Testimonio Cecilia González | 30 años

Around five years ago, I applied to work as a volunteer in Portugal with a SVE project but it was not approved because of the economic crisis.

After living in Ireland and Canada I was looking for another opportunity to work abroad and this time was my last chance to participate in a SVE project as I’m already 30 years old. I love travelling and working with teenagers so, when I discovered Connection project last January, I decided to apply immediately. Everything was really fast, I had the Skype interview in February and ten days after I was flying to Palermo.

The experience I imagined is the experience I’m actually living. I can share time with teenagers, kids and women at risk of social exclusion and I’m doing my best to be closer to them and enjoy our time together.

I did not expect people were really welcoming like they are and I’m thankful for that because finding kind people when you are alone in another country is pretty important.

As I want to work as an educational psychologist after Palermo, I’m observing and trying to understand what is the most important work we can do for teenagers.

I wish to share my life experiences with them and keep enjoying our time together doing the things I love the most: helping them to study, play football, dance, teach them Spanish, doing theater with women… I have a beautiful connection with them.

I have been living in 5 different countries, included mine, Spain. I have learned to adapt myself to different cultures, rhythms of life and I have learned different ways to see the world.

When you travel alone and you share your life with people you don’t know, people who live differently, you become a different person. You learn faster, you become stronger, you open your mind and your heart, as you learn not to judge the others. You understand that all human beings are part of something bigger  much bigger than ourselves and that we are here to learn and love each other.

I studied psychology during five years and I have not stopped doing courses and studying languages as I love learning. And I think education is the biggest and most important tool to make the world a better place.

I have participated in all kind of volunteering and I can say that the arrival of this project in my life has been a gift to me and therefore I’m thankful.

I would suggest this experience to my friends in every sense. It’s really enriching to travel to another country, meet new people, learn another language and, more than that, help others at the same time.

If I had to use three words to describe my experience in Palermo, these words would be learning, sharing, gratitude.

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