How Volunteering with Children Shaped Me -Daniel’s Experience

I am Daniel, I’m from Murcia, Spain. I am studying a degree of primary education and that is one reason why I applied for this project. I wanted to experience another different type of Erasmus + project, a volunteer program related to children, in order to know if I like it or not and of course, explore another country and another culture.

During this project I have been able to do plenty of new tasks I had never done before and I had the opportunity to evolve not only as an educator but also as a person.

I took part in 3 camps, all of them very different between each other, with different topics and different leaders. Restaurant, adventure and hobby horses, a curious and wonderful mixture.

During this camps I had the chance to meet new children and connect with them, because this work is more than having a look at children while they are on the beach, from my point of view is an opportunity to help them to create unforgettable memories and give them the chance to share their thoughts and socialize with the rest of the campers or volunteers, this is why I live the camps as another child, because they help me on my mood without they knowing.

As I have said before during this month long project I have learnt about the way Education is done in Finland, completely different from the view we have in Spain, but mostly this experience has been an open-minded opportunity to know more about how society goes and prove to myself that I am able to do more that what I thought. I  have learnt how to do some daily tasks such as cleaning the dishes for ten people or how to put a washing machine, very useful in life, right? I have also shown myself that I can travel alone and I have enough confidence to express myself wherever I go.

If I had to choose a moment of the project it would be anytime I spent with the campers, there are very special moments in every camp, the first week camp, when we played my card role game or when we were eating burgers in the lighthouse, the second week, the matches of volley at the beach or the mid-summer dance, and the last week camp brought me to my childhood as I did horse riding when I was a kid.

Although this experience has been very hard I’m sure it will be enriching for the future.

If you are thinking about applying for a project like this do not hesitate in trusting Villa Elba for an extraordinary opportunity.

Author: Daniel Munoz Clemente, Spain

Daniel took part in a ESC team volunteering project called Summer for Success in june 2025, where volunteers organized camps for children.