Name: Allyn Kangleon Alda
Country of origin: Philippines
Age: 29 years old
What are your first impressions of volunteering in IDC? The campsite is very peaceful and silent and it’s such a contrast from the kind of places, really big cities, I’ve been living in for my entire life.
What kind of activities do you do in the camp? I mostly concentrate on communications so I work on the organization’s website, write content for it, and prepare videos for publishing. I also work on social media and I help out in organizing the logistics of the workcamp.
What do you feel about being in France and meeting international people? It’s a good way for me to learn a bit of French and also meeting some new and interesting people. Diversity is a beautiful thing and from the differences in ideas and beliefs we learn a lot from each other and we develop the capacity to put ourselves in the other’s shoes.
Can you give some tips for volunteers going outside of their country? My tip would be for them to be patient and enjoy the differences. Don’t strive for things to be like what it was like back home. You will need to adapt and be resilient to change and mastering that develops human character.