Just Being There

I had dreamed of going on a mission trip since I was thirteen years old. I remember reading the blogs of volunteers from the Salezjański Wolontariat Misyjny and imagining that one day I would be among them. I chose Kraków as my university city partly because one of the organization’s branches is based there. I became involved in the activities of the Volunteer Mission several years ago. It was a very enriching time, full of meaningful experiences and inspiring conversations with people returning from their missions. All of this encouraged me even more to go abroad myself.

During my volunteering project, my role was to help the sisters care for the children. Around thirty children between the ages of four and eighteen lived in the hogar - that’s what we called our home - both boys and girls. Every day, I walked them to school or kindergarten, helped them with homework, and accompanied them in various activities. These were children facing very difficult life situations - some were partially orphaned, while others came from families struggling with poverty, violence, drug abuse, or prostitution. At the hogar, they had safe living conditions, but what they needed most was our presence, individual attention, and even the smallest amount of tenderness. The children loved hugging us and spending time with us.

It was a difficult, yet beautiful experience that somehow made me more human. Before I became involved in volunteering, I had somewhat idealized missionary work. I imagined a volunteer as a kind of hero who travels to the other side of the world and sacrifices themselves for others. But volunteering - both in Poland and in Bolivia - helped me see missions as something very ordinary. I realized that the most important thing on a mission is simply to be there -to offer your presence, but also to accept someone else’s presence in your own life, in a spirit of mutual exchange. I feel that I received so much from those children. What surprised me most was that despite their difficult past, they gave me an incredible amount of unconditional love and trust. Through their simple and tender gestures, words, and looks, I experienced just how deeply God loves me.

Edyta’s story comes from an interview published in the book Międzynarodowy Wolontariat Młodzieży. You can read the full version of the text here.

Updated on piątek, 15/05/2026