Community Engagement in Argentina - VG 15 YEARS: Tony's testimony

This month is our anniversary so we will be sharing a few testimonials of former volunteers about their experience being part of Voluntario Global. By Tony Lehtimäki I did my voluntary work back in 2019 where I helped assist in developing the small and very disadvantaged community of Villa de Mayo in the outskirts of Buenos Aires for two months. There, they have a yearly summer camp for kids between 6-16 years old to attend to get help with subjects in school, play sports, eat and just have a safe space to be at. I helped organize different types of games and helped some of the older kids with their English homework and played with the younger kids. With the help of the other volunteers we created a full day of games and activities in teams to help them help each other and enjoy a fun day! After my first week I quickly realized that the kids were very eager to learn new things and were asking me many questions of things I barely had thought about and wanted to get an understanding of how the world was outside of Villa de Mayo. The ambition was there but they were a bit lost as the majority of the kids unfortunately lacked guidance or presence from their parents and it had created a vicious cycle that was hard to break out from. However, I think organizing such a summer camp as Voluntario Global does annually is a great way to help guide them and show support to these kids that might have different types of daily issues that they deal with. Being an emotional support as well as a friend was for me the most crucial part of my experience as I truly cared about them and had an amazing time being there and I did feel that it was a mutual feeling from their side as well! Stella showed me how to jump like a frog and at the same time how to play the game. After looking back at my experience I would encourage more people to do voluntary work at some point in their life as it gives you a better understanding of how people live and how some things that developed countries take for granted are seen as almost unreachable in disadvantaged places of developing countries. It will make you grow as a person, give you a better perspective on life and increase the appreciation of what you have. On my last day the older kids wanted to have a group photo together for the memories. To the right of me is Ricky. All in all, my experience goes beyond just being there for two months and helping to develop the community. Up to this day I am still in contact from time to time with Ricky, one of the older kids at that time in the summer camp that I built a good friendship with. My goal is to help with what I can from a distance to make a small change in someone’s life that will help them reach their goals and be happy. I hope to be able to come back to Villa de Mayo and meet some, now, older friends!