Xavier Sureda, volunteer and always ready to help

Today, we want you to meet another member of the Mumbai Smiles volunteer team, who is a lover of the audio-visual world and have edited many of those videos which are published on the web and social networks. Do you want to know how he found out about Mumbai Smiles? Let’s see what he has to share with us!

My name is Xavier Sureda, I live in a town near Barcelona called Vallromanes, with my wife and 3 children. I am a journalist and I dedicate myself to the audio-visual world making videos of all kinds with a special focus on social documentaries. I like to travel, a seed planted by my parents that has taken me to incredible places in the world and to meet exceptional people like Jaume. I met him in Mumbai in 2006 when Mumbai Smiles had started taking its first steps, and  I can proudly say that the first images that were captured that of the orphanage in Mumbai were filmed by me, something for which I feel very grateful. I also like movies, music and sports, which are like vitamins for me.

Since when have you collaborated with Mumbai Smiles and what is your work?

As a member, I have collaborated with Mumbai smiles since the NGO began in 2005. As a volunteer I have started recently, since mid-2021 I have been helping with the editing of the videos that are being sent to the members each month. It was a pleasure to meet part of the magnificent team of volunteers from Barcelona at Christmas lunch.

How did you find out about the organization and what led you to become a volunteer?

In 2006, after finishing journalism, I decided to travel to India with a friend from university, but in the end he couldn’t come and I went alone, so I contacted Lluís and Sílvia through the magnificent Altaïr bookstore, an exemplary couple who were traveling those same dates to Mumbai with the NGO Asaara, to create an orphanage for street girls. They were the ones who took me one day to meet a friend of theirs who was starting a project called Mumbai Smiles. As a good recently graduated journalist, I took my video camera and Jaume asked me if he could record some images of the orphanage. Since that day I have contributed my grain of sand to this project that has reached an admirable dimension.

Would you like to travel to Mumbai again to get a closer look at the Mumbai Smiles projects?

I would love to return to Mumbai and see first-hand each of the projects that are being carried out. A few years ago I spent 5 weeks making a video for an NGO in Cameroon and it would be a pleasure to be able to do something similar in India with Mumbai Smiles.

A message for those people who have not yet decided to take the step of collaborating with Mumbai Smiles:

I would simply encourage them to read Jaume’s first book in which he explains his story, and I would tell them that volunteering is a must for any NGO. And that each one can contribute at many levels and with the dedication that they can. In this crazy world you have to find moments and spaces where you can give without expecting anything in return, beyond the well-being, it is good to know that you are helping someone.

A hug to all of you.

You don’t know the pride and gratitude we feel at Mumbai Smiles every time we can share an experience as beautiful as Xavier’s: a million thanks for everything 🙂