Armindo Veiga from Portugal, (European Solidarity Corps volunteer)

After finishing university, I didn’t know what to do nor what path to choose. With this doubt and uncertainty about the future I was pondering and wondering what job would make me happy. Ever since I remember, working with animals has always been my passion, knowing witch species is witch, what roles they have in the ecosystem even curiosities about them. From all the biodiversity, birds, most definitely, have my heart, their ability to be free, to be forever travelers that observe the world in their unique way.

 A few months ago, I was presented with the opportunity to participate in this volunteering program, it felt like a gift from the skies. Not only enable me to work with the fauna that I so much like, but also allowed me to opening my own wings and sore into a completely new place. 

After landing in this beautiful country, metaphorically and literally, I was greeted by the most heartwarming team I could have ever asked. Always motivated to work, breaming with positive energy, both the SPBT team and the others volunteers became what I can sincerely call a family.

I’ve learned a lot with them (and I’m still learning), from building nest boxes because I like to build things to the monitoring of the rich fauna of raptors which glide through the skies, or even the recording of the forest regeneration (the job, which according to some, is the joy of the day). Much more activities are carried out and even more are bound to come and bring new dynamics to our volunteering life.

Outside of the work, the little cozy village looks like it was taken from a book, calm, joyful, holding beautiful secret places (one of which it’s even called paradise if you can imagine). And if the landscape it’s not enough, the people are incredibly kind, curious about the volunteers that embark in this new journey, and most important of all with a big desire to both help and show us the beauty of this region. Once I heard “yesterday is past, tomorrow it’s a mystery, but today it’s a gift, that why gift called present too”. I do think that this volunteering program will continue to bring much more gifts and joy.