A Volunteer’s Day: From Gardening to Workshops 

Dear future volunteers,

Let's take a closer look at how a volunteer spends their day, from beginning to end. Welcome to a volunteer’s day! It will help you understand what gardening work looks like.

The day usually starts with cleaning, and tasks are assigned differently to everyone. As we all live here together, keeping our environment clean is essential. In addition, we make time for deep cleaning a couple of times every week.

After cleaning, we get to work. Our manager distributes the tasks. Generally, we start by watering the plants in our green area. Since we have a lot of volunteers, while some of us water and cut the grass, others harvest the fruits and vegetables that are ready.

Once the garden tasks are done, we continue with the restoration projects we are working on. For example, recently at one of our Pazo, Pazo de IIIOBRE, we worked on restoring the barbecue area. We painted all the walls there, which was a lot of fun for me and made the place look more appealing. We also roofed the barbecue area with dried palm fronds.

While doing all this, our manager Fabián is always there to guide us and show us the right way to get things done. Once we complete two hours of work, we get a ten-minute break. Usually, we drink coffee and enjoy a little snack in the kitchen. Then we work for two more hours.

This time, we take the fallen leaves and rotten fruits from the trees to the compost. The compost then serves as fertilizer when we plant new greenery. That’s why we take good care of the compost and stir it occasionally to keep it fresh.

After finishing two hours of work, we take a half-hour break. Then we have workshops. Actually, this is my favorite part, because after a thirty-minute break, joining these activities is really refreshing for my mind.

Our workshops usually consist of games, informative presentations, and Spanish lessons. Some of our games are physical, like hide-and-seek or dodgeball, and others are more mental, like quizzes or Taboo. These are also led by our volunteers and usually last around an hour.

Once the workshops are over, we have accomplished everything planned for the day. For the rest of the day, we have time to go out, explore, and enjoy a meal. That sums up what a volunteer’s day looks like.

Volunteering gives each day meaning, fun, and connection. By the evening, I am not just tired — I am thankful for the memories and for the chance to be part of something bigger than myself. Hopefully, we will get to welcome you into our volunteer family someday!

Sude Hilal Kaya