O testemunho final da Clara (SPEAK)

 “Tu nunca seria quem és hoje se nao tivesses passado pelo que passaste”.

There are many things that this ESC year taught me, and this is one of them: “You would never be who you are today if you had not gone through what you went through”.

Tomorrow I will celebrate my first year in Portugal and I will start a new chapter of my life. 

This year has been ‘intense’. There are many adjectives and nouns I could use to describe it but I believe that one of the words I would first use is “grateful”. I am grateful for what I have been living, for the possibility I was given, for the new experiences, for the new “family” and for much more. I am also grateful because I learned how to be grateful for every single day I lived here. 

Looking back I see a year full of new adventures.

Thanks to the ESC project I met so many people. Lisbon is a lively city and getting new friends is definitely not a “big deal”, but finding a “family” was surprising. Co-living with other volunteers was the key to getting to know people that I know will be part of my life forever. 

Meeting new volunteers from SPIN and from other organizations and understanding how similar and how much we share even if we are from different countries, that was incredible! I shared many good moments with all of them and I will bring all those memories with me.

SPEAK has played an important role in my life here. SPEAK has not only been my hosting organization, it was and it is a family to me. I learned a lot and developed new skills, but most of all I grew a lot. After all these months working for them, I am really motivated to keep having SPEAK in my life. I believe this project should spread more around the globe and that more people could access it. Also, I learned what it means to work for a social business and now more than ever I believe that I would like to spend many more years of my life dedicating time to projects like this one. 

Summing up, Portugal gave me a lot. I discovered a lot about myself. I had the possibility to start over and to make this place my new home. Every experience I had left me something I will never forget. I simply fell in love with this city. I love it so much that I decided to stay here. Portugal 2.0 is coming and I am looking forward to it! 

As they would say here: Boa sorte Clarinha!