{"id":5097,"date":"2025-08-25T16:16:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/?p=5097"},"modified":"2025-08-25T16:18:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:18:20","slug":"como-vivo-el-voluntariado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/como-vivo-el-voluntariado\/","title":{"rendered":"”How Do I Experience Volunteering?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Do I Experience Volunteering?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Volunteering has something very special because it comes from a place of desire, without expecting anything in return. It\u2019s a\u00a0genuine act of giving<\/strong>, which often ends up giving you back more than you offer. It\u2019s about offering your time, your mind, your attentive listening, and emotional commitment. It\u2019s not always about doing intense physical work, but about truly being present\u2014with willingness and empathy\u2014accompanying each family\u2019s transformation process. It\u2019s a concrete way of saying: I care about what happens to others.<\/p>\n

It has a very\u00a0strong emotional component<\/strong>. It\u2019s about being there because you believe in the cause and in the power of the collective, and it touches you in a very direct way.<\/p>\n

Personally, I experienced it as a\u00a0deeply transformative journey<\/strong>\u00a0. I\u2019ve been a volunteer<\/a> in the Programs area for over a year, and even on my first day I felt I was part of something much bigger than myself, and that my contribution, no matter how small, could have a real impact on a family\u2019s life. It was a turning point. It connected me with a different way of committing to others and to my surroundings. It also pushed me out of my routine and made me question certain things\u2014from my priorities to how I can use my professional training in service of a social cause.<\/p>\n

I learned to value the collective much more, and the importance of simplicity. I gained a much more empathetic perspective, and I understood that\u00a0a decent home not only changes physical structures, but transforms lives emotionally, socially, and in everyday life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I witnessed the\u00a0change that happens in a family and in the individuals living in that home<\/strong>. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s often talked about, but it truly changes their self-esteem\u2014they become more joyful, more confident. You can see it even in how they carry themselves outside the home. Seeing the before and after in a person seems even more valuable to me than the change in the home itself.<\/p>\n

In one of the first cycles I participated in,\u00a0a shy and reserved young woman joined<\/strong>\u00a0. When we learned about her case, we didn\u2019t think the project could help her. She shared a room with her partner and their four-year-old daughter; she had no bathroom, no water; barely a bit of artificial light, and to make things worse, water would come in every time it rained. It didn\u2019t seem like the project was for her, but we stood firm\u2014we were going to move forward with what we could, we were going to fight for her home just as she was doing. Today, she has a bathroom, access to water and electricity. But much more than that was achieved\u2014she\u2019s no longer that shy and reserved girl. Today, she has confidence in her home and in herself:\u00a0she shines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Because a\u00a0home is much more than a roof<\/strong>. It\u2019s the space where a family builds its story, where they feel safe, where they grow. From simple things like having a mirror in the bathroom to a stable floor so children can develop properly. These are all essential elements in the transformation of a home, and you can see them reflected in each member of the family.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this and wondering whether to volunteer or not, I\u2019d say give it a try<\/a>\u2014even just once. You don\u2019t need prior experience, just willingness. Stepping out of your routine, truly getting to know your surroundings and different realities, gaining perspective\u2014that\u2019s what volunteering is<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Column written by Mar\u00eda Paz Malvido, volunteer since June 2024 in the Programs area.<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Do I Experience Volunteering? Volunteering has something very special because it comes from a place of desire, without expecting anything in return. It\u2019s a\u00a0genuine act of giving, which often ends up giving you back more than you offer. It\u2019s about offering your time, your mind, your attentive listening, and emotional commitment. It\u2019s not always<\/p>\n

Leer M\u00e1s<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,17],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-5097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historias","category-noticias","tag-voluntariado"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",1200,447,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",1200,447,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",1200,447,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",150,56,false],"medium":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",300,112,false],"large":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",860,320,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",1200,447,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",1200,447,false],"small-header":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",591,220,false],"small-event":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",100,37,false],"medium-event":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",270,101,false],"large-event":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",770,287,false],"large-event-2":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",540,201,false],"document-thumb":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",400,149,false],"gallery-full":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",1200,447,false],"gallery-thumb":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",540,201,false],"cause-medium":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",900,335,false],"staff-home":["https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Voluntariado-Header-Image.png",292,109,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Paula","author_link":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/author\/habitatonar\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Historias<\/a> Noticias<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"How Do I Experience Volunteering? Volunteering has something very special because it comes from a place of desire, without expecting anything in return. It\u2019s a\u00a0genuine act of giving, which often ends up giving you back more than you offer. It\u2019s about offering your time, your mind, your attentive listening, and emotional commitment. It\u2019s not alwaysLeer…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5097"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5100,"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5097\/revisions\/5100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hpha.org.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}