When I told my family in July this year that I would be spending the summer in Latvia as a volunteer, the biggest challenge was explaining where I would be living for a month. It is not easy to explain, for those who do not understand geography, exactly where Latvia is and especially Liepaja.

Many Latvians consider Liepaja to be one of the most attractive places in their country as it is dotted with green parks and has a magnificent beach, unlike Riga (the capital) which is considered monotonous and boring. But for me Liepaja has become much more than just a Latvian city, it's a place where I have left my heart, not only because of the wonderful places you can visit but also because of the people I've met. Initially, I was a bit afraid of leaving and especially of feeling lonely during my journey, but it wasn't like that at all. I met several people from the association who tried to make me feel as comfortable as possible and from whom I learned a lot.

During my plane ride I kept looking out the window, especially in the last half hour; my enthusiasm became greater when I started to see the Latvian coast, and all the more when I glimpsed the typical Latvian landscape dotted with forests, lakes and rivers. When I arrived in Liepaja I was pleasantly surprised as I felt immersed in another era thanks to the rustic style of the city. But the thing that amazed me the most was the fact that several Latvians knew how to communicate in English (which is not very common in Italy) and that these were easy-going people but at the same time reserved and shy. It's something I was later able to confirm through my experience there; in fact, Latvians are concerned, they try to be available and make you feel as comfortable as possible, but at the same time they distance themselves from your life, they distance themselves from it so as not to invade your private ''space''. In short, Italians could learn a lot from them.

 

If I could go back and redo my experience as a volunteer in Latvia, I would definitely do it again; after living sedentary for a year due to covid, I had the opportunity to live again. I met several people, not only from the association where I was a guest, but also peers with whom I have established a strong bond. But I also had moments in which I was in close contact with nature because not only in the city I was able to enjoy various parks and green spaces but, trying my hand at mushroom picking, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the greenery of a large forest in the middle 'now from Liepaja, and it was well worth it as not only did we come home with a haul to savor, but after walking through the forest there was a beautiful deserted beach.

 

 

 

My experience was also an opportunity for cultural enrichment. I discovered the existence of stateless persons and now also have a wider historical knowledge; there are still evident signs of Latvian history and in particular of Russian domination, in fact in Liepaja, and in particular in the Karosta district, there is a
Russian minority. In Latvia, people living in urban areas with many Russian speakers learn Russian through everyday interactions in grocery stores, public transportation, and school, and ethnic Russians have similarly learned Latvian.

I didn't fully understand this until I volunteered at the House of Hope which is an organization that works every day to help families and children in Karosta by overcoming the obstacles of poverty, social discrimination and lack of education. There I saw a very different reality from the 'usual' Liepaja, the House of Hope is a place where I really left my heart, where I had the opportunity to share my culture and receive more from my peers who they proved to be very open and curious to know what was happening outside their country.

However, my work was not limited only to this magnificent youth center, but I did much more. In particular, I worked with the Radi Vidi Pats association in the city garden and in the swap shop; I admired their respect for the environment and the search for recyclable materials to make the garden a more welcoming place.
In the organisation, organic matter was never thrown away, but we were always careful to put it aside to create compost for the plants; I learned to use my creative and practical side to carry out projects not only for the garden but also for the swap shop by creating posts on Facebook, a poster. An interesting and unusual thing was working on a large mosaic for the first time, but I didn't have to do it all by myself as I received support and advice.

 

In short, it was an experience that I would recommend to anyone! I added an extra piece to my training and my cultural background, surely during my next trip I will be less afraid to try something new. I learned that it is necessary to put aside prejudices and that it is better to compare yourself with other cultures rather than stubbornly believing that one's country of origin is better than the others. It was an experience I will never forget, it gave me the extra independence I was looking for and the self-confidence I needed to tackle more in life.

Emilia