Volunteering for who?

It’s hard to believe that I have been here for four months already. I had lived abroad before and also did so many volunteering projects with disadvantaged children before. However, I have never felt that I could actually ‘touch someone’s life, that dense. Here, in my project building communities through volunteering, I have the feeling that volunteering can change someone’s life.

Since high school, I have been volunteered in different associations and the experiences I have made me the person I am now. Volunteerism is a dialectical relationship and transforms while interacting on both sides. The aspect of life that we never had a chance to learn before, or already forgotten how to learn is taught us by the children. Having expectations is not an obstacle on the way of happiness, in fact making a smile on a child dispels all the expectations. It helps you how to have fewer expectations from life and live in the present.

Everyone has their own perspective of teaching and interacting with the kids. Some people do it in a serious-teacher way, some do it in a funny enjoyable way. Both ways are acceptable if you feel like yourself. There the question appears: Is this experience of EVS for the volunteer or only for the community? I believe it should be about the volunteer first, especially for the volunteers who work with the children. If a volunteer feels her/himself comfortable and happy in this experience, then she/he can express her/himself to the children and community as well. Let’s think vice versa, when the first thing is community; then volunteer puts her/himself in a back position which decreases the level of motivation and willingness. Children will lose their interest and motivation respectively. As long as the project loses children's interest, it would also cause losing sustainable goals. Which causes problems and communication issues among the participants in the environment. I greatly think that the balance between volunteers and the community can be established in an environment of respect and peace. When this peaceful environment is protected by the participants, the experience gets greater. Being with children during the day, teaching them in a way that you feel like yourself, enjoyably interacting with them, broaden their horizons and aspects through life is the most wonderful feeling that I have experienced during these four months in Romania. Whether it is too hard to achieve, it worth to try and I strongly recommend everyone to do volunteering in their local community or abroad.

Gul Ecem Cam – volunteer  in the project BCV - Building communities through volunteering - funded by ERASMUS +