Volunteer community of Latvia

The volunteer “community” is not an official group or something. It's more or less a feeling you have after meeting all the people who participate in one of those wonderful projects here in Latvia.  

One of the advantages in Latvia is definitely the size of the country which makes it so much easier to get somewhere. Somewhere means for the most volunteers – Riga. The capital of Latvia is almost every second weekend the destination of many volunteers. Besides that, many volunteers already live in Riga. The result of that is a huge number of volunteers from all over Europe coming together in Riga to party, to meet, to get to know each other and to experience so many more shades in the life of a volunteer.   

Since I met all the people, I feel like I have friends all over Europe. Friends who live in Spain, France or even Portugal. When I go to Riga there's always an option to meet someone. On my first weekend in Latvia I met so many volunteers who welcomed me really nice, helpful and interested. That helps you a lot with the struggle of arriving in a foreign country. Every volunteer share one thing with you: She or He is in a new country with a new language and in the most cases on the way to find new friends. And if you meet some volunteers on a Saturday evening in one of those bars, you will feel a bit like in a peer group. Because you are all no Latvians but live in Latvia. All of you are dealing with the same struggle, the same feelings.  

Especially here in Latvia with small distances to different spots it's easier to create this kind of volunteer community because you might meet the most volunteers. Communication works through a WhatsApp group and because of Events like the rEUnion (a networking festival for volunteers) people know each other.  

We’re a big group. A group full of people from different nations. A group which is connected due to an amazing project called “European Solidarity Corps”.