I’m honored to say that I lived nine months in paradise. Being surrounded by the sea,palm trees,  mountains and having the most picturesque sunsets are just some of many benefits that I was experiencing in these past months, but volunteering in the institution Pikpa isn’t all fun and games.

But let’s start from the beginning. When I first saw that Tandem wrote to me that they were interested in me, I was relieved and baffled at once. For more than one year I was actively searching for a volunteering program in Greece that would suit me, without much success. I was close to giving up when I received that mysterious email. Mysterious, because I didn’t even remember applying for this program. After I ended my hairdresser training in Germany I had the dream of going to Greece in an effort to learn Greek. My father is from Greece hence I always had the feeling of missing out by not knowing the language. So I decided to look for a program in Greece that had to do with social work or art. Eventually all my doubtful thoughts evaporated after I had my Interview with my coordinator Lena. She was really nice and assured me that I didn’t have to do things that I was uncomfortable with.

So there it was finally a new adventure.

Pikpa is an institution that hosts about 80 young residents with mental/physical disabilities and/or trauma. As a volunteer of Tandem my duty was to spend time with the children, play and have as much fun as possible. By children I mean residents between the age of 5 and 27. Every Monday the volunteers meet and discuss the program for the week. In the morning we would mostly take childrens in the wheelchair and walk Γύρω-γύρω around  the premises of Pikpa which is amazingly big. This activity was my favorite, being still sleepy and enjoying the air of the sea while casually strolling through the nature of Pikpa. Playing music or doing quirky sounds (one of my specialities) to make the children laugh. It was just the perfect start to the day.

In the afternoon we would take children and do Outings, play basketball, read books, english lessons, dance,go swimming, jump on the trampoline, write cards, crafts or play music, basically anything closely related to fun would work.

I never did anything so fulfilling, making a child laugh felt incredible.

One of the hardest things I had to deal with was the fact that I saw so much potential and talent in many children who were trapped and could not live their life to full extent. Many children just stay in bed all day and lack love, care and stimulation. This is the dark side of Pikpa and the reason why it is so great that volunteers can give the children at least a little good experience.

Finally, I have to say that I met so many amazing people, all the volunteers, our mentor, the coordinators. I was truly blessed and learned a lot by being with people from other countries. Also being out of my comfort zone gave me the opportunity to grow mentally.