Guido Biante: "Since I've been in Leganga I feel that my gaze is deeper than before".

Many students do not find the right time to do a volunteer activity. volunteer activitiesDuring the school year they have less time and in the summer they usually work to save money. This was the case for Guido Biante, born in Argentina but living in Spain since he was three years old. After graduating in Industrial Technologies at Tecnun in 2022, he started working at the Mahou and San Miguel factory in Guadalajara. During the years he lived in San Sebastian, he recognizes that he would have liked to have a volunteer activities experience in the months of July or August, but he did not find the opportunity.

That's why this summer he took advantage of his vacation to travel with Tantaka to Leganga (Tanzania) and collaborate in the projects developed there by the Rafiki Foundation to improve the health, Education and quality of life of the local population. In addition, there he met other young people, including Tecnun students like Nico Martinez de Urbina.

Biante never had a specific volunteer activities in mind; his experience was born from the conviction that he wanted to help others, "no matter how much I have worked or accomplished, I have always had opportunities and that makes me want to help people in more complicated situations". On September 5, he flew to Leganga, in northeastern Tanzania, and settled into one of the bunk beds that the Rafiki Foundation offers to those who come to collaborate.

Day to day

During that month, Biante went three days a week to the Blue Sky School high school and two days a week to Rafiki's health center. Both were an hour's walk from the accommodation and in opposite directions, so the Monday to Friday routine was a strain. At the primary high school , he took care of the electrical installation and repaired five computers so that the children could use the computer conference room . At the health center, he ordered medicines and equipment and installed a computer program to facilitate the daily work .

In his free time during the week, the young Tecnun alumnus and former resident of the high school Mayor Ayete visited elderly and sick people who were unable to leave their homes. He was accompanied by doctors and nurses to identify the mobility needs of these people in their homes. Biante remembers Maria with special affection, a grandmother who crawled on the floor and was offered a wheelchair. However, over time they realized that this resource was not useful to her, because most of the household chores - such as cooking - were done on the pavement of her home. "We acted as carpenters and, with a board and four movable wheels, we were able to stop him crawling as he had been doing for years.

The people in charge of Rafiki in Leganga thanked Guido for his stay and, a few days later, wrote to him via WhatsApp encouraging him to return. The people at the high school, the hospital and every home where he stayed were more than satisfied, and undoubtedly one of the keys was his ability to integrate. His phrase "I didn't go for tourism, I went to be one more among them" is an example and a learning experience for those who travel to other countries to carry out volunteer activities and service to others.

Thus, once again, the young man of Argentinean origin proved that in volunteer activities the one who receives the most is the one who is going to help. Biante, "far from imposing the European culture and our way of doing things", let himself be surprised and discovered a different, more relaxed way of living, which he now applies in his daily life in Spain.