From the 15th to the 30th of September 2016, I was in Barcelona, Spain and took part in a volunteer project aiming to grow awareness surrounding topics such as sexual and gender-based violence, feminism, bisexuality and other similar topics. Being eighteen years old, I had never flown on my own to another country. Needless to say, it was an experience. I had travelled as a backpacker before, however never had to figure out on my own how to get from an airport to the city or how to find a way to my hostel without data or speaking the language. From the first day, where I met fellow Canadians in the dorms to the last, where I had met people coming from Spain, Greece, Germany, Mexico and Serbia, the people I met were what made a real difference Thursday, 15th of September 2016– Day One Arrived at Barcelona El Prat airport, took an hour to find my way out but…

In September 2016, following my graduation from the International Baccalaureate, I chose to embark on a few projects. One of these was distance education, and the second was volunteer work. I found Service Civil International Deutschland (SCI Deutschland), and shortly after registering, I found a workcamp that dealt with topics such as the LGBTQA+ community, gender equality and feminism. I signed up, and a few days later was on my way to Barcelona, where I would spend the next two weeks. The volunteer workcamp in Barcelona was concentrated on bisexual rights awareness, human rights, and women’s rights in particular. We took action in the Spanish/Catalan community, took part in different activities to raise awareness regarding these topics, and importantly, had quite a lot of fun doing it! This was my very first volunteer experience, and as it went so well, soon after I signed up for more, namely one in Morocco, Uganda, and in The Netherlands. I invite you to…