Exactly one year ago, my husband came home announcing that he had gotten a new job in Basel, a city in the northern part of Switzerland. In my head I imagined a small city on the mountains with plenty of milk and chocolate. When we arrived to Basel the reality was something else; a modern, multicultural city, where everybody speaks English, in fact; a relief for me since I didn’t spoke a word of German. Just a few days after, my husband told me about PWG Basel, an organization of international English speaking women where you can build relationships share experiences, and find help looking for a job.
My first contact with PWG was through the Job Hunt support group where Aletta Karsies van Eeden, the Manager, gave me a nice welcome and there I also met other women with whom I felt identified. It didn’t took too much of an effort to decide become a member and as Aletta mentioned that the Committee needed a Logistics coordinator, although hesitantly, I agreed to volunteer. I didn’t know if I would be able to do it; I hold a degree on History of art but I don’t have any experience as group coordinator.
Than I met Laura Salvador, PWG’s chair, and she explained to me everything about the organization of the events as well as the other activities that the Committee organizes. It was a long and warm conversation that brought me the certainty that I would be able to perform well as the logistics group coordinator. At the end, we agree to start an English-Italian tandem between us.
During my first Main Meeting I met a lot of nice ladies, among them: Jan, Rashmi and Laure; who are part of the logistics group, together we have fun organizing and coordinating the events and best of all: we have now become friends.
Thanks to volunteering at PWG I have made new friends and also discover that I have skills that I was not aware of. My husband and I do not know what the future jobwise will bring, but if it were up to me I would like to stay here for a long time so that I could organize many other events for PWG-Basel.
Maria Carmine Tomassi
Thank you very much, Maria, for sharing your journey with us – we are very happy to have you in the committee at PWG. It is all about people …
