As we were told by some of these young people after their “solidarity” camp in Betanzos, they were very happy, “you do not have to go to other countries, here in Spain in summer we can do a much needed volunteering”, “many people these days need this activity, some people are more alone …”. They feel responsible and fortunate to share their time with all the people who participate in the activity.
In many of the summer activities organized by the FPSC for women’s youth associations, volunteering activities are planned as the central activity, along with them there is also space for intercultural, sporting and recreational activities.
These solidarity camps represent a place for coexistence that allows young women to exchange experiences and good practices.
One of the activities was carried out at the Pai Menni Occupational Center for Persons with Disabilities. They worked in 4 different classrooms. In the first one there were users with more severe intellectual disability; a very strong link was created between users and volunteers. The other three classrooms were workshops in which the volunteers, together with the social workers, engaged in leisure activities and organized workshops of crafts, games, etc…
In the Jesus Child Nursery School of the Raiola Foundation, the volunteers carried out activities to support the staff with children from 1 to 5 years of age, including storytelling, activities to develop psychomotor skills and outdoor leisure activities.
At a local Elderly people Residence, in addition to helping nurses when they were required to, they carried out accompaniment activities “but above all, we realized that the greatest need we could cover was to listen, to smile to these older friends who need to tell memories of their lives, personal experiences, family roots, concerns.”
Volunteers showed their will to repeat the experience next summer.
