My name is Echansi. I was honored to spend 13 months in People’s Theater in Germany, as a volunteer, from to 2018.

The volunteers in this organization are doing interactive theater at a public school. That means we play a show showing a conflict in front of a class of students. When the conflict reaches the climax scene, we stop the play and discuss with the audience about what happened and how the conflict could have been prevented. Then the audience gets the chance to try out their own ideas and solutions.

Though this experience I learned to act in the theater; well, it sounds easy but actually isn´t, not at all, especially for me, a person that is not so confident to act in front of the audiences. Acting in many roles as well as learning the scripts in German language was challenging. My involvement in acting with the team also gave me chance to express myself in the discussions about the observed conflict, and to take part together in looking for the possible solutions for conflicts, both for the theater scenes and also in real life.

Working in a big group of people of different ages, backgrounds, personalities also taught me to be more tolerant, open-minded and open-hearted, responsible and, most importantly, patient. There were many incidents, conflicts and dramas along the year that I spent in Germany. All of these taught me a lot about how to survive and adapt.

Last but not least, I am very satisfied with my 13 months of long-term voluntary service in Germany. I would like to say thank you very much to DaLaa Thailand for this great experience.