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, restoring castles and youth centers, and protecting the environment.

While meeting important local needs our volunteers learn about the importance of youth participation and volunteerism in a healthy democracy. Through interpersonal workshops and fieldwork our volunteers are challenged to think creatively, work as a part of a team and communicate through language and cultural barriers.

The HAVE program offers you the unique opportunity to meet a new culture, help a local community in Hungary, and explore yourself at the same time. It does so by combining volunteer service, workshops on service learning and other topics, intercultural sessions, guest lectures as well as exciting study trips all around the country.

Last year the volunteer projects included a wide range of different activities, from helping construct a dormitory at a school for kids with special needs, through building a playground for a small village community, to organizing free-time activities for primary school children. This year DIA is further developing its working relationship with its local partners to design projects that will serve both the communities' needs and meet the participants' expectations.

Workshops usually start with ice-breakers and group-building activities, with discussions leading into topics, such as the transition from Communism to a market economy or youth service in the USA and Hungary just to name a few.

Guest lectures are held by professors, or specialists on specific topics, like the interpreter of the first President of Hungary (now professor at ELTE university Budapest), who talked about the changeover of 1989. The theme is always connected to the actual volunteer work or to a topic of great importance for the Hungarian society, like the economic transition in Hungary or issues regarding Hungary's roma population.

All programs include a 3-day fieldtrip in the region to provide the opportunity to the volunteers, both Hungarian and American to get more information about the history and culture of the region they are staying in, which helps them to put their work in a wider context. The groups also spend 3 days in Budapest, exploring the capital's cultural and historical sites so that you get to know not only the cosmopolitan Budapest, but also learn about life outside of the capital.

Above all, what makes it an exceptional program is the opportunity it provides for the participants to get to know a small community while sharing their life for a short period of time. This program is also an excellent opportunity to learn about each other's cultural and personal backgrounds on a less formal level through conversations, shared moments and free interaction.

"I want to come back in 2002!!!"
Bea, Hungarian Participant, 2001

"This was an incredible cultural, service and eye-opening inspirational experience. Thank you!"
Michael, US Participant, 2001

Former HAVE progams:

- 2001

- 2000