Teaching, Serving, and Finding Family Abroad

My name is Victoria Tusiani Recabarra, I am 24 years old, and I come from Argentina.

I spent three months volunteering as a social operator at the Social Institute of Work (ISO) in Valencia—a workers' association promoted by the Catholic Church of Valencia that aims to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate immigrants and refugees.

I was mainly involved in the Dorothy Day Shelter, founded in 2009 to welcome and provide basic comprehensive training to immigrant and refugee families and women seeking social and labor inclusion. Today, the shelter primarily supports families with children and young people from Sub-Saharan Africa who have come to Spain in search of new opportunities.

The shelter offers 24-hour accommodation, temporary housing, personalized social and labor integration plans, and supports the developmental needs of children.

My main tasks included:

• Organizing and teaching Spanish classes (Monday to Friday mornings)

• Accompanying families in their daily lives

• Leading activities for children and women inside the shelter (games to encourage mutual understanding, healthy habits for cohabitation, and learning about Spain and Valencia)

• Organizing outings to museums, parks, and other cultural spaces

  
  

It was a beautiful experience. I felt deeply supported by the entire team, both personally and professionally. It was a true example of teamwork that allowed me to experience unity through fraternity.

Living daily with the families—sharing meals, spending time together—helped me to fully embrace the present moment and constantly "start again" with a fresh attitude. I tried to go beyond the tasks themselves, always seeking to encounter the other as a brother or sister, to look with my heart, and to do for them what I would like them to do for me.It taught me to be open to dialogue, to freely offer my time, knowledge, help, or simply my presence and attentive listening. I learned to be empathetic, to suspend judgment, to step into their shoes, and to understand their culture, their ways of thinking, being, and acting.I gave 100% of myself to create spaces that valued all voices, to serve others, to share, and ultimately to be family.

As I am not a trained educator, I had to put significant effort into planning the Spanish classes to ensure they were practical and truly helpful for the participants. The students had very diverse levels, from complete beginners to those preparing for jobs or professional training, so I had to be flexible, patient, and open.

Navigating political, cultural, linguistic, and ideological differences was sometimes challenging but always enriching. I had to constantly "start over" within myself—not to impose my own knowledge or ways of thinking, but to simply listen, embrace, and understand each person's unique needs, feelings, and beliefs.

DANA Floods – October 28

In addition, I had the opportunity to volunteer throughout November in several municipalities affected by the floods in Valencia, together with other young volunteers. We worked in:

• Castellar-Oliveral

• Massanassa

• Paiporta

• Catarroja

  
  

We delivered boots, masks, gloves, cleaning supplies, disinfectants, buckets, brooms, shovels, garbage bags, flashlights, blankets, food, and additional materials also to support other volunteers.We helped clean houses, businesses, and garages, but most importantly, we were there to bring hope, to serve the community and the neighbors, to step into their shoes, to accompany them, and to offer a listening ear.

All these were truly beautiful experiences where I was able to give myself completely, to feel supported, to feel useful, and to experience genuine unity, fraternity, and reciprocal love—both within the shelter, through the relationships with the team and the residents, and in the streets during the flood response, where the gratitude of the neighbors and the spirit of mutual help among the young volunteers deeply moved me.

I would like to conclude with a phrase that has guided and inspired me throughout this journey:

"It is more than serving a meal, providing a bed, or opening a door: it is about opening ourselves—our hearts—to the needs of others. Hospitality is not just about accommodation, but the ability to give an authentic welcome." — Dorothy Day

Volunteering is a powerful way to step out of our comfort zones and go out to meet others. It allows us to put our gifts at the service of the community, to share our knowledge and life experiences, to live fraternity and unity in a concrete way, to discover new cultures and ways of thinking and living.

It is an opportunity to become one with others in everyday life—putting ourselves in their place and striving to live reciprocal love in the small, daily gestures.