Article wrote by Johanna Luhn and Gema Alemán, short term volunteers at IDC (september – november 2025).
As an international volunteer in a foreign country, you learn new things everyday, to the point where you can hardly keep track of the new experiences anymore after a while. Here are just a few learnings that we gathered in the past weeks:
Minimalistic lifestyle
First of all, life as a volunteer is much more minimalistic than you are probably used to. Not only do you live out of one suitcase of clothing throughout the whole project, but life in the eco-place inevitably makes you more adaptable to different circumstances. Using only the tools and utensils that are already there and consuming mostly unprocessed seasonal foods teaches you to find sustainable alternatives and change your habits according to the given circumstances. Furthermore, we were introduced to composting and reusing waste differently than before, which is a competence we will surely be able to implement in our lives back home.
Multicultural exchange
As we are all from different backgrounds, we had no choice but to learn to live and work cooperatively with each other by making compromises, respecting each other’s habits and lifestyles but also sticking up for our own needs and opinions. In an effort to organise and distribute work fairly, empathy and acceptance are key competences. By participating in events like “De Ferme En Ferme” we got to know the local agriculture and appreciate the farmers’ work to deliver products. It shows the importance of
supporting local businesses over international companies for a region.
Personal journey
Lastly, volunteering makes you learn and grow as a person, by becoming more independent when you
have the responsibility for the place and the resources. We have learned to contribute our own ideas, but also to make mistakes and learn from them. For example when we accidentally harvested a bunch of green tomatoes, instead of having to throw them away we found a way to use them still!
So in total, volunteering teaches you a lot about yourself and helps you develop new competences for
the future.
