Grandchildren for Rent: Two Months in Madan

Hello, I am Halil KIRCIOĞLU. I am a medical intern at Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine.

This summer I travelled to Madan, a small and quiet town in Bulgaria, for a two-month volunteering experience I will not forget for a long time.

As someone open to new experiences, eager to meet people and keen to live life as fully as possible, I believe that taking a little risk on the opportunities that come your way is always worth it. Before arriving in Madan, I had no clear expectations about the town, the project or what awaited me. In fact, that uncertainty turned out to be one of the best parts of the experience.

Along the way, I also saw how right I had been to choose KOZ-DER as my sending organisation. They were there at every stage of the process and made their support felt whenever I ran into difficulties, which made the whole experience far safer and more enjoyable for me.

The Volunteering Process

As part of the Grandchildren for Rent project, we spent time with elderly people and supported them in their social and everyday lives. We talked with them, helped with their daily needs and, most importantly, gave them our time.

Sometimes what we did was no more than a simple conversation. But over time I realised that you do not need to do anything grand to brighten someone’s day; a few hours spent together, a story listened to or a sincere chat can already mean a great deal.

This process taught me not only how to volunteer, but also how to listen to people of different ages and life experiences, how to be patient, and how much value there is in small things.

During our stay we also had the chance to take part in various Erasmus+ projects. Through them we met people from around ten different countries; we played games together, shared our cultures and learned new things from one another. Seeing people from such different backgrounds grow close in so little time was one of the finest aspects of the Erasmus experience for me.

Sweet Moments in Madan

One of the things that surprised me most during my time in Madan was that language barriers, rather than pushing people apart, can sometimes bring them closer together.

One day we were trying to communicate with a woman working at the local shop. She did not speak English, and we did not know the Bulgarian word for the product we were looking for. On top of that, the internet was down. Just as we were about to give up, we discovered that she spoke Spanish and that I could speak Italian. With a few words, some hand gestures and plenty of smiles, we finally found what we were looking for.

From the outside it may look like a very small memory. For me, though, it became one of the best examples of my time in Madan. Because sometimes it is not speaking the same language that matters, but being willing to communicate.

Leaving Madan

Leaving Madan at the end of two months was not easy at all.

With its calm, its peacefulness and the warmth between its people, Madan reminded me of the quiet retirement life most people dream of. This small town, about which I knew so little when I first arrived, had become a special place where I left good memories behind.

One of the most important things this experience taught me was this: we go to some places not to return to them, but to gather memories that become part of our lives.

When I left Madan, I took with me more than my suitcase: new friendships, everything I had learned from other cultures, the lovely moments spent with elderly residents, and small stories I will remember for the rest of my life. Alongside the sadness of saying goodbye to Madan, I returned to Türkiye with the excitement of new adventures ahead and of carrying what I had learned into the rest of my life.

Thanks

My heartfelt thanks go to the KOZ-DER family for making this wonderful experience possible, to Halil ÖZKARACA, whose support I felt throughout the process, to our hosting organisation, and to all the project friends who made these two months so much more special for me.

Over these two months I did not simply volunteer; I learned a great deal, got to know different cultures, built lasting friendships and discovered new things about myself.

For me this project will not remain just a two-month volunteering experience. Perhaps the finest thing Grandchildren for Rent gave me was this: while touching other people’s lives in a small way, it added so much to my own.