I was surprised by how open, interested and friendly all of the children were to any new person that came to the orphanage. 
Program Volunteer Argentina
Project: Volunteer Teaching English in Argentina
I spent most of my days at the orphanage either helping serve dinner to the children and playing with them, or helping paint the walls of a room that had been damaged in a fire. With the help of other volunteers we decorated the rooms with murals of the children’s favourite Disney characters.
As I came into Cordoba airport I started to feel nervous, but I was greeted by the uVolunteer representative who walked me out of the airport to his car. We started the 20 minute drive to the house where I would be staying, and talked about how unfortunate it was that Argentina had been knocked out of the world cup the previous day!
At first taking the bus on my own everyday was scary, as a lot of the roads can sometimes be confusing and the way they drive is very different than public buses in England! But I always managed to find my way and I always found people very friendly if I ever needed help.
When I arrived I was greeted by Cecilia, the lady with whom I would be staying, and 3 other volunteers. We had an asado in the back garden, which is a sort of barbeque, and we all chatted in Spanish for a while. There were several volunteers who came and went during my stay in Cecilia’s house and I hope to keep in touch with them all and hopefully stay good friends.
On my first day at the orphanage I was driven there by the uVolunteer representative and was introduced to the staff, other volunteers, and of course, the children. I was surprised by how open, interested and friendly all of the children were to any new person that came to the orphanage. I was shown the bus route home by one of the argentine workers there and made my way back to the house. At first taking the bus on my own everyday was scary, as a lot of the roads can sometimes be confusing and the way they drive is very different than public buses in England! But I always managed to find my way and I always found people very friendly if I ever needed help.
Although everyday was different, the four weeks flew by way too quickly. I spent most of my days at the orphanage either helping serve dinner to the children and playing with them, or helping paint the walls of a room that had been damaged in a fire. With the help of other volunteers we decorated the rooms with murals of the children’s favourite Disney characters.
I spent the evenings and weekends with the other volunteers I was living with, either going out into the city or staying home with the host family. However sometimes it was hard living in another culture, at times it was hard to communicate, and also because I looked so obviously foreign it could sometimes attract a lot of attention. But I found that there were so many positive things about the trip that a lot of the time the negative things just didn’t matter. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Argentina and would definitely go back!
Roseanne Burke
