,,This is what made me grow in the past 3 months...'' Blog dei volontari

My name is Harley Reinders I am a 20 year old girl from Germany and right now I am a volunteer in Bolzano, Italy for one year.
My project  started in october 2025, without knowing a word italian I came to south tyrol. The project I chose is in an animation team in the eldery home ,,Villa Don Bosco“ in Bolzano.
In Germany I already worked with children and I also did an internship in an eldery home year ago, but although it all felt like a new, exiting experience to work in an eldery home in italy.
The first weeks were amazing, my team welcomed me with so much love! You can really see that the team-members do their job with their full hearts. Our job is it to plan activities for the seniors and animate them in the morning and in the afternoon. For instance, we play tombola every week, bring them to church, do gymnastics and just make their days brighter.
Of course it is not always easy to be a volunteer.
Especially, when it comes to moving to a different country, learning a complete new language and getting in touch with a new culture. On the other side, this is what made me grow in the past 3 months.
After working here for over 3 months, I have gained so much indepence, confidence and patience. It is not only the work, but also living in a shared flat was completely new for me. But all in all I love the whole project. I can fully focus on myself and do what I always wanted to do (travel) and doing social work :)