ESTER (SPAIN)

Volunteered From JANUARY 2021 TO MARCH 2021

2021 After some time thinking about doing something to contribute in some way to the refugees’ situation, I found Habibi Center through a friend of my family, who knew the project first-hand. I really liked the idea of teaching English, as it is something that I’ve been doing for years in my own country. When I arrived in Greece, the country was under lockdown but expecting to reopen in a few weeks as the covid cases were decreasing. Schools like Habibi Center were closed and we only could teach online. Teaching this way was quite challenging as the students have many difficulties (lack of good Internet connection, a lot of noise coming from their rooms…) but Alex and Stephie always tried to find a solution by buying SIM cards for them or speaking to the students’ social workers to improve the learning environment. I was surprised to see how motivated the students were and how they really want to learn. There were many issues during the lessons but still, they were trying to join the class again and again. Covid cases in Greece got worse so, unfortunately, I was never able to teach my students face-to-face. Even though it wasn’t the experience I had imagined, I don’t regret having travelled to Greece to teach online because at least, I could meet amazing volunteers like Jake, Camille and Tim. I also witnessed all the difficulties around the students and, in some way, I tried to do my bit. I could realise that far from my home and far from my daily life, there are people who really need our help and who can’t be ignored anymore. Thank you for this opportunity that has changed a part of me. Ester 🙂