International Volunteer Day: get to know the stories of four students volunteers
In the week that marked the International Volunteer Day, on December 5, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa featured four stories of students who talk about their experience with volunteering.
Francisca Almeida, from the Regional Centre of Viseu, tells us that the will to help others has always been part of her life. Maybe since she was a child, when she was a proud Girl Scout. But it was at secondary school, and later at university, that volunteering became a serious thing.
The "Ready to Help" project, created by the 21-year-old student from the Faculdade de Medicina Dentária (Faculty of Dental Medicine), in Viseu, with the help of professors and colleagues, has become a reference in supporting people in need in that city.
Read the article about Francisca Almeida
For Eva Viana, from the Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Sociais of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Braga, it was at university that volunteering became a serious part of her life.
"The difficulties experienced by my family led me to want to help those most in need", she says. It was not by chance that, when it came time to choose, she opted for Vida Norte, an association that supports families in need.
"I chose the Vida Norte association because I would have liked my family to have had help from associations like this when they needed it most," says the young volunteer, adding with emotion that "it wasn't easy. The family was big. There were six children and two adults living on two minimum wages".
Read the article about Eva Viana
The desire to help others has always been present for Rita Pelágio, a student at the Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, in Lisbon. "This eagerness to have an impact on people's lives is an addiction. Once you start it's impossible to stop doing things for those who need it most," she says.
This is why she always finds time for voluntary work and, twice a week, keeps patients company at Santa Maria Hospital. In the post-surgery service, "the hours are spent talking to patients". I can't do more than that. Comfort is made by talking. Keeping company, but I believe that it does a lot of good to those people", she says.
Read the article about Rita Pelágio
Mariana Rossi, a student at the Faculdade de Educação e Psicologia of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto, started her voluntary work at the age of 14, in Sunday school. Now, aged 21, she is one of the students responsible for her own group of volunteers at CASO - Católica Solidarity.
For Mariana, volunteering is an "opportunity". An opportunity to learn, about ourselves and about the world, but, above all: "to give my contribution to the world, to leave a mark on the world and on the people who make it up".