"Volunteering changed my perception of myself"

My name is Ludivine and I come from France and I have been volunteering at Bolivia Digna for a month.

When I first arrived at Bolivia Digna, I was not excepting anything and I just wanted to live the adventure, and fly away from my every day life. Even if I don‘t particularly like children - or at least not as much and especially not as openly as others-, I find them reassuring, also because I have experience as an animator in summer camps with kids. I also really wanted to get to know Bolivia, so this is what brought me to Bolivia Digna.

I have never thought that I should do something for others, or help others. Or never considered to work in this field either. Yet, without realizing I was probably attracted to it because I have been volunteering back in Europe for a couple of years helping young people and also worked around the issue of online violence, especially as regards to children and women.

While being a volunteer at Bolivia Digna, I had an amazing experience, facing other lifestyles (not everyone has the same one in Bolivia, there are big discrepancies, and we can especially see it in the children we work with!) and other points of views. Sometimes it was challenging, but you learn a lot from simple things. Learning the language, learning the culture and eating habits, learning about the institutions and about politics! So much to take in, but well, sometimes you are so busy with the children that you don‘t even have time to realize all this! I was in Bolivia Digna for a short period so I did a bit of everything and worked with all age groups. After the first week, I knew already that I prefered to work with the smallest ones at Mercado Campesino. They are so cute! As the volunteering is a lot about sharing, and that I really like cooking, I cooked (and espacially ate!) with them several times crêpes but also a fruit tart with salty butter caramel – all typically French of course!

Last but not least, with this experience I also learned a lot about myself, what I really wanted to do with my life and what I was really interested by. You don‘t only learn about others, but for sure you will learn about yourself.