ASHA-KIRAN BLOG

My experience with Referentes project is closely linked to my experience with Vínculos project; one is not possible without the other.

When Dayana introduced me to Vínculos, at first with the intention of teaching Spanish to migrants facing vulnerability, I really had no idea what I was getting into. From the beginning, I took part in all the discussions with aid institutions such as CEAR, Málaga Acoge, and Asha-Kiran. Even so, I didn't really understand what being part of Vínculos meant until the classes started.

I think that anyone who does volunteer work knows that they always receive more than they give. After all, you give your time and knowledge, and you also try to bring a little affection and humanism to the task. Yes, in theory it’s very nice, but practice always places us in a different position. In my particular case, it led me to a place of being human that I wasn't familiar with, something unheard of in Western culture, where everyone looks out for themselves, and others are looked at a bit askance. I can see myself in this cultural selfishness.

One plays roles and places oneself in the world according to such roles: engineer, teacher, retiree, entrepreneur... As if doing something puts you in a niche. At first, you play the role of a teacher when teaching Spanish, someone who knows and teaches others. However, time and, above all, the people who attend your classes gradually give you a different perspective.

You receive affection, and you know it's not because of how well you teach or how proficient you are. It makes no difference if you teach better or worse, it's a feeling that goes directly from one human being to another, with no further ado. And so, you also begin to feel affection for the students, who now become friends, people you care about. Groups are created, bonds form between them and also between the “teachers” (those humans covered in chalk). Humor, plays, laughter, and sharing come about. Sometimes, we are asked to delve deeper into language topics, to stay on task, other times they ask for cookies and a drink.

And it’s in this brew that Referentes came about, something I still don't quite get, but which, for the time being, has brought me a person that I spend time with every week to take a walk around the city, to see a lawyer, to chat with sitting by the harbor, or to have some coffee with.

In that shared space and time something is forged, something that connects us regardless of who we are, the roles we play, or where we come from. We chat with a person we barely know, who comes from another continent, and has a radically different vision of humanity, values, and life... we talk about things and are both amazed by details that seem trivial in a given cultural context.

We open ourselves to each other's world with innocence and curiosity, without bias, with joy and affection. We laugh, for example, when I say that, in Spain, women kiss twice to greet each other, and men do it by shaking hands. Such things raise questions about my own way of living in this culturally standardized world. I think that this is the greatest gift I'm receiving from these exchanges: the questions, the invitations to broaden my perspective, to make it more human. And, of course, the affection.

Paco Aguilar, Volunteer at Vínculos Project.