The principle of receiving is giving.
In most cases, it’s about getting “fast money” for ourselves rather than being more engaged in activities that will bring change to our communities. But I tell you what? There is more satisfaction, life-changing experiences, and fun in volunteering.
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| Alice and I just wanna change the world |
My career journey has been built around volunteering right after high school at International organisations, and I can’t even begin to tell you how open-minded it has made me by just learning new things daily, building and redefining myself, meeting new people, and above all, how it opens great opportunities.
One thing I wholeheartedly believe in is volunteering, which is no doubt a means of getting oneself experienced, skilled, and prepared for the world, be it the workplace, school, or community where you find yourself.
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Normally, everyone knows that there is engagement between the volunteers and their communities or beneficiaries, and they see how fun it is when they see pictures of smiley volunteers and happy children being attended to. |
They also know that volunteers and their organisations have had good results, met their targets, and made an impact. However, it is quite important to the volunteers and us to know what it all entails, what goes into it, and who makes what happen. Let’s talk about a few, shall we?
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A very interesting issue is people and conflict management. An important aspect of volunteering is managing conflicts and how each volunteer is willing or unwilling to understand or agree to disagree with each other just to get work done. This gives you the opportunity to know how people think and boost your intercultural relationships. |
Volunteers do lots of hard work since they serve wholeheartedly. You have to give your best and work hard to see the real change that you signed up for. My counterparts and I had to do lots of research, meet deadlines, and engage with communities and enterprises to achieve or reach our team’s goals. This, however, sharpens and shapes you during and after your volunteer period.
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| Volunteers and beneficiaries playing Volleyball ,net out of sachet water |
Planning, paperwork, and emails or documentation are essential when it comes to volunteer work. You need to do most of the planning and paper work for your community or enterprise from the start by yourselves and keep communication on point via emails to make work easier and more up-to-task. Documenting everything that happens is equally essential for measuring impact, how far you have come, where you’re going, and for accountability to donors and beneficiaries alike.
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| Younger me tackling volunteer tasks |
Failure and disappointment should be expected of every volunteer once they have signed up. Not all you do is going to be appreciated by your community, and not everything will go as planned. My counterpart and I had lots of issues with our enterprise owner when it came to gathering data. Along the way, we had to drop that business owner and join a new one. That did not stop us from providing continuous service, even though deep within us we thought we had failed our organisation and were pretty disappointed in ourselves.
Let's check out what people literally see and don’t see when it comes to the importance of volunteerism. Whether it’s at your local community, work, school, or religious entity, volunteering your time and skills is one of the best things you could do once in a while.
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Here are some benefits of volunteering:
You get to meet new people and inter-culturally engage with different people.
It improves your networking skills and open-mindedness on how to approach things
Wherever you find yourself, your way of communicating is on point because you now know how to deal with all kinds of people with different backgrounds thanks to volunteering.
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It keeps you busy. When you volunteer in your free time, it makes you look busy, and you actually get to invest your time in learning new skills. |
It comes in very handy for the future, as it boots your CV and other skill sets you get to bring to the table for your future endeavours.
It rebrands your personality and helps you explore life in a different way. For instance, when you engage in the community, you get to experience a whole new transition in how other people live, and you get to appreciate life more.
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I am hoping to spend more time volunteering at brands and communities. It has become a part of me, and I will keep doing it whenever the need arises and I have time to indulge.
If you have some time to offer, kindly consider volunteering at Vintega by signing up for my community.
Thanks for reading
Awonlieh.
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