Latvian woman spends eight months volunteering on the Greek island of Lefkada
A young woman from Latvia spent eight months as a volunteer on the Greek island of Lefkada, forming friendships with young people from across Europe while living on a tight budget and learning a slower pace of life.
The day after her last day of work in Latvia, a young woman flew to Lefkada, a Greek island, on December 2nd to begin a volunteering placement. Her first evening there was bleak — rain, empty narrow streets, and silence in the volunteer house, where she was greeted only by an 18-year-old Romanian named Rahela, who at first seemed closed off and spoke little.
A bond between the two formed unexpectedly one evening when Rahela came home with the cheapest red wine available, poured it into tea mugs, and offered to teach her chess. That moment marked the start of a close friendship that, over the following eight months, was filled with shared work and travel.
A growing circle of friends
Over time, other young volunteers joined the house — Maella and Maksims from France, Paula and Lucas from Spain, and Elly from Germany. Together they worked and also hitchhiked around the island to explore it, despite limited finances — volunteers received roughly 360 euros per month.
The money often wasn't enough to cover everything. The author recalls that there was usually enough for pasta but rarely enough for fuel, and at one point by the end of a month she was left with just two euros in her account, which she spent on cookies. Despite the tight budget, the group tried to make the most of opportunities to travel around the island.
A slower pace of life
Time spent with locals taught her to appreciate a slower rhythm of life. Greeks tend to linger for long periods in cafés, drinking black coffee, talking and smoking cigarette after cigarette, and they smoke in cars too — but almost always offer one to the volunteers as well. The local attitude toward daily life left the impression that each day is lived as if it were the last.
