For each one of us volunteering could have different meanings. Could be experience, self-development, engagement, participation, work opportunity etc.

Well, personally I associate the word “Volunteer” with two other words: engagement and introspection. Be engaged for me represent the necessity to be actively part of a wide community that cooperate and collaborate for a specific aim, such as the defence of human rights; additionally, a volunteering experience is strictly connected with introspection, meaning to deal with my own personality, discover my limits but also my strength points, dig in my mental and emotional processes.

So, volunteering is an holistic experience that combines societal elements with extremely personal factors; it is the exact combination between me and us, a balance that is not always so easy to get and to defend.

This means you will also face challenges. You will feel disappointed, anxious, alone, powerless because defending and promoting human rights sometimes it is tough, and maybe you won’t achieve the results you wanted. But what I learnt while volunteering is that every single little step I took was important, and I should never forget this!

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop”.