Hazeem MANSI, a young Jordanian architect in search of a job, stayed in Tunisia, in Hammamet, for three months as part of an eco-volunteer mission organised by the Association of Education Related to the Environment of Hammamet (AERE). This mission is part of the RESMYLE project.

His mission has just ended. In this short article, he gives his impressions, his feelings and the conclusions he draws from this "unique" experience as he describes it.

Life is full of learning and it is mostly due to our daily life experiences. These experiences are mostly based on our surrounding environment from where we learn new things every day. But all these experiences are a result of our keen observations out of daily routines. It is very important to note that life also provides us with some chances to experience new people or places that are indeed out of the ordinary. That is the time we indeed learn new and unique things, hence these are unique experiences of our life which are remembered by us throughout our life span

I had the opportunity to be a volunteer in the RESMYLE exchange program (1) and to participate in the international mission in Tunisia for three months .I have visited Tunisia and this was indeed a life time experience. Going through new and strikingly important things really made me filled up with pleasure. It was indeed very joyful and a marvellous experience. I am very happy and expecting many more things and unique experience coming my way and making me enjoy new and exciting things.

Tunisia is a place which is full of new experiences that is what makes it even more exciting due to all kinds of diversity in food, leisure and work.

My mission focused on evaluating the previous tasks conducted by the association AERE within the RESMYLE project. The association completed two previous workshops, and I had the honor to participate in the second workshop. The content of the first workshop was to count the historical buildings in Hammamat, and make a guide for them. The guide focuses on the importance and the need to take care of these buildings. Knowing that, some of these historical places suffer from neglect and marginalization. I have translated this guide from Arabic into English. In the second workshop, I translated the brochure from Arabic into English. The brochure was made at Dar Sebastian also called “the International Cultural Center in Hammamet”. This brochure presents the most important landmarks in the center and Master Plan for the center. In addition to the translation, I provided new designs for the brochure in Arabic and English. Moreover, I made some modifications to the master plan for the center, and designed a round table showing the places opposite the seashore adjacent to the center.

I enjoyed a lot Tunisia, where I happened to be the launch of the international cultural festival in Hammamet, and I had the opportunity to see some concerts and that was a great experience.

I met many new people, including the Pakistani volunteer who came to the AERE in Hammamet, "Saddam Hussein", a researcher on climate change. We had many informative discussions. We also met with some Tunisian young people and talked with them about climate change and what we should do as individuals to protect our planet Earth (2).

I also participated in a workshop within the framework of the Erasmus program on entrepreneurial work (3). There were participants from several countries: Italy, Hungary, Macedonia, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan. We got to know the different cultures of these countries.

The AERE held a workshop under the name “My School is My Responsibility” (4) in which a number of young volunteers participated in order to teach them the feeling and belonging to the local community and to contribute to making the school a better place (as an eco-school).

I participated in a peaceful protest (5) organized by the AERE in Hammamet with teachers, parents and environmental activists to demand a halt to construction work in the "School of the Republic" at the expense of a land designated for sports activities through which I learned the importance of expressing opinion and practicing citizenship towards my country and demanding my rights in a peaceful manner.

And I do not forget the entertainment side, as I visited many tourist places in Tunisia every weekend. It was a great experience and I would like to thank RESMYLE for this opportunity as well as the association (AERE) in Hammamet for its hospitality.

Overall, by integrating myself into the work environment, completing the duties given to me within the time given, and abiding by the regulations and standards of the workplace, this experience enabled me to develop and polish my personality. Along with the value of collaboration and teamwork, I also learned how to interact with my colleagues at work.