Universidad Europea de Madrid

Yaiza Salmerón Ramos is studying for a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and Commercial Management at the La Moraleja campus of Universidad Europea de Madrid. Yaiza spent three weeks as a volunteer in India (Tiruchirapalli) through Fundación de la Esperanza y la Alegría, (“Hope and Happiness Foundation”), where she went to work in an orphanage housing 150 children. Here are some of her comments about her experience with this worthy cause:

"I have always been attracted to the idea of putting everything I had into a volunteer assignment in exchange for thousands of smiles, since what you give isn’t even half of what they give back to you through their smiles and signs of happiness. This is what makes the work deeply gratifying and gives you the energy and desire to do more."

"My objective at the orphanage was to make all of the children happy and put smiles on as many of their faces as I could during my stay there. I did this by playing with them whenever they were able to and by making them the focus of my attention and affection."

"This experience has helped me to learn about other cultures, ways of life, religions, customs and so on. The most important thing is that it has allowed me grow as a person. It makes you realize how well off we are here, and you learn to appreciate everything you have which most people from these countries do not have access to. It has made me very happy to see that by giving so little we can make thousands of people smile."

"This is an experience that I would recommend to everyone as it enriches you as a person. I would do it again without a second thought, since it gives you something that is very difficult to describe until you have experienced it for yourself"

Yaiza Salmerón, a student in the School of Business and Law