Volunteer Voices

When I arrived at the train station of my meeting place, Marche en Famenne, I met a boy named Yann who went to the same program as me. He was from France and shared some candy with me. After exchanging a few words of his broken English and my broke French, we bonded and became close friends for the rest of the trip. The pre-camp was really nice to bond and meet many people. Just as Yann and I attempted to communicate with the combined knowledge of each other’s languages so did everyone else. It was a mixture of Spanish, French, English, Korean, German, and many more. I found it so beautiful to see everyone getting along and having fun, even if it was a little difficult to understand everyone…. This connection that we shared, a passion for work and helping out a community and just being kids and having fun, made it easy to work with one another… After I came home, I felt as if a part of me was missing. I was ready to wake up early and begin building a new bridge. After living with my friends from Europe for two weeks, I thought of them as my second family! It was truly and I had a wonderful experience which taught me so much. I hope that I never forget it.”

Julia Burmistrova ~ Belgium 2009