Casa Escuela Santiago Uno

Where and how long have you been volunteering and for which organisation?

I was volunteering in Salamanca, Spain from November to June in a boarding school called Santiago Uno, which focuses on the integration of young people with fewer opportunities. It’s an open space for non-formal education for teenagers with complicated backgrounds and a welcoming environment for lost souls. 

Where did you find volunteering and how did you get the idea to get involved?

After finishing high school, I wanted to take a gap year and go to Spain to do volunteering, so I applied to some of the programs I found on the ESC website. It took me a while to get some answers, I did a couple of interviews and in about a month I found my project. At fisrt I wanted to work with another organisation in Salamanca, but they didn’t have any free places left so in order not to leave me without an opportunity, they passed my details on to Santiago, where I started my volunteering journey. 

What were your tasks? What does an average working day look like?

My general task was to take part in the afternoon activities of the kids and help where I could. I was functioning a bit like an animator, I had the opportunity to do my own workshop of crafting and what I really enjoyed about this job is that I never had 2 similar days, it was variable and different every time. On a normal day I would wake up late in the morning, because I was working in the afternoon, so I had time to get more than enough sleep, then I would do some house chores or go for coffee with friends, and I would go to work every day at 15:00 where the children had lunch first. Every afternoon we had 3 hours of activities from which the second part was often going for a walk with a smaller group of kids to get to know each other better or to have some one-on-one time to talk about their private problems. There were an infinite number of activities, for example different kinds of sports, singing class, English for beginners, sewing, drumming, magic, radio, theatre, soap making, bee keeping, gardening and even a lot more. I usually arrived home around 20:00 pm and the rest of the day I always spent with friends, going out and when the weather was better, we often had picnics together by the river. 

Did you get to know other young people from different countries?

Yes, of course, I couldn’t even count the number of foreign friends I met :)) Normally they were doing Erasmus or internships in Salamanca, which is famous for its university, so there were lots of young students to hang out with. We met on trips, at parties, Erasmus programs and later mostly through friends of friends. I loved how open everyone was, no matter where we came from, we always made an amazing, friendly and lovely group.

What are the biggest positive aspects of your decision to volunteer?

I’m incredibly grateful for the people I’ve met during these months of volunteering not only from Europe, but a little bit from all over the world. I’ve also had the opportunity to travel around the country which are all wonderful memories, I’ve been to at least 25 different cities and it really helped me get to know Spain and its magical culture better. During this time I changed so much inside, I learnt a lot about myself and what’s important in life, what I’d like to do in the future and I became so inspired and more confident. 

How did you feel at the ESC seminars? What topics were covered, what kind of activities did you have?

I’ve been to 2 trainings, unfortunately the first was online and it was less effective, on the other hand the second was incredible! We spent 4 days in a small town near Málaga with over 100 other volunteers working in Spain. These days were quite intense, but we had a lot of fun and joy the whole time. It felt really nice to share our experiences about volunteering and living in another country, my favourite part was how well we all understood each other’s situation, we tried to solve possible problems and we learnt about our rights as volunteers and about what to do after the experience. After the training with some of the people we also spent a few days in Málaga to enjoy the beach and explore the city. I met so many interesting people and we are still keeping in touch. We have also visited or are planning to visit each other in the future.