By Martina Fantini

International volunteering with AFN. The experience of Martina, Italian. In this way as well, we build a united world!

I am Martina, I am 36 years old and have just returned to Italy after an experience of volunteering of almost 2 months in Paraguay (I admit that I looked up of where it was precisely on the map!).

For me the decision of leaving as a volunteer was like a call. A desire that I had from some time that I could make real. When we have Love in our heart, I believe it is always good to know how to give. For almost two months I lived in a red land World, minute and made of nothing where an infinite World made of everything hides.

I felt an incredible human warmth. How to feel part of a big family and to be part of it from a long time.  I will never forget the sweetness of Katy’s embrace, the girl who welcomed me, the day I arrived. An embrace that immediately made me feel at home. “Mi casa es tu casa” (“My home is your home”) she told me. With generosity I was given hospitality by a young couple of the Barrio, Katy and Miguel, with whom immediately sparked a deep and free connection. Having lived with them, surrounded by the families of the Barrio (around 50!), by children, by the real and difficult context in which I found myself, made the difference.

I left with a Suitcase of curiosity, gentleness and with an open heart ready to create an exchange of good, without any expectations and returned home with a Luggage of Life.  Like a painter who paints a painting on a completely white canvas. With a palette and paintbrushes, day after day, I started shaping the painting where the colors were the gazes, the smiles, the generosity, the difficulties, the simplicity, the embraces, the enthusiasm, the hospitality, the dignity, the gratitude, the poverty, the uniqueness and the astonishment of the children and of all the people I met.

The project in which I had the honor of being part of operates in the scholastic context. The Unipar school, in the small Barrio of San Miguel de Capiatà, consists of about 65 children aged 4 to 7 years (on a total of 4 classes!). The name of the school encloses its value and meaning:  Unipar, Unidad y (Unity and) Participation. The activities are related to scholastic support, providing at least one daily snack to strengthen the cognitive capacity of each child and a boundless dedication from the teachers, Nancy, Francisca, Gabriela and the principal Yamile, side (apart from all the other people volunteers and not, that are part!).

“Aprender Jugando” (“Learn by Playing”) is the method that this school uses. I was fascinated by this right away and so I let myself get transported and excited in planning my classes. The only Italian, only volunteer, with difficulty with the language (I left knowing a handful of Spanish words), with another profession in life (travelling agent), in another context, reality, with inconveniences, conditions, customs… for me was a test. I was the “Profe (Professor)Martina”, the physical education and English Profe.

Together with the Principal of the school I found “space, form and color” in the project. Everything occurred extremely natural, like being in a flow and being there completely. I felt at ease, free to express myself to a 100%, to be myself. Every day I was dedicated to thinking and creating a specific lesson for the class based on their age, that would be new and stimulating for the children, translating it from Italian to Spanish (carrying with me a notebook) and utilizing ideas and materials that I would find observing around. They had the capacity to make me feel “me” on the other side of the World and, maybe, pulled out the best versions of me.

With the smaller ones I used to create lessons oriented to stimulate their curiosity, imagination, all their senses (smell, touch and hearing) other than including them actively. With the bigger ones, physical education for coordination, team spirit, collaboration, united cooperation and some English and geography classes (at least to make them understand from where they came).  And when the children used to ask me “Profe Martina when do we class together?”, “Profe Martina, if today you don’t have your notebook does that mean we don’t do gymnastics?”, “Profe Martina, could you sit next to me during class?”, “Profe Martina, do you not have your snack? Have some of mine”, “Profe Martina thank you for all the love you gave us”… they made me feel Alive. Apart from this project for which I was busy in the afternoons, I followed another one in the morning, born directly on the spot and for which I immediately felt the need to be actively part of. A strong experience, true that put me in front of the “nude and crude” reality in a contrasting context. An authentic and humane relation face to face with an adolescent of the Barrio, forgotten. “At what time what time do we meet tomorrow Profe, at 6 in the morning?”, “Profe Martina can I come to Italy with you?” or when she would see me arrive, she would run to me and hug me. It was her and me who would “compartir (share)” the mornings. She made me reflect on the value, the uniqueness and the equality of every single human being and how much, even a small “ladrillo” (brick), can make a difference in the life of a child.

During some weekends, on the days in which we had some spare time, for my “professional deviation” and curious character I explored the vicinities using the public means (some real adventures with the “colectivo”, a bus without stops and timings), visited the neighboring towns, ate with the locals at the market, purchased little handicrafts, “infiltrated” in the factories and in the local realities thus had the possibility of a vast vision not only of the project but of the country itself. Observing (and not simply looking), allowed me to contextualize and learn of the environment in which they lived and worked in. “Paraguay is improvisation and every day is an adventure”, Miguel used to tell me. And I with a smile on my lips and a laughter used to always answer him “Yes, I have very well realized it”.

My days were days of Life, I wouldn’t pass them, I would Live them entirely in the present. From Paraguay, that from the Paraguayan Guarani language means “Ocean that goes towards the water”, I take home… an interior enrichment and evolution; getting to know new people, cultures, traditions, geographic contexts; the value of time and waiting; the humane warmth; knowing how to rely on someone; improvising and not having programs; the astonishment; experiencing the unknown with curiosity and without fear; the daily gratitude; faith; the human and non material value; giving new life, recycling; the sense of community; of how much can be given and received in an exchange of the good; being there because of wanting to be there and not because one has to be there; the discovery that my way of living everyday is only one of the many ways possible;  seeing new perspectives; following the trend of the sun, the rhythm and liveliness of nature; recognizing the uniqueness and value in all that happens during the day without having the necessity to fill it with programmed activities; the understanding of my capabilities of adapting and changing in facing new situations; how the difficult moments are repaid also by the only satisfaction of having passed them; a me in a new dress; living and being entirely in the present and not in future projections; the disconnection from the digital world; knowing how to dedicate moments of authentic sharing to an interested listening; grasping the essence of the places and people knowing how to make mine; the liberty to be me.

I remember every single day of these two months, it almost seemed like staying away from home for a whole year. It wasn’t only an experience; it was a part of life. The day I was to leave to come back to Italy I asked myself of how I would have gotten through without the children, the teachers, my Paraguayan family, the people of the Barrio. Then I understood that a richness will never be a lack.

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