Last week I finished my on-arrival training, after two months here I was waiting for it since they had told me a lot about it and I was curious about what it would be like and once it was finished, I don’t know what to think, on the one hand, I have enjoyed meeting other volunteers, but on the other hand it has not been what I expected, but better to leave this for last.
The training started on Sunday the 10th and that day we did not do much, it was a couple of hours of presentation and explaining what we were going to do the following days. The real beginning was the next day, from that day we started at 10 in the morning (9:45 actually) and finished at 4 in the afternoon, with some breaks in between.
In all that time we carried out different activities, depending on the day they had one theme or another, but the structure was always the same, we started with some activity to activate ourselves, they explained something to us and they sent us to small sessions (with 4 people normally) so we could talk to each other about the proposed topic to finally return to the large group and put everything in common.
I find only one flaw in this structure that may seem well organized, and that is that there are exercises that work when you do it in person, but not for an online session and if you make an effort to include them without making changes, it is easy for you to lose the group’s attention. because it doesn’t make sense to them. Here is my main problem with the training and it is that in my opinion it is organized to be face-to-face and online, they lack experience.
Even with this problem, I have enjoyed it as I have been able to meet other volunteers who are doing similar things to me and it has given me time to think about this experience.
Finally, I think I have to thank Sara and Joana, the people in charge of this training, their dedication and the effort they put in since it was obvious that they were putting their best effort.
