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Tag: volunteering

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By kennatim

I have been eating a lot more fish here in Dublin. I have also been trying to do more swim workouts than usual. One of my goals in my study abroad experience has been to try new things and forge new habits. Most of the time, that involves immersing myself in some type of Irish culture. Swimming and fish are not exactly tied to Gaelic history, but nevertheless, engaging in different activities is overall what I came here for. That is why, when I received an out-of-the-blue, random email inviting me to teach retirees how to use computers, I was immediately interested.

The “Intergenerational Learning Programme” here at Dublin City University is a program that invites retirees (or “pensioners”) from the area to come to campus and receive free tutoring from students in anything from the basics of using a computer to how to trace your genealogy or write music using one. The program is sponsored by the Irish government and originated as a scheme to get older people to complete government services using the Internet.

I attended a short training session in our cozy classroom of nine PCs, which explained how many learners are on different levels of Internet proficiency. The volunteer coordinator established a schedule and explained the process. I have volunteer experience working with children, but never with adults. I was eager and a little nervous for the opportunity.

On our first day, we were matched with either one or two learners for the next four weeks. I was paired with two very nice ladies named Maura and Marie. They were friendly and eager to learn. Throughout our two hours, I taught them the bare basics: from turning the computer on, all the way to how to Google, use multiple tabs in Google Chrome, and save a Word document. Throughout the session, it was great to frequently hear them exclaim, “Oh, I always wanted to do that but didn’t know how!”

We talked about America and they gave me their recommendations on what to do while in Ireland. It amazed me how much we take for granted when using a computer: for example, when I asked them to go to the start menu, they asked where it was. They were here to learn, and I realized only someone who grew up on computers could know these things like second nature. It was a great practice of patience and understanding.

After leading a quick final review session, I promised we could work on using their personal laptops next week. They had very kind words about me for the volunteer coordinator, and remained very appreciative and eager to learn until the end. I knew it would feel good to help people out, but I had no idea that, as they say in Ireland, it would be such great craic (fun). I am happy that I continue to take the leap into trying new things because I have not had one regrettable experience yet. I am looking forward to my next seven sessions with Maura and Marie and watching them progress into computer wizards!

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By sjm510

From my time here, I’ve realized there’s a lot that the Irish and Americans can learn from one another. To begin, the US could most certainly learn from Ireland’s advanced recycling system. I’m still amazed that plastic film, plastic bags, styrofoam, and more can all be recycled together here. My involvement with Green GW inspired me to get involved here with UCD’s Environmental Society, Eco Soc. Eco Soc is only a year old, possibly because there are already such good environmental practices in place and not as much demand for an advocacy group like there was at GW. Green GW is 9 years old in comparison. Eco Soc has some really strong goals in place such as to participate in the Green Campus Programme, which encourages a partnership approach to environmental education, management, and action in third level institutions. While brainstorming ideas of how to bring sustainability to campus, they were very receptive to hearing about what worked with Green GW, such as encouraging students to sell and trade used items, trashion show, online surveys, working with administrators, etc. I look forward to staying involved with this group and hopefully helping them to implement strategies that worked well at GW.

I also recently got involved with UCD’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders. I’ve been involved with EWB at GW for the past year and find the differences between the two chapters interesting. At GW, most of what EWB does is in preparation for our compost latrine project in El Salvador. At UCD, they hope to soon set up a similar project. For now, however, they are focused on hosting workshops and volunteering events as a way to get students interested in sustainable development. I participated in their 3D printing workshop as well as a workshop held by Concern Worldwide. I look forward to imparting some ideas that worked well at GW onto UCD’s chapter and continuing to learn from them as well.

Finally, I also participated in a “soup run” this past week where a group of UCD students got together and walked around the streets of Dublin, offering food and tea to the homeless. I’ve never participated in something like it before, but it was an eye opening experience. Towards the end of the night, most of the homeless we approached let us know that we were the fourth or fifth soup run that had come through just that night. I know similar organizations exist in the United States, but I think it’s yet another show of the friendly nature and kind heartedness of the Irish people to see 20+ students in just our group alone giving up three hours of their night nearly every night to help others.

I’m excited to keep learning from the Irish as well as share some ideas of my own from back home. It’s a really unique opportunity to experience first hand the differences in student organizations at the two schools and I’m lucky to be in a position where I can offer guidance both to UCD organizations based on what has worked well at GW and to once I return home, to GW organizations based on what worked well at UCD.

