Volunteering at INPRO wasn't something I agonised over. It was an instant yes.
I had joined their Global Village event before, and the experience stuck with me – the international group of volunteers, the sense of purpose, the ease with which you could make friends from across the world. So when someone asked if I'd be interested in joining as a long-term volunteer, the answer was obvious before the question finished.
It's been a month since I officially started, short-term stints aside. From the first day I landed inside a project with real ambition – one aiming to create impact not just in Rzeszów but further out. The days fill up with laughter, collaboration and work that feels like it actually counts.
The growth crept up on me. Social confidence, mostly. Meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds, working toward shared goals, adapting to situations I couldn't have prepared for – all of it pushed me in directions I hadn't expected. The language barrier was the clearest obstacle early on, but something interesting happened: volunteers and locals started improving their English together. The shared stumbling brought people closer rather than pushing them apart.
The work lands, too. You see it in the faces of schoolchildren during visits, in the way the local community receives what we do. Projects like these build real bridges between cultures, and spending a year inside one makes something obvious that's easy to miss from the outside – people are far more alike than different, regardless of where they're from.
It's too early to map out exactly how this year will shape what comes next. But one thing is already clear: giving this time to something meaningful, and to yourself, changes you in ways you won't fully understand until later.
If you're considering volunteering, the advice is short: do it. You get a full year to grow, to contribute, to build memories and results you couldn't have planned for. The version of you that comes out the other side will surprise you.
Eduard