people and places - responsible volunteering

22nd February - 20th May 2022 Empowerment and Education Support for Girls in Asni, Morocco I especially value People and Places and Education for All's openness to my proposal to volunteer as a Mindfulness and Meditation teacher. My volunteering consisted of sharing Mindfulness and Meditation tools and techniques with girls and housemothers in Education for All boarding houses. It was my first time working with teenagers, and it was a beautiful challenge for me. Apart from my Mindfulness and Meditation sessions, I tried to get involved in everyday leisure activities with the girls whenever they had some free time, such as playing sports and games in the street, going for a walk, playing cards, dancing, singing… informal conversation in English, being taught some words in Darija and Berber… Occasionally I did other activities like helping a little bit with cleaning and the preparation of meals or helping a housemother writing an email in English. During my three months there, I had the chance to join some activities for the girls like yoga and painting. During the weekends I was free and had the chance to discover the beautiful High Atlas region. I feel the whole placement was a great success. I gave my best, I enjoyed a lot and I received positive feedback from what I did, which feels really good. I am very grateful and happy. I would definitely recommend volunteering with People and Places and EFA. It’s a very enriching experience. Even the difficulties I had served me very well to learn and grow. Looking forward to coming back. I got plenty of useful information during my preparation for the placement. It was very useful in general to have information from different perspectives (People and Places, EFA and former volunteers). No concerns at all about the support from People and Places. In general, the treatment I received was fantastic, my experience was wonderful and I can’t thank everyone enough. People and Places did everything well! Information, matching process, follow up, availability during all the process (preparation, during the placement, afterwards…), commitment and engagement. If I have to choose one word to describe how People and Places works, I would pick engagement!!! This is not just a matching process and then once the volunteer arrives that’s it. They treat the whole process, projects, contact with people… as a dear craft, taking care of so many things, details, and with the clear object of helping everyone succeed, get better, improve, be more efficient, practical… putting all their experience, knowledge, know-how in action, with a perfect blend of brain and heart. They work very efficiently and always answer fast. I had the chance to meet Dianne (People and Places' programme and placement co-ordinator), and I could see her in action, and I saw how committed she is in doing her best for the sake of the development of the project, and for helping volunteers in whatever we may need. Thank you so much People and Places, EFA, Abdelghani, Najat, and every single girl.