Volunteer Interview: Sarai Adriana Vélez Ramírez

Sarai Adriana Vélez Ramírez is originally from Mexico. Before coming to the Netherlands, she also lived for several years in India. Her life has been shaped by different countries, cultures and quite a few professional reinventions. She moved to The Hague in October 2022 as an accompanying partner. She arrived excited about this new chapter, but she quickly discovered that building a life somewhere new is about much more than unpacking your suitcases. You have to find your community, understand a new culture and, sometimes, rediscover who you are professionally. Volunteering became a very important part of that process for her.

Which organisation do you volunteer for? What is their mission?

I volunteer for ACCESS, which has been supporting internationals in the Netherlands for 40 years. Their mission is very close to my heart because I understand the experience of the people they support. Moving abroad can be wonderful, but it can also be lonely and overwhelming. Suddenly you have questions about things you never had to think about before, and even very capable people can feel completely lost.

ACCESS helps internationals find reliable information, support and connection while they build their lives here. I think there is something very powerful about internationals who have found their way helping those who are still finding theirs.

I discovered them in November 2023. At the time, I was struggling to find a job. I had arrived with years of professional experience, but because my background was multidisciplinary, I didn't seem to fit neatly into the boxes employers were looking for. So I began looking at volunteering opportunities. Not only as something meaningful I could do while searching for work, but as somewhere I could use my skills, keep learning and hopefully rebuild some of the confidence I had lost.That eventually led me to the Volunteer the Hague Mix & Match Volunteer Job Fair and then to ACCESS.

 Photo credit: Sarai Adriana Vélez Ramírez

What volunteer role do you have and what tasks do you perform?

I became ACCESS's volunteer Social Media Manager in November 2023, despite having no formal digital marketing experience at the time. The role requires around 8 hours per week, but when I started, I chose to dedicate closer to 20 because I wanted to learn as much as possible and give the opportunity everything I had. Today, I dedicate around eight hours per week.

I manage our presence across LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, including strategy, content calendars, campaigns, scheduling and performance analysis. I learned the technical skills along the way. I discovered that many of the skills I needed most such as curiosity, creativity, adaptability, and determination, were already there.

What were your goals when you started volunteering for them?

I wanted to feel useful again. That sounds very simple, but at that moment it meant a lot to me. When you have worked your entire adult life and suddenly find yourself sending application after application without anyone giving you a chance, it can slowly affect how you see yourself.

I wanted to learn and gain experience, of course. But more than anything, I think I needed somewhere where I could contribute again. ACCESS gave me that.

What do you currently enjoy about volunteering?

I started volunteering hoping to gain experience, keep learning and feel useful while looking for a job, but I found much more than that. I love knowing that our work has a purpose: behind every post there might be someone who has just arrived in the Netherlands looking for information, support or a sense of belonging.

What I value most are the people. Many of those I met through ACCESS have become some of my closest friends, and ACCESS became part of my community when I was still trying to build one.

Some of them believed in me at a time when I was struggling to believe in myself, and that is something I will always carry with me.

What do you find challenging?

One of the biggest challenges of managing social media for an NGO is balancing limited financial resources with sometimes very high expectations, particularly from external parties.

I strongly believe that supporting an NGO should come from believing in its mission, rather than from expecting something in return. NGOs simply don't have the same resources as commercial organisations.

Another challenge is helping people understand that social media is not only about selling something. For an NGO, it is a way to make its mission visible and reach the people who need its support.

What is typical of your own culture (values, mindset) that you bring to your volunteer role? 

Warmth. In Mexico, relationships matter enormously. We connect through conversations, stories, humour and genuine interest in other people. I think that follows me into my work.

Even when I am thinking about strategy or analytics, I never forget that there is a human being on the other side of the screen. That is probably why storytelling became such an important part of the way I communicate. I am always looking for the person behind the information.

Anything that pleasantly surprised you about how things are done by your Dutch colleagues or recipients of your volunteer services?

What surprised me is that, despite living in such an international country, they can still be driven by stereotypes and assumptions about other cultures.

I appreciate their directness, but I think they still have a lot to learn about customer service, small talk and different ways of seeing life. When working with internationals, they also need to understand that their way of communicating will not always be well received. Sometimes they need to adapt too. Finding that middle point is, for me, the best scenario.

Have you ever learnt something from volunteering that became useful for your studies or paid work? 

I think the biggest thing I learned was something about myself. Before ACCESS, my career looked disconnected even to me. I had been a veterinarian, a translator and a fraud investigator. Then suddenly I wanted to work in social media. For a long time, I thought every change meant I was starting again. ACCESS helped me realise that I wasn't.

I brought research from veterinary medicine, language and cultural understanding from translation, analytical thinking from fraud investigation and creativity from many other parts of my life. Social media simply became the place where all those pieces finally made sense together. The experience gave me the confidence to start AMARA Digital Solutions and build my own clients. 

In 2026, after almost 4 years and more than 500 job applications, I became a Social Media & Digital Content Specialist at The British School in the Netherlands.

ACCESS gave me the opportunity to prove to myself that I was still capable.

Sarai Adriana Vélez Ramírez with ACCESS's Executive Director Deborah Valentine 

Photo credit: Vinita Salomé Photography

What piece of advice would you give to people who are considering volunteering?

Don't underestimate what volunteering can give you, especially if you are rebuilding your life in a new country.

When I started, I thought I needed Dutch experience and something to fill a gap in my CV. What I actually needed was confidence, community and an opportunity.

So find something you genuinely care about. Bring the skills you already have, even if they don't seem to fit perfectly, and be open to discovering abilities you didn't know were there.

And please don't assume that because your career has paused, changed direction or looks different after relocation, you have somehow lost everything you were before. You haven't. I walked into a Volunteer Fair in November 2023 at a time when I was questioning whether I still had something valuable to offer. ACCESS gave me the space to find the answer for myself.