My First Week in Buenos Aires with Voluntario Global

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Jiyan visiting the Kindergarten Jiyan visiting the Kindergarten Voluntario Global

The first word that comes to my mind when I think about my first week volunteering in Buenos Aires is enriching! It was enriching for my thoughts, opinions and feelings.

My stay started with a very warm response of Voluntario Global. In this huge city Voluntario Global gave me exactly the hold I needed. All my questions about my work in my project, the city and my stay could directly been answered and consequently my first week began.

As a part of the communication team, I am lucky to have a look in nearly every projects that are working with Voluntario Global. The first project I visited was a kindergarten, where some of our volunteers work. I was able to see how much the volunteers are committed to the children, which was very special for me. Children see volunteers as a contact person, a role model and as a friend. Children have the special property to let people in their heart without any prejudices or ulterior motives. This shows me that sometimes adults can learn more from children than they actually thought.

A very special experience in my first week with Voluntario Global was the meeting with the Network of Organizations that in Pacheco. Volunteers and coordinators from many different projects came all together. It was very interesting to hear all the different experiences that these people bring along. Each of them takes another place in their project and everyone gets confronted with diverse difficulties day by day, but what connects all these people is their desire to help, to work for a better future. And these are exactly the people who represent and maintain Voluntario Global.

Every single person in this team is an individual and has their own needs and dreams. But all of them have decided to not only see themselves as one individual but to cross their comfort zone and to help people in need. This showed me that there is so much that people can learn from each other! About ourselves, about what we do, and what we can share. Jesica said "Dicutir es aprender" ("Discussing is learning") that day and this hits the nail on the head! Our experiences create who we are and to share them is a enrichment for all of us. In our world, which is marked by superficial encounters and fast changes, a deep conversation is exactly what we need now!  Each of us tries our best in our project and the exchange with other people helps us to get even better in what we do. Apart of that this meeting shows us that we are not alone with what we do and think and this gives us a feeling of community.

To put it in a nutshell this week helped me on my point of view about the community. And I could ensure myself that it is exactly the right thing to be a part of Voluntario Global and I am looking forward for the next weeks in Buenos Aires!

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Also Emma, Dominic, and now PJ from the USA who are in Argentina for an exchange abroad from their university are joining us. During this semester they will be studying and having their intercultural experience from the service learning subject teaching English, in the community kitchen and in the early childhood center.


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            The crèche is not just a place where your children are welcomed and cared for, it is an institution with a deep history and wonderful human values. Indeed, founded by women many years ago, it was a way for them to combine the useful with the pleasant, but above all it was a matter of necessity. Unable to look after children and earn money, they had to find a solution to both problems. So, by building their own crèche, they were able to keep an eye on the children but also develop a business. The beginnings were not easy, sometimes having to bring food from home to feed the children they were looking after because of the little money they had. But with ambition and courage they succeeded and now allow other women like them to do the same thing by getting a job as a teacher, cook or cleaner in the crèche and also to be able to drop off their children. Most of the women working in this institution are, in fact, accompanied by their respective children, sometimes even in the same class.

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