Describing in words everything that I have experienced in India is difficult. And that has been a trip that I did by chance. They always tell me that to volunteer you don't have to go that far. But I did, and a lot. People try to describe what they have lived there, but the reality is that you don't feel it until you see it with your own eyes. And we have to give so many thanks for how lucky we are. As you read what I'm writing, let me tell you something, I invite you to live this experience. I’m not going to say will change you radically, but it will mark you for your whole life.

People try to describe what they have lived there, but the reality is that you don't feel it until you see it with your own eyes.

I have found that the most important characteristic of being happy is being grateful.
I still remember their smiles, those of the children from the NGO's school, happy for the mere fact of existing and having the opportunity, despite their disabilities (autism, down syndrome, etc.), to have an education. And I would argue with the term "disability" for the fact that I have been taught so much more than any other 21st century child in this society. In India these children do not have so many facilities, since they consider being born like this as a punishment.
If I have to keep an anecdote, it would be an excursion that we did with them to the Victoria memorial. It was raining a lot, however they didn't mind eating their cheese and ketchup sandwich under the water. The smile did not fade from their faces. Not them, not the teachers who accompanied us. And in these situations you realize the capacity that people with hardly any resources have to value the moment they are living. Because you earn more by seeking the happiness of others than your own. And children, as Mother Teresa used to say, are the best teachers.

And what about the great work of Mother Teresa's sisters in Calcutta. I was lucky enough to get a senior center, Prem Dan (love gift in Hindi, a name I made sense of later). It is a generation from which there are so many things to learn… In those days I realized how important it is to have a family, people around you who care about you and above all who love you. For my "grandmothers" I think that I have only been a volunteer who was passing through, but for them I have been much more than that. The simple fact that I listened to them or simply looked at them tenderly was more than enough for them. You think you have done nothing to change their lives, and it is true, but you have done something more important than that: love them, the most powerful feeling there is. There are ills that cannot be cured even with all the gold in the world, but with a simple gesture of love.

Because you earn more by seeking the happiness of others than your own. And children, as Mother Teresa used to say, are the best teachers.

As a companion of this adventure said, we have received much more than we have given. And you realize when you get home and come back to reality. When a hot dish awaits you on the table every day. When your friends call you for a beer. When your father doesn't go to sleep until you get home.
And in the end, you think about what you can do to be a better person after everything you've experienced. The answer is easy, value. Give importance to those details that are part of your daily routine. And always have a grateful smile. Volunteering always starts with yourself. And there is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.

"Sometimes we feel that what we do is just a drop in the sea, but the sea would be less if it lacked that drop." Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Maria Jose Fernandez-Vial