens found themselves after the onset of the war and that it is hard to adjust to a new way of life. She stressed that she has the utmost respect for their experience, their courage and all that they have had to go through.

Finally, she wished all participants good luck and much success and thanked them again for inviting her to participate in the course.

During the course, she took part in the MEP Job Shadowing activity, which is part of the Citizen Engagement for Recovering – Volunteering Solidarity (CERVIS) project, co-funded by the European Commission through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme.

The idea is that an MEP and a selected volunteer symbolically change jobs for one day, or help each other in their work. It is expected that next month, one of the selected volunteers will join the MEP in her work.