The project "Rural Engagement "(activities : 4th September 2014 to 4th June 2015) took place in Cabeça Gorda, a small village in Alentejo region , in Portugal, and involved two volunteers from Spain and France. The volunteers were responsible for the development of leisure, educative and creative activities for children and youngsters in the Host Organization "Carpe Diem na Aldeia", a youth association. As it is common in an EVS project non-formal education methodologies were the main core of the activities and learning objetives. The main reason for us to bring EVS volunteers into the project of Carpe Diem was to maximize and improve the work of the association for the local children. It is important for the Association to involve disadvantaged people on an effective way (for example, there is almost nothing in the village for teenagers’ leisure and specifically not for girls) and the volunteers can indeed bring new ideas and activities and become also friends with the local youth. For the volunteers, this projects intends to give them the opportunity to experience a volunteering project in a village and to understand both the challenges and benefits of rural life and strong community cohesion. For the children the presence of the volunteers meant having trustful older friends that take care of you and support you with judging you and your life story.