It's amazing how two months can change the way you understand the world around you and yourself.

Hi, I'm Yeray Halifi and I did a European volunteer placement in Greece this summer, from July to August. I applied for this project because I had always wanted to live in Greece and it was a great opportunity to spend the summer visiting new places and meeting new people.At first I was hesitant because I had already planned to do a university Erasmus in Lithuania from September 2021 to June 2022, so I didn't know if it was too risky, spending a whole year and all that implies, both financially and psychologically. In the end I agreed to give it a try, because that's how you really learn and it couldn't have been better.

I went to Greece with my friend Maria, so I was sure that I had an important emotional support if something strange happened, but what I didn't plan was that the other 6 volunteers would become my family, a family that you can understand everything at a glance, the kind of families that are unbreakable and that mix all personalities in such a space that it seems impossible that they will all fit together and work together, but that's how it was.

I can say without any doubt that I have had the best summer of my life in Greece, Serres has become what you call home, I never expected it to be so intense but it was. In volunteering I have learned so many things that it is difficult for me to describe them, collaborating with groups in social exclusion has always been my goal, I study Social Work and I am interested in contact with the community to be able to continue training and learning from it and so it was, meeting the local community in such a direct way was a gift, thanks to that I have understood and I have entered in just two months in the Greek culture, its gastronomy and its customs. Knowing the story of refugees who, due to their socio-cultural context, have had to emigrate to a social reality that is totally different from their own is impressive and makes you reflect on what kind of world we live in and what we can do as people in the face of this.

As I say, this volunteering has had it all, I have met incredible people that I will always take with me (right now I am on a flight to Italy to see some of them), I have travelled to places I had always wanted to visit such as Greece itself, Bulgaria and Cyprus, I have learned a lot from my volunteer activity, it has developed me both personally and professionally and has helped me to even know myself better, I could not have asked for more, I encourage you all to take every opportunity you are given to do projects like this because they change your life.

YERAY HALIFI MORALES

Yeray is a Spanish volunteer in Praxis organization, writing his own experience about the project.

Fridays for the future is a foundation organized by Global Climate, a movement that was started in August of 2018 when Greta Thunberg began a school.
They create the hashtag #Fridaysforfuture in order to encourage people from all over the world. The objective is inspiring millions of people to take different actions on the climate crisis.
This is an independent movement from commercial interests and political parties. People has to take care from all of these situations in order to create a better future.
The cause of young people in order to fight for a better world is because they want to let them better conditions of living.
Fridays For the Future is in many social media like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube and they try to inform that human are creating the crisis, and they are destroying the face global, almost 200 of species are disappearing from the face of the earth forever. On 24 of September there was a demand for Intersectional Climate Justice, when all of this things were discussed.

Accomplishing a volunteering period abroad is something I recommend everybody to do at least one time in their life. It is a challenging experience that mutated myself and my view of life. For sure it can be scaring to go abroad without knowing anyone and without having idea of how the following months are going to look like. However, volunteering abroad was one of the best choice of my life, and it made possible, for summer 2021, to be special and unforgettable. For sure, if I had decided to spend this summer in my hometown I would have missed the chance to get to know myself and world around me a bit better. I would have missed so many good things; I would not have the chance to discover Greece and its amazing culture and people, I would not have learnt many new things, I would not have met a lot of special people. All the people I met have been really inspiring and taught me something. With some of them, and I am talking especially about the amazing team of volunteers that shared the journey with me, I was able to create real deep connections. They have been the people I spent 24 hours a day with, since they have been my flatmates, colleagues, friends and adventures companions.

Volunteering allowed me to improve the skills I already had, to acquire new ones, to express my creativity and to get out of my comfort zone. This helped me to get to know myself better in many ways. First of all, I became more aware of my strong points and of my weakness. Since no one is perfect, thus everyone has strengths and weakness, all of us volunteers were cooperating and balancing each other. In this sense, the volunteering period represented for me the perfect occasion to work on my weak points. But there’s more; volunteering helped me, while gaining working experience, to understand which activities I like and fit my interests, thus I feel I am more aware about who I want to be and what I want to do in my future.

But going volunteering is not just working! For sure volunteering activities take time, but on the other side there’s a lot of free time that is possible to spend in many ways. First of all, nothing better than exploring Greece, starting from the small but incredible city of Serres, the city of bougatsa! Serres is a welcoming city and the locals, with their hospitality, made me immediately feel at home! However, all the country, with its landscape and colors, with its history and fascinating touristic attractions, deserves to be discovered, lived and enjoyed. Last but not least, exploring the neighboring countries has been an excellent way of spending the week-ends and the holidays. For sure I have lived amazing moments, learnt and had fun at the same time, and collected a lot of nice stories to tell!

To conclude I just want to say that volunteering opened my eyes and made me a better person. We all grow up in an individualistic society that tell us to look only at our profit, to don’t trust anyone and to don’t expect anything from people because they are guided only by their personal interest. The society tell us that we are matured once we can count only on ourselves and once we are closed enough towards other people in order to no be disappointed. Well, although in this world selfish people exist, is true also that the world is full of selfless and generous people. During my volunteer I rediscovered the pleasure of opening myself towards people, the pleasure of asking a favor without people expecting something in exchange from me, and the pleasure of giving only for purposes related to the best of the person who was receiving. This is the reason why, despite my volunteering is over, this experience is going to stay in my heart and in my mind forever and the reason why I will always be grateful to all the people who made the difference impacting not only in the two months I spent in Greece, but in my general approach to life.

Every year, on september 21, the United Nations invites everyone to celebrate the International Day of Peace. In this occasion, the theme chosen in 2021 is related with the pandemic of Covid-19 and the environment: “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world”. Topics which are very important in our society because now is the moment to help everyone recover better from this current pandemic and to imagine a better future in the coexistence between people and planet. 


World vaccination campaign cannot advance in countries where there are armed conflicts, so peace is fundamental to achieve this recovery. The pandemic has been accompanied by a surge in stigma, discrimination, and hatred which only cost more lives instead of saving them, because the virus attacks all without caring about where they are from. Article 3 of Human Rights says: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. Everyone may make a contribution starting to think about how to help their surroundings recover better from Covid-19. 


However, we could not build a peaceful world if we are at war with nature. Despite the restrictions which have caused the pandemic, climate change is not on pause. There are many reasons to think that the environment influences world peace. First, natural disasters cause more displacement than conflicts, and as a consequence, many people leave their home to search for refuge. Then, the lack of sources creates stress between people and villages. And also, salinization of water and crops endanger food safety. 


In these times of crisis, we need a green and sustainable global economy which produces jobs, reduces emissions and builds resilience to climate impacts. The International Day of Peace is a day in which everyone also has to work on other issues such as poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, water, sanitation, electricity and social justice. All people should be involved in to be more tolerant, and this implies: reject hate and discrimination and be more empathetic with others. We should be reminded that we are not each other's enemy and we must maintain peace with one another. 


Peace is a war which begins with yourself, a war that is won day after day if you tolerate others. Don´t you think that it is better to cause someone to smile than to tear? One day, John Lennon sang to us: I hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one. I think we could all learn something from him.
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