(and the way you see the world)
When you decide to live an international volunteering experience, you imagine new landscapes, different cultures, unfamiliar flavors, and unforgettable adventures. You think about the place you’re traveling to, the project you’ll be collaborating on, and everything you’ll discover outside your comfort zone.
But there’s something that almost no one anticipates… and that ends up being the most transformative part of the journey: the people you meet along the way and who stay in your story forever.
Because in the end, journeys are not measured in kilometers traveled, but in encounters that leave a mark and connections that, despite the distance, never disappear.
The first faces that welcome you
From the very first day, there are people who mark a before and after. Those who welcome you to the project, the community, or the house that will be your home for weeks or months.
Sometimes they don’t speak your language, but they smile at you. Sometimes they don’t share your customs, but they open their door to you as if you were part of the family.
It is these local people who teach you that hospitality needs no translation. Through small gestures —a shared meal, a conversation at sunset, a spontaneous laugh— they make you feel that you’re not just “passing through,” but truly present, and that your presence is valid, important, and useful.
Volunteer companions who become family
There are also those people who arrive as strangers, from different parts of the world, with different stories, accents, and backpacks. At first you’re simply project companions, but soon you share routines, challenges, doubts, and intense emotions.
You live together moments of exhaustion, frustration, and pure joy. You learn to support one another, to listen, and to celebrate every small achievement. And from that day on, you also organize all activities together to spend quality time.
Because without realizing it, those people become your family away from home.
Because there are bonds that are only created when you step out of what is familiar and show yourself just as you are. Knowing that no one can judge you.
In fact, one of the happiest and at the same time bittersweet moments is seeing your goodbyes. We get emotional with you for what you’ve created. And over time, we always see that you find a way to meet again, even if it’s in another part of the world or under different circumstances.
People who teach you without meaning to
In a volunteering experience, many of the most important lessons don’t come from books or training sessions. They come from the people around you.
The child who teaches you how to say a word in her language and laughs at your pronunciation.
The local coordinator who, with patience, shows you another way of understanding time and life.
The woman who, even having little, shares everything with you.
They don’t know they’re changing you, but they are. They teach you to put problems into perspective, to value what truly matters, and to look at the world with different eyes.
People who confront you with yourself
Not all encounters are comfortable. Some people challenge you, make you uncomfortable, or force you to question beliefs you took for granted.
And that is also part of the journey.
Because growth isn’t always easy. Sometimes it hurts, shakes you, and disorients you. But it is precisely those people who help you get to know yourself better, understand your limits, and rethink who you are and what place you occupy in the world.
People who stay with you forever
There are people who, even if they remain in another country, keep traveling with you. In memories, messages, calls, or shared silences.
People who, years later, still appear in your thoughts when you hear a song, smell a dish, or see an image that takes you back.
They are the ones who turn a volunteering experience into something that doesn’t end when you pack your bag to return home.
Because in the end, the journey is you… and those who walk it with you
Traveling with Cooperating Volunteers is not just about collaborating on a project or discovering a destination. It’s about allowing other people to enter your story and transform it.
It’s about letting yourself be changed by encounters, by unexpected conversations, and by bonds that are born far from home.
Because places are visited, but people stay.
And they are the ones who make your journey not only change your route, but also your way of seeing life.
