Volunteer on the Road: Nicaraguan memories, Part II
Why I decided to Volunteer Abroad
As a Millennial who ticks all the boxes, I work in an international company that also leads in a most advanced industry in the last years and everybody in Spain would kill for my role and for my salary.
All my friends in Madrid are envious about my apparently dream life and my parents cannot stop repeating me how proud they are of me and how fortunate I should feel.
What they don’t realise is that back in the days (and maybe not even myself can explain it in words) there was something missing.
There I was in the middle of the storm. In a moment in which I was worried about the biggest stupidity, I was way too stressed with my job in sales and I was feeling that I had lost my balance and my path.
My compass had became crazy and couldn’t stop running in circles without pointing anywhere in particular.
At the same time I was feeling guilty. Guilty of feeling empty, when I was supposed to be happy? I had everything society says you need to be happy, right? Some of you must be thinking: “Look at the little girl with her first world problems” and yes, I agree, this is totally what I thought as well, therefore my feeling of guilt.
This is when we start asking ourselves:
What the hell am I doing with my life?
Is this the path I want to follow?
Then, the first thing we should do is to stop the compass and come back to the origins. Come back to the essence of everything.
Because sometimes the correct answer is the simplest one. So, why don’t we go and experience the most simple of lives?
Months after, I get on board for a trip to Manzano Uno in Nicaragua where I would help building a water system that could bring clean water to almost 50 families in the area.
I remember feeling like a 21st Century heroine on high heels, saving the world while selling tickets at a fundraising party that was going to finance the expedition.
What an irony that I ended up giving away my clothes and my shoes on the last day. And what a surprise to discover that I was not the one who saved them: they were the ones saving me.
I guess one of the key things that made this experience unforgettable was the people I had the luck to travel with.
Because at the end, it doesn’t matter where you go or what you do if you do it with the right people around you. Choose the people who are able to find the best version of yourself and who bring the best out of you.
Alejandro.
The north star who guides me when I am lost in the middle of quicksands. That voice that comes up when I am lacking in conscience. That one who was indispensable for the experience, with his deep conversations, his brain working at a thousand miles per hour, his elite sportsman-like tranquillity, and his bird-watching hat that couldn’t protect him much from that horrible heat.
Marco.
The Italian with the biggest heart in Modena. Not even Massimo Bottura has that love for cooking, for food and for living. Not even Valentino Rossi puts in that much effort in order to cross a finishing line. The one from whom I learnt that you must go on, day by day, in your own circumstances. The one that at the beginning looked more sour than the balsamico from his hometown, but the one I ended up crying with on the beach after an accidental hit on the head.
Alain.
The most Spanish Dutch I’ve ever met. Who has two faces: one more or less good and the other one a thousand times better. He wears the first one every day to the office and when he goes partying; the second is only worn with those who decide to look a bit deeper. The one who is known for being incredibly free and independent, so much he grazes in the wild. An adventurer, a bit hippie, that has travelled the world while living to the limit. Able to sleep in a tent in the middle of the jungle. Fearless. But also, when you earn a spot inside his circle of trust, that spot will be yours forever.
To be Continued…
