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The Dream of Bringing Life-Changing Volunteering to Slovenia

In the first months of Park Istra, the project was still fragile, unfinished, and full of dust. But for Petra, it already carried something much deeper: the dream of offering in Slovenia the kind of volunteering experience that had once changed her own life.

Before Park Istra became a place that welcomed volunteers from around the world, it began as a memory.

Years earlier, Petra had travelled widely. During those journeys, she supported ecological projects through volunteer work in different parts of the world. The work itself mattered, but what stayed with her most deeply was not only the practical help. It was the experience of living and working with people from many countries, each one carrying a different story, a different way of seeing the world, and a different kind of knowledge.

Those encounters changed her. They opened her view of life. They showed her that volunteering could be much more than a few hours of useful work. It could be a space where people learn, grow, question themselves, form friendships, and discover that another way of living is possible.

To be able to offer that same kind of experience in Slovenia became, in her words, the fulfilment of a dream.

A place shaped by people

In the beginning, Park Istra was not polished. It was not comfortable in the usual sense. There was renovation work, shared space, changing plans, unfinished rooms, improvised routines, and the constant arrival and departure of volunteers.

But it was alive.

Petra wrote about how much she enjoyed living with volunteers. She felt joy when they told her that staying there had been inspiring for them too. Some did not want to leave. Some stayed longer than planned. Some went down to the valley only as if they were going on holiday, because the strange, simple life in the hills had already started to feel like home.

What made the place meaningful was not only the work. It was the shared dream behind it.

People came with different reasons. Some wanted to travel. Some wanted to help. Some were searching for community. Some had skills to offer. Some were simply curious. But once they arrived, many became part of something larger than themselves.

Together, they worked according to their abilities. They cooked, repaired, built, cleaned, gardened, sang, organised, carried, listened, and learned. The project was not created by one person alone. It was shaped by many hands.

The first volunteers

Many people marked the early home of Park Istra.

Petra remembered Deedem, a Turkish woman from Berlin, as the person who opened volunteering at the project. Her voice filled evenings by the fire and gave them a special colour. In a place still being formed, music became one of the first signs of warmth.

Soon after came Damjan, who became almost part of the project’s foundation. He spent more time there than almost anyone else besides Petra and Janez. His gentleness showed itself through care for the permaculture garden, where patience and attention were needed every day.

Rainer, an Austrian architect, stayed longer than he had planned. He brought great energy, skill, and enthusiasm for work. He travelled through the world as lightly as possible, hitchhiking when he could, using little money, and offering his abilities where they were useful.

There were also two Swiss carpenters travelling across Europe in traditional clothing, offering their craft and knowledge along the way. Their presence connected Park Istra to an older tradition of travelling workers, people who learn by moving, helping, building, and sharing what they know.

The first overseas connection came with Robin from the United States, and soon after with Sal. In the kitchen, they created smells and meals that people remembered. Food became another kind of language, a way of caring for the group and making a rough place feel generous.

Ljubica brought a much-needed steady hand into the house. With her help, daily life worked better. In a community, this kind of contribution is sometimes less visible than construction work, but it is just as important. A shared home needs people who notice what must be done.

There were many others too. Some stayed briefly, others longer. Some left behind visible work, others left behind only a feeling. But each person added something to the atmosphere of the place.

Living the same dream

The early volunteers did not simply visit Park Istra. They helped create it.

This is what made the project unusual from the beginning. It was not a finished organisation inviting people into a prepared system. It was a living experiment being built while people were already inside it.

The house was being repaired. The garden was being cared for. The rhythm of community life was being discovered. The project’s mission was still taking shape through daily practice.

In that kind of environment, everyone mattered. A person who cooked dinner mattered. A person who repaired a wall mattered. A person who sang by the fire mattered. A person who stayed calm when things were chaotic mattered. A person who welcomed a newcomer mattered.

The dream was not abstract. It was lived in small actions.

Park Istra wanted to support local communities, care for the land, preserve heritage, and create meaningful experiences for volunteers. But before those words could become a programme, they had to become a way of life.

That was what happened in those first months.

Why volunteering can change a life

Volunteering changes people when it becomes more than an activity.

It changes people when they are trusted with real responsibility. When they feel useful. When they live close enough to others to learn patience. When they see that their work has meaning. When they discover that joy does not always come from comfort, but sometimes from effort, simplicity, and belonging.

Petra had experienced this during her own travels. Through Park Istra, she wanted to pass that gift forward.

Many volunteers arrived expecting to help. Some discovered that they were also being helped. Not in a dramatic way, but quietly: by the rhythm of work, by nature, by shared meals, by conversations, by the feeling of being part of a group that needed them.

That is why some people wanted to stay. That is why others returned. That is why the early days of Park Istra were remembered not only as work, but as something personal.

The project gave volunteers the chance to experience community not as an idea, but as daily life.

A dream shared forward

Looking back, the first months of Park Istra feel tender because everything was still beginning.

There was no guarantee that the project would succeed. There was only work, trust, and the belief that enough people would come, help, and understand the spirit of the place.

And they did.

One by one, volunteers arrived. They came from nearby and far away, from Europe and beyond. They brought songs, food, skills, stories, humour, questions, energy, and sometimes uncertainty. Together, they helped turn a place into a community.

For Petra, this was the beauty of it: people from different parts of the world sharing the same dream and living it, even if only for a short time.

Park Istra began as a project, but very quickly became something more human. It became a meeting place for people who wanted their time to matter. A place where work and friendship could belong together. A place where someone could arrive as a stranger and leave having left a trace.

That is the dream Petra wanted to bring to Slovenia.

Not just volunteering as help.

Volunteering as transformation.

Volunteering as community.

Volunteering as a way of remembering that a different kind of life can be built — slowly, imperfectly, and together.