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On September 3, I will have been in São Paulo, Brazil, for two months; August 28 marked 8 weeks--measure it however you want. I've been in classes for four weeks now, and the four weeks prior were for my Portuguese classes. It feels simultaneously like I've been here for ages, and like I just arrived yesterday. Some background on my time here: I'm here with the CIEE Liberal Arts program, which included a month-long summer session with intensive Language and Culture classes; since the beginning of August, I've been an exchange student in PUC, a private/Catholic university here in São Paulo. I'm living with a host family, although in my case, it's just one woman. She lives in a nice, residential neighborhood about a 30 minute walk from my school. Since classes started, that has been my main focus--I've been fully immersed in Brazilian home and academic culture. The overwhelming sensation since I've been here, that only grows stronger with time, is one of not being a visitor, but of truly living here.

This has its pros and its cons. At the beginning, I was very good about getting out and "experiencing" the city; I went to museums, I walked around neighborhoods, I did the suggested cultural activities that CIEE planned (they are, by the way, incredible about this). Recently, however, I had a crisis--I was not being cultural enough. I was not looking at art, going out to eat, exploring new neighborhoods, what have you. I sat down and I planned itineraries for myself of places I wanted to go, see, do--and have proceeded to do exactly none of them.

I had to think a lot about this, though. I came to Brazil to learn about Brazilian culture and, specifically, to understand the concept of development and community service in Brazil. My concentration in my International Affairs major is International Development and I study Anthropology as well, so here, I'm interested in understanding the work done by NGOs and non-profits in a range of contexts and the role that these play in the lives of Brazilians. In a broader sense, I want to understand the culture of Brazil, in all of its forms and manifestations. I thought that all of that looking at art, going out to eat, exploring new neighborhoods, and, especially, volunteering would be the way to go about this. Instead, I'm finding this to be an exercise in what culture is and where it manifests itself. It is immensely challenging for me, this new approach.

For example, even though I'm here very specifically to have a wide range of community service experiences, I have not started volunteering. But, as my friend pointed out, there is a cultural explanation for this. As opposed to the United States, where the basic unit of everything functional and cultural is the individual, the basic cultural unit here is the personal. It's a difficult concept to explain, but certain things form the base of Brazilian culture here, and none of them is the autonomous individual--instead, social ties form the base of Brazilian culture. All of this is to say, I have not started volunteering because even though people really care about the work that they do with their organizations, finding me, individually, a volunteer spot is not a priority; in other words, it's not about me, because Brazilian culture revolves around something bigger than an individual.

In this absence of volunteering, I've been spending my time doing other things that are also cultural at only more than a first glance. The three classes I'm taking here at my university--which is phenomenal, a very progressive and community-based space--have been incredible: The Sociology and Society of Brazil; Interamerican Politics; and Identities, Culture, and Tourism. My host mom is incredible, and has been so welcoming of me into her home and her extended family, allowing me to tag along to birthday parties, family dinners, soccer-game-viewings, everything. The food is incredible; although I rarely go out to eat in a formal sense of the word, food is everywhere and always very, very good. The bars are incredible--possibly because Brazil is so social, nightlife is very important and very central to the social life as a whole. The beach town that I went to in early August was incredible. The graffiti is incredible. And all of it, even if I have to think about it long and hard, is, in fact, cultural. The challenge, for me, lies in not becoming passive, not letting my time here slide by; I need to start volunteering and I do need to go look at art, walk around, all of that, but I also need to make sure that I'm really thinking about everything and understanding the culture that surrounds me every day.

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By heatherlgilbert

 I am back in South Korea where there is a growing effort to aid North Korean refugees. Refugees have been escaping North Korea since the height of North Korea’s famine in the 1990s. In 2013, US State Department estimated that 30,000 to 50,000 North Koreans have crossed the North Korean border to China, while other non-governmental organizations estimate the number is closer to 300,000. Escaping the North, however, is only one step in their process to freedom. Once the refugees have successfully crossed the border they must adopt to their new and vastly different environments. Working with these courageous survivors is an unforgettable opportunity.

In South Korea, there are several efforts to help North Korean refugees. One of these efforts includes the development of a school for North Korean child refugees. Appropriately named, Mulmangcho, or forget me not in Korean, this school takes in children to teach and care for during their difficult transition to life in South Korea.  Education is particularly important for these kids who lag behind their South Korean counterparts in their studies.

