10-Month: Fighting Shoulder to Shoulder with the Poor

During my experience overseas I realized that being a woman on a rural area like where I was in Mozambique means that they are in charge of the house, they have to take care of the kids, clean, take care of the husband, cook for everybody and no to speak out very often. All of this can be awful in the world I come from, how it’s possible that in this century women still doing this when they can study, they can develop themselves in any area they would like, they can decide if they still single or married, they can decide to do any kind of work they want.

It’s very easy to judge a culture from outside, but instead of that I wanted to understand the context where they had born. I understood that to do developing work you can’t impose your believes, neither the way they must live. And I got this opportunity while I was working overseas as volunteer.

I went to Zambia with the willingness, attitude and desire to take advantage and learn from the Zambian culture. After going back and looking back, I realize that with this experience I have grown as a person giving value to small actions. As a volunteer I learned to be recursive and I developed an unimaginable fortress, I was forced myself (constantly) leaving my comfort zone and in the end I realized that the barriers were being placed by me.
I want you to know that this volunteering program wouldn’t have brought anything into my life if I hadn’t decided, I tried to take advantage the time by making friends and accepting that we’re all different and even though I had to leave the project in Zambia ahead of schedule for some safeness issues at the country, the organization relocated me to another country and I could complement, with another volunteering perspective, my experience.

I participated in the program because I wanted to work with challenging activities that improve people's lives, put myself outside my comfort zone and with the possibility of meeting people who have a common interest. I had as a project for my life to work on some projects in which I could combine my knowledge and skills acquired in this program, together with my desire to contribute to something that will make a positive difference in the lives of many people.
During the 9-month volunteer period, in the first period of 3 months I received training at One World Center (OWC) related to Brazil's social problems, political context, cultural roots that shaped the country's backbone. I am Brazilian and, studying more about my country helped to clarify some information that went unnoticed by my eyes in my daily routines. We also learned how to develop activities related to the projects that are being carried out in the countries to which we travel, so that we can contribute effectively to improving the lives of the beneficiaries.
In the second period, I was able to go with my team to Brazil, in the rural area of the city of Cachoeira, in Bahia state, working with a community of descendants of slaves where we develop agricultural activities with the women there to fight shoulder to shoulder against the effects of malnutrition and, in addition, increase family income. We identified other activities that could be developed and, in partnership with the local community and teachers, we did a literacy project for adults. We were there for the period of 4 months.
After the Brazil volunteer period, in the final period of the volunteer program (2 months), we made some trips around the United States to share the experiences lived in Brazil with this community.
It was an incredible experience to meet so many people in Brazil and at the OWC with diverse cultures and thoughts working collectively to improve the lives of many people around the world.

My adventure of volunteering in Africa, started from One World Center, an institution that provide all the skills to take action against poverty in the country of Mozambique. The Volunteering program consists in three months of studies and preparation in sociological, political, and social leadership skills.

Who decides to volunteer will experience a very large personal and emotional growth. The program challenges you in different aspects of life that allow you to grow not only as a professional but also in personally way. Humanitarian work goes beyond conventional work, since it is about understanding the reality of others, of seeking with respect and solidarity the welfare of the most vulnerable people in the world. Many african communities needs your help.

In addition to studies on the poverty and reality of the world, you will also have beautiful experiences within the One World Center, such as summer camps, weekends buildings and other activities that will allow you to meet many people who wants to help and leave a mark in the society.

After three months of studies, my adventure continued in Chimoio, a small city 20 hours far away by car from Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. While four months that I lived over there, I experimented the best travel of my life. Being a Volunteer in Namathanda, a vulnerable community that despite the difficulties such as the absence of water and food smile every day. I am sure that I learned more from them than what I could share them. Every day in that beautiful country was a blessing for me.

After the work done in Africa, I returned to the United States to complete my program. For two more months, I traveled to different cities to share the experience and inspire more people about to take the same decision as I. Act against poverty, an adventure that transforms your life.

Many people are dying by hunger , disease , etc.. and they don’t know how to solve this problem and they can not solve this problem so these people need our help. We have a chance to help them.

I participated in an agricultural project in Brazil. The project purpose was to reduce malnutrition. The main idea was to teach them how to grow plants and how to maintain the gardens. We taught a lot of things but also we leaned a lot of things from them. It was good experiences for me. I was able to grow one step.