Dinners of Juventude

For those who might not know, the Youth department of Red Cross Portugal in Braga is working since 2005. Well, Red Cross of Portugal is working for already 150 years, but I still think that for the Youth department is already pretty great amount of years. Why am I talking about years? Because with years comes traditions.

Today I want to tell you about one really great tradition that exists in Juventude – Monthly dinners.

Families from time to time gather together to have a meal, talk with people that might not have seen for a while, or just enjoy a lovely company. Juventude also does the same. Every first Wednesday of the month normally during the day you can already notice that something is strange. Normally, because in the second part of the day the office becomes more and more crowded.

Sometimes I even forget how many people are in Juventude, but on the day of the dinner it’s really easy to remember that. All the corners of the office fill up with smiling faces. Some look like it’s been years since the last time they saw each other and cannot stop talking and sharing all the things that had happened during that time. Others are already planning the next dinner. And of course there is still someone who has to work, but of course at that moment the motivation is not the highest of them all.

And then the moment comes. Everybody leaves Juventude and goes for a family dinner. Normally, the dinner is in the restaurant next to the Juventude, probably because of this, everybody starts to gather around way earlier.

When everybody is finally seated the dinner starts. Of course, as normally there are like 30 people or more on the dinner after the main meal, or even just after soup, the rotation party begins. Everybody wants to talk to everybody, for this reason the seats are changed, but conversations continues.

I remember my first dinner. We, the new EVS volunteers, had to make a presentation about ourselves for the people to know where they can use us, and after we had a dinner. It was my first week there, and of course I didn’t already know anyone, but it was really amazing. During the dinner, some people already started coming to me, with ideas where I could be a help, and I already started to feel like a part of a big family.

 Traditions are good. They make you feel like a part of something. And this dinner tradition makes you feel like a part of a family, even if you are far away from your real family!

Gi