To return home before I had planned because of COVID-19 has not been easy. On a practical level, as the emergency advanced so rapidly, it was difficult to find a way to return to Italy. In fact I had to travel for three days, and I know that other volunteers had even greater difficulties.
But the worst part was definitely the sudden interruption of my volunteer project. It was not easy to choose to leave in a moment that my help could have made the greatest difference, but it was necessary to do just that for our safety.
For exactly that reason, the discouragement I felt when I arrived home, was very powerful. But right in this moment a wonderful opportunity arose. All of us in milONGa decided to not allow this emergency to stop us, we’ve decided to find a new way to help those communities that welcomed us. To do this we meet virtually, trying to represent all the realities and communities of Milonga, and together we propose new objectives for ourselves.
This new way of volunteering is very much different, I can’t physically be with the people with whom I have lived with for over a month, but I can continue to travel down this path together with them. It’s beautiful because we have searched and are still searching for specific ways to help more concretely in each community that we have been with, and that we continue to communicate with.
For the moment, some communities need support simply to know that they are not alone, others have more concrete needs. For some we are searching for a way to help, in others we are seeing how we can support organizations that are already active there.
This new form of volunteering has given me hope and energy to confront these strange and unpredictable times. It’s wonderful to see that so many people are willing to help despite the difficulties, even reinventing the way of doing many things not only for their own country or reality.
Something that suddenly has no purpose where I am, can become necessary on the other side of the world and vice versa. You can receive unexpected help from even the most distant countries. This experience is helping me discover a world that is more united and solidary than I previously believed, and that allows me to not remain still. I can continue helping people even in a different way, and I can feel close to them although we are physically distant.
Comments