RAFI IN ACTION

Hi everyone,

My name is Rafaela, I am 19 years old and I am a “Boquerón”. In case you are confused now, do not worry. “Boquerón” is the Spanish word for anchovy – or here in Málaga: the word for people from Málaga, Spain. After living and volunteering here for 10 months, I would consider me a very salty, happy, and cultured anchovy.

As a fish you get to swim a lot and see many different parts of the ocean. And so, did I. But first I head to learn how to swim, and I had many “first times”: I was living alone, I was sharing my flat with people from different countries, I was managing my own money, I was working as an English auxiliar, I was washing my own clothes… I even repaired our shower for the first time. Sometimes I felt like a baby anchovy. I was drowning a few times and did not know how to survive. When not being able to express yourself the way you would like to, because your Spanish is not yet good enough, you have to learn to express yourself in other ways. Like a baby, I learned to use my face and body language to make myself understandable.

And on my way swimming around the ocean trying to communicate, I discovered new places where I felt safe and understood. I found a rock where I could hide but I also found a stage where I could shine. Throughout my teenager years as an anchovy, I played volleyball at the beach, traveled around Spain, and participated in activist groups for women rights and environmental protection. These places started forming me and gave me a lot of inspiration, orientation, and lastly self-confidence. After living in Málaga, I started to understand who I am and where I want to go.

A sea like Málaga can offer a life to every fish in the ocean, no matter where they are from. Therefore, I also met new like-minded fishes and living beings, which helped me developing into an adult anchovy. Even though many of them did not have the same heritage or share a common language with me, I always knew I could rely on them. These living beings helped to develop myself and made me become the fish I am right now. Even though, I said in the beginning that I was a Boquerón, I think that throughout my volunteering I turned into a new species of fish: I got parts of the Spanish anchovy, the English Mussel, the German lake trout, the Italian tuna, the Greek sea bream, and the Romanian carp.

Thanks to my ESC volunteering, these fishes are defining me now. I learnt to stop seeing me only as a German girl and started considering me an EU citizen instead.

Updated on Friday, 16/06/2023