today I want to tell you all about how you can volunteer abroad for free last year
I volunteered at a refugee camp in Greece for three months and now I want to share everything
I learned so you can do the same I volunteered with a small grassroots project called we are
here we are here is a community and Learning Center they organize everything from childcare
and a dedicated women's space to music and English classes I found we are here through
an organization called indigo volunteers and what they do is completely unique all you have to do
is fill out a short questionnaire talking about what you'd like to do and what skills you have
and then they match you with a project that's relevant to that expertise don't worry you do
not have to be a qualified English teacher or have any particular aces up your sleeve you can
just be someone who is ready to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in because that's exactly
the type of person that's needed in these areas and by the way everything indigo volunteers do
is completely free for you this is not a sponsored video by the way I just really love indigo and I
think what they do is incredible now there are some associated costs that you should be aware
of these fall under three categories first is transport second is accommodation and third is
food your flights or your inward and outward transport typically are the biggest costs but
it does depend on where you're based and what your individual projects work like for me the biggest
expense was actually the accommodation so for the first month at we are here I paid 250 euros for
a room in a shared house and then the next month 150 and any month thereafter was a hundred euros
so even though that's the biggest expense I had it's actually way less than I would pay and rent
anywhere else that I've ever lived all the money that I paid for rent went into project running
costs which include bills car hire and petrol the accommodation is in luxurious but I really liked
my room as was the fact that all the volunteers lived under one roof it was really really fun
the only slight issue was that it got really really cold in the room had no central heating
I was visiting in winter and I kind of thought oh it's grease don't worry about it but it was
about minus 10 degrees in the night and I would sleep in a sleeping bag underneath three different
duvets and with a hat on three hot water bottles strategically placed it was absolutely freezing
but even that would not put me off from going back there it was just it was the best experience of my
life spoiler alert your only other biggish costs will be food and entertainment in my case I put 20
euros in a shared pot every week and from that we bought groceries and then cooked communally which
was also really fun I loved cooking for a big group and I also loved not having to cook like
six days out of seven that was brilliant while I was in Greece I actually did a short interview
with a past we are here volunteer and here's the info that I shared there and then for the past
five years I've been working as a blogger and a freelance photographer videographer and writer
I've been wearing many hats and I've decided to take some time off and do something that's really
close to my heart and well before coming out here I saved money so that I could support myself and I
wouldn't have to rely on donations because when I do raise funds for the project I would much
rather thought that money won to the refugees rather than myself so every conversation that
I had with a refugee when I first came they asked me Sabina how long will you stay and I said maybe
about a month and they said oh no no no no we want some continuity and I asked one lady in particular
I said how long do you think I should stay and she looked at me she said you stay as long as I stay
and I said okay that seems reasonable I don't know if I'll be able to stay quite as long but I think
it's really important to have that sense of things not changing every month because it's difficult
imagine you're going to school and then every single month you get a new teacher it's really
hard to follow what you're doing you can contact your lawmakers you can contact your government you
can contact transnational organizations just because you're no longer here in Greece just
because you're back home and you're comfortable and your sofa and watching TV it doesn't mean that
the issue stumps so you can always continue the good fight I can't I work as an English teacher
in the Women's Center which is a space dedicated purely to women and it's a really really great
safe environment for them to come to with no male interference and they feel really comfortable I
really want to give you a better idea of what it's like volunteering at a refugee camp but the
truth is that there is no such thing as a regular day there are quite often new arrivals coming in
unannounced new regulations being put into place but we definitely did stick to a weekly schedge or
at least try to I would typically teach English at the Women's space from 12 to about 1:00 or
1:30 and then come home for lunch and after that I would go back into camp at around 3 p.m. and stay
until 5 or 7 or even a bit later than that on some days during that time I would run one activity at
the women's space which can be anything from sewing jewelry workshops or makeup sessions
to little dance parties that were really really fun and afterwards I'd help out at this social
space which was mainly visited by teenagers and young adults doing English conversation practice
or music classes we sometimes even put on the little concerts which I really really enjoyed
sometimes when we were lucky people in CHEM would also invite us to their home for either lunch or
dinner and that was genuinely my favourite part of any given day and week the people they were
just so incredibly generous with what little they had and they were so kind and teaching me their
skills I learned how to make authentic Pakistani biryani I learned to make Kurdish dolma Iraqi
dishes Iranian Syrian just so many different cultures and meals and I even got to celebrate
a few birthdays and special holidays like now Rose now Rose is a New Year celebration which
originated in Iran but is now observed by many countries across the Middle East and it really
brought the warmth kindness and generosity that people showed me were beyond inspiring
I've never experienced anything like it it might just be that you know our Western culture is a
bit different a bit less forthcoming but I was amazed it reminded me of everything that is good
about humanity at a time when frankly I kind of needed the most and it completely changed
my outlook on life I'm still in touch with so many of the people that I met in camp some of
them are actually now over in Europe because they got silent but for the most part they are
still stuck there waiting for an answer that may never come and I know that in the media
there's a lot less talk about the refugee crisis nowadays but that doesn't mean it's stopped if
that doesn't even mean that it's gotten better it just means that the media has decided to focus on
something else and we know how fickle the media can be you can't even imagine and the amount of
difference you can make with just a month of your time it's truly incredible you will be
helping people on the ground but I promise you it will primal it will primarily be them helping you
because sorry I get so tongue-tied because this is just so close to my heart and I hope I've
conveyed just how incredible and experienced this is because it was life-changing for me I hope this
was helpful and if it was like me don't come and blow obviously I'd love to hear that but also let
me know if you feel like I missed out anything if you have any further questions and I'll be
sure to answer those thanks for watching please do subscribe if you'd like to see more videos
like this one hit the notification bell so you don't miss them and I will see you next time bye