"The differences make you grow." An accurate statement that our partner Laura Abaurrea is knowing first hand in Portugal. Laura has just started a volunteer project in Lisbon in an association that works with people who have cerebral palsy. This project of the European Voluntary Service, funded by the European Commission, has a duration of one year ... and has only just begun!

I arrived in Lisbon on October 1, after spending two months exploring Colombia. When I arrived in Lisbon, a boy from Proatlántico called André picked me up at the airport and took me to “Casa Europa”, the house where I will live for a year.

Many volunteers, from different countries, also arrived in the first week, so we did a lot of activities together: we went to the beach, made barbecues and prepared a few games to get to know each other better.

The first weeks were really useful, because it was when I took the house and began to meet my new floor compis. We had Portuguese classes, so that we can communicate better with the local people and in the place where we developed volunteering. In addition, Proatlantico planned events for us and recommended many others, such as a salsa party in a social center, where we learned to dance salsa.

After two weeks, I started doing my activities with another volunteer from Spain, Naomi. I would never have imagined a better place for my volunteering than at APCL, an association that works with people with cerebral palsy. From the first day, all the people who work there were very friendly and explained a lot of things about how the center works. Performing my APCL volunteer helps me to grow, because I help people who need it, who could not live without the help of other people.

In addition, I am very grateful because my association allows us to prepare activities for users, such as one that Naomi and I have prepared for Halloween. And at home one of my classmates (Noè, from Belgium) cooked a pumpkin soup on Halloween and we were able to share the night together.

I am anxious to see what these coming months  in Lisbon will be like.