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DIA Service Hungary (HAVE)

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Organization Description: DIA is a Hungarian non-profit building infrastructure for community service for youth aged 14-25 within Central and Eastern Europe.  Founded by former Peace Corps volunteers and local Hungarian teachers in 1998, DIA promotes the unique benefits that international collaboration can bring to local civil society development.

The Hungarian American Volunteer Experience (HAVE) is an integral part of our program.  It infuses American volunteer know-how and enthusiasm into the region by linking American university students with their peers in Hungary.  These students from both sides of the Atlantic work side-by-side as an international team, assisting with flood relief, working with children and refugees, restoring castles and youth centers, and protecting the environment.  

The HAVE is not a series of isolated 3-week summer service projects.  Instead, it builds upon our decentralized network of school-year service programs, reinforcing our partnerships with local governments and non-profits to develop sustainable projects with long-term impact.  Thus the HAVE advances DIA's larger goal: building an indigenous network for youth service throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

Issue Area(s):

• International
• Community development 

Type(s) of Bonner Partnership Connections:

• Alternative Break Site
• Internship opportunity
• Educational opportunity
• Job opportunity
• Resource Provider

Internship Position

Internship Description: While meeting important local needs, our volunteers learn about the importance of youth participation and volunteerism in a healthy democracy.  The HAVE program also places special emphasis on leadership development.  Through interpersonal workshops and fieldwork our volunteers are challenged to think creatively, work as part of a team and communicate through language and cultural barriers.

Our volunteers' role as youth leaders extends for beyond their time in Hungary.  Their active participation in sustainable community building projects means that our volunteers are helping to build a foundation for life-long social action within their communities.  Last but not least, students develop lasting friendships, travel and have a lot of fun.

DIA believes that hands-on volunteer work is greatly enriched by a complimentary intercultural program.  DIA brings its guest lecturers to host evening workshops in which students discuss the history and culture of Hungary, address its rapidly developing economy, and the social and political transformation it has experienced since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  Excursions to important historical and cultural sites, such as Visegrad Castle, the Budapest Synagogue, Parliament, the National Opera House, and Tihany, enable the student volunteers to see the cosmopolitan dimensions of the country while coming into closer contact with its rich history and its people.

DIA's multinational staff is uniquely qualified to develop the HAVE.  Its dynamic mix of former Peace Corp volunteers and a new generation of local civil society leaders have years of youth service experience in both countries.  As a result, DIA understands the expectations of both the European and American students and can develop a program that is sensitive to both perspectives.

The program will begin on the evening of Friday, August 2nd and will conclude on the morning of August 21, 2002.  In those 18 days, students will work approximately 4-6 hours a day on a project that has been designed by the community (in partnership with DIA) as beneficial to their specific needs.  The rest of the day will be divided up between workshops, seminars, traveling, and experiencing various aspects of the local culture.  Some of the previous HAVE program participants have gone horseback riding, swimming, hiking, visited the local wine regions, learned traditional Hungarian dances, folksongs, and how to make the famous Hungarian pottery.  Day trips have included cities rich in revolutionary history like Miskolc, Eger, Veszprem, Szolnok and Debrecen. Veszprem, for example, is called the 'City of Queens' since it was formally the city that all queens were sent for their education. Eger is where the castle was held against the Turks by women. The excursions are organized by the DIA coordinators who are all familiar with the history and flavor of the regions.  

There will be two sites prepared for this summer.  One site is in Sopron on Hungary's Northwest border with Austria. ® Proposed projects for this summer here include: creating a sports field for the kids, building a fence in front of the school by the road, working with the kids (who often have special needs), and possibly landscaping in front of the dorms.  Many of the children in this school are orphans, have special needs and live at the school year-round.  Others only spend the academic year at the school and will not be there in the summer.

® Previous HAVE project was to help construct a dormitory for the children that are too old to continue to live at the school but have nowhere else to go.

® Housing is in the dormitory of the school and offers modern sleeping quarters, showers, beds, closets and dressers for your things and linens.

® The food will be prepared special for the group three times a day and includes some snacks and refreshments.  

® Cultural opportunities vary but have included horseback riding, wine tastings, folk dancing, swimming, and day trips to nearby cities like Veszprem and Lake Balaton. 

The other will take place in Ketpo, a small village on the great Hungarian plains.  ® Proposed projects for this summer include: helping to restore the village elementary school up to code after it was damaged by recent floods, adding a family area to the playground we built last year, or creating a 'town square' of sorts for people to enjoy next to the village shops.

®  Previous projects included helping with flood relief after the great flood of 2000, working with the local children teaching them English and organizing activities, and building a playground in 2001 for the village's 300 children. Now the village is better prepared for the seasonal rains and the children have somewhere to gather and play.

® Housing is in the local youth center and includes beds, linens, internet access and showers.

® The food is prepared by a wonderful cook from the village for the group three times a day and includes snacks and refreshments.  A special dinner of the traditional Hungarian fish soup is also prepared by the mayor of the village and his friends treating everyone to a taste of the country.

® Cultural opportunities vary also but have included many of the above activities, pottery making, a water park, swimming at a local castle and trips to nearby cities like Miskolc, Eger, and Szolnok. 

® The special aspect of this program is the intimacy of the relationship between the HAVE participants and the local community.

Both sites have been selected based on the needs within their communities and the positive responses of the sites to hosting international and local volunteers.  Students attending either site will travel to various cities and cultural opportunities within that region of Hungary and spend a number of days in Budapest.

The HAVE projects are designed to promote continuing work year round here in Hungary.  Last year, our projects saved the orphanage.  We worked in over 7,000,000 Hungarian forints in labor to restore an abandoned building into a dormitory for the children that outgrow the orphanage but have nowhere to go. Our volunteers worked side by side with these young people to help them build their future home.  It was an amazing experience for all involved.  (please see the photos on the website)

Internship Start/End Dates:

Application Process: Please visit our website or email Zsolt to apply.

Application Deadline:

Stipend Provided? No

Housing Provided? Yes

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Service Opportunity

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Resource Opportunity

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