Volunteering

I suppose everyone knows the meaning of the term “volunteering”. Let me explain what it means to me. Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity and is intended to promote goodness or improve human quality of life. There is no financial gain involved for the individual.

In this article I will try to explain why volunteering is increasingly becoming a popular leisure activity nowadays. We do not get paid for it, but more and more people are eager to participate in this process. Some even drop out of school, career, leave their homes. Because we get something more in return.

I was a volunteer three times in my life. The first 2 times I did not leave the city. It was new and interesting experience. In one week, I met more people than in one year. So the first thing that volunteering gave me - great source of meeting people and making connections. We get this bonus if we are involved even in small projects.

The next thing that can happen to you if you decide to be a volunteer - unique unexpected travel adventures. The third time I travelled to the Maldives. I came as a volunteer and I learned many wonderful things that I never would have known without volunteering. Even if I had visited these amazing islands, it would have been as a tourist. Coming back home, I would have brought a standard set of photos, a standard set of impressions and a standard set of stories. What did I bring? Unique experience, impression of the country from the inside, familiarity with local residents and the islands, where entrance is prohibited to ordinary tourists, and hundreds of unique stories.

And finally my favorite and the most important clause – feeling of freedom and satisfaction of life, feeling that you do something important. Let’s think for a while. We are working in jobs we hate to buy stuff we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people enraged us. We believe that “normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day, so, you can afford to live in it.” (Ellen Goodman)

Let me ask you a few questions. Do our jobs provide something important? Are we happy? Are we satisfied with our lives?

I agree that volunteering, in essence, is work for free. However, since we are working far away from our homes and countries food and shelter are provided. A good thing that comes with volunteering is it gives us the chance to visit a foreign country and see how the locals live and what problems they face. In addition, there is no boss, at least not in the traditional way, so there is no one to spoil our mood or ruin our day or life in general. Those advantages are what a lot amongst us look for in a regular job, isn’t it??

Next, if you decided to work for free in other countries (some of you even left a house and gave up a high-paying job), it means you are really interested in what you are doing. Being a volunteer you do not need to absorb guides for time management and self-motivation, you are already motivated, because the project you are doing is very important for you. Also I can add that you are in a group of people, who share the same interests with you. You all came to a foreign country to do the same job, so, definitely, you all have something in common.

According to our nature all of us are lazy creatures. And if we have free time, we try to hold it passively. For example, we would rather have a cup of coffee in the living room while watching TV or go to the cinema or a restaurant then do some physical activities. Yes, by doing these things we get a certain pleasure. But who has ever tried to help someone or something for free, or cheer up somebody, or save an endangered species of plants or animals, or just sweep the area in front of the house, this person knows that this excitement and pleasure does not fade with age.