Hello everybody!
My name is Carmen Sánchez, a Spanish volunteer from a small village
called Madridejos in Castilla-La Mancha, the region of Don Quixote, although I
have lived in Madrid for 10 years
After my studies in Modern Languages, I decided to go out of my comfort
zone and travel and discover new people and cultures. One friend told me
about volunteering with Open Cultural Center in Polykastro, Greece, for 2
months and honestly, it was the best experience of my life.
For me, it was the first time volunteering in a project that works for the
social integration of the refugee community and I was so glad to have the
opportunity to know, share and live with them.
At the beginning it was pretty hard for me because I didn’t think that my
English was good, but step by step I could improve it with the daily
communication with the beneficiaries of the project and the other volunteers
from different nationalities.
I was involved in different activities such as facilitator in Kindergarten,
where we did a lot of activities for children from 0 to 4 years old. We played with
them, we danced and we made sensorial activities to develop their abilities. I
was responsible for the rides, to pick the kids up and drive them to
Kindergarten. I have a lot of good memories of these days because we had a lot
of fun and I could learn some words in other languages thanks to the resident
volunteers.
Also, I worked as a member of Women’s Space in the project Eco-Salon,
a safe place for women to express themselves, dance and learn beauty tips, but
we didn’t set this project in motion because of the regulations against covid-19 ,
so we prepared for a future time.
Another responsibility I had was the bus service. The organization
provides a bus to pick up the kids in Axioupoli to bring them to the English and
Greek lessons in the afternoon.
After, in my last days there I was the English teacher for Eagles, a group
of kids between 8-13 years old. It was the first time teaching English and it was
wonderful for me, I could put into practice many ideas to use them in my future
career as a teacher. This work was a challenge for me but thanks to the
resident volunteers and the other teachers I could manage it in an easy way.
After the English lesson we used to do craft activities with them. I miss them a
lot.
I am very happy to have had this experience. And I feel very lucky to
have lived this experience with all the people involved in the organisation. I
have also made many friends during this adventure and I hope to keep them for
the rest of my life. And I will keep the good memories that we spent all together
such as having lunch all together, eating on the floor, spending afternoons
playing games and dancing and the walks along the river. I wish them all the best and for sure they have taught me more than I could give them and it will
also stay in my memory.
Thank you for everything, habibis!
"The project is funded by the EU Commission, the ESC program and the Greek National Agency Youth and Lifelong Learning INEDIVIM."
English 
Catalan
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