Most of the children, living and studying at the school, are orphans. The lucky ones have one parent but rarely both. Nevertheless, as the name of the school indicates, the children are not forgotten and on every Saturday, volunteers come to teach English.

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By heatherlgilbert

The Angel group at Yonsei University is a community service club that helps around Seoul. It has been a great honor getting to meet other like minded individuals who make a difference in the community.

This month, the Angel group cleaned local parks by picking up trash to preserve the environment. Although pickup trash is not the most exciting task, it must be done. Not only does cleaning areas create more community beauty, but it also prevents accidental deaths of animals. Preserving the environment as a very important task that I am happy to be a part of.

The Angel group will continue the environmental service throughout the spring and show great commitment to the venerable cause. I am very grateful to have met so many wonderful people on the trip and I look forward to seeing them again.

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By heatherlgilbert

The most valuable part of my experience in Korea is my wonderful home stay family. They have taught me so much and have given me an insider look at the everyday life of a typical korean family. Last weekend again, I was able to experience the local life by volunteering with my homestay mother at their church.

The third week of every month, the church holds a community service event for the elderly in the area to gather and eat together. The church provides all the food and the venue. Volunteers are responsible for preparing and serving the food and clean up.

Working side by side with other volunteers and talking to the elderly allowed me to understand new dimensions and problems facing Korean society. With the continual modernization and growth of Seoul, the government has supported the construction of many apartment complexes. While this supplies a greater number of living areas, it also displaces many of the elderly who lived in old houses.

Listening to locals and understanding their needs gives me a greater appreciation for my circumstances.

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By heatherlgilbert

My biggest advice for finding promising community service while traveling is simple; stay alert, be aware of your surroundings and go outside your comfort zone. By following these three simple guidelines my winter break was transformed from an outside tourist glimpse into an eye opening experience.

Community service can be found anywhere doing just about anything. During my winter break, as I traveled through Asia, I spent time participating in community service efforts in Cambodia. Traveling away from tourist areas to view another lifestyle and meet locals was the most valuable part of my trip.

My first blog is dedicated to the people I met in the floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. These incredibly strong and genuine people move three times a year, each move coinciding with the lake’s changing water level. They live a third of the year on the lakeshore, a third of the year in the center of the lake and another third close to the surrounding mountains. Income comes from one source, fishing. Most of my time on the lake was spent with the local children. Starting my first day, I brought a sack of rice and lollypops. As I handed them out to the kids they folded their arms across their chest and nodded before digging into the bag of treats. I learned that this gesture means thank you. Every moment I spent on Tonle Sap is unforgettable and now it is my turn to cross my arms and nod my head. Thank you.

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By Dominique Bonessi

They were waiting for three hours.

In Mafraq, just a 12 minute drive from the Syrian border, sitting in crowded oven-like room refugees--women, men, and children—needed clothes.

One-by-one they were escorted by a volunteer to the tables piled with lightly used pants, skirts, hijabs, shirts, shoes, and anything else the volunteers had collected.  The flee market was an organized system with a section for men, women, boys, girls, shoes, and bed sheets.  Many of the refugees were women picking up clothes for a family of two girls and two boys with a baby on the way.

I was working the hijab table, unfortunately, it was the smallest table in the flea market of clothes.  Each woman in the family was able to select a scarf, but we only had one box and a bag of hijabs.  After an hour we had to start turning women away looking for scarves.  Eventually, I gained the confidence to escort a few women to find clothing for their children and husbands.  Many of them just needed the essentials, which made me really rethink the amount of clothes and extra things I don’t need on a daily basis.

After two hours crowds were restless and started pushing on the makeshift barrier between the flea market and the waiting area for the refugees.  Women and men entered the store clenching small blue books given to them by the UN.  One volunteer explained to me that these books were to receive help and services by the local governorate of Jordan.

My volunteer experience was with a group of 50 engineering students from the University of Jordan devoting their labor day to serving the fellow Arabs.  These young college students from Amman who have everything at their finger-tips realize how fortunate they are with the ability to attend a university, have a roof over their heads, and clothes on their back.

Whoever said Arab pride and nationalism were dead has never seen a well-oiled machine quiet like this one.  The truth is, any day the shoe could be on the other foot—no pun intended—and it may be Syrians reaching out to Jordanians to supply clothes, food, or clean drinking water.  Syrians, Jordanians, Palestinians may be the places they comes from, but at heart they have a greater common denominator as Arabs.

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