On Volunteering & International Volunteer Day
December 5, 2015 was International Volunteer Day, which is part of a UN campaign to promote and recognize volunteer efforts around the globe. The idea is that volunteerism is vital to the success of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which if you know nothing about you should definitely visit their website. It has lots of nice infographics and colors and is easy to navigate and also is REALLY REALLY important. Pick one or two that you care about, and do things in your life that work towards those goals. We did an event with the NGO I'm working with right now - a day of community service where volunteers could participate in activities in various locations around the city. We also got tons of volunteers to participate in the #actioncounts selfie campaign promoting the event, which garnered some good attention for volunteerism and was generally just a fun thing to do. Working with this NGO has gotten me to thinking about my own motivations, and about volunteerism as an institution around the globe.
In El Salvador, the idea that I was a volunteer came with the assumption of wealth. It was understandable since a day without working for pay meant a day without dinner for the vast majority of my community, but the idea of voluntarily doing work for the good of the community was largely accepted and understood. The recent history of Civil War meant that most families and communities survived only by pooling their resources and helping each other. The war was against the government, so no one had any illusions that the government would provide anything for its citizens. I often struggled to get people to show up because a poverty based on subsistence agriculture and an economy based on remittances and meant either people had to work to survive, or were largely unconcerned with community woes because their own lives were relatively comfortable. No one was disdainful of volunteering, though. They built churches and houses together, helped at the school their children attended (albeit with a lot of grumbling), and most every community had an ADESCO, which is essentially a voluntary town council dedicated to community projects. How effective the ADESCOs are is a completely different can of worms, but the fact is that they exist as legal entities promoted by the government and accepted throughout the country as a generally positive force for community change.
Yesterday I was invited with my boss to support one of our volunteers who was talking to a small group of university students about volunteerism, what it means, and why they should do it. To give some background, volunteerism is a new concept in this country and is largely viewed as a negative thing. The idea is that people volunteer either because they have no good use for their time and can't get a job, or they are forced to participate in one-day environmental events. The idea of doing something without pay or an immediate prize is at once baffling and undervalued. I think it likely it's tied to Georgia's Soviet past because communism means everyone works, no one does more or less than their share, and the government provides. Volunteering is absolutely not a part of the system. The idea that we are all responsible for the country's success, and that giving when we have the resources to do it will help better the community as a whole and in turn benefit us and our own futures, is too broad to grasp. Now, Georgia is building itself a democracy and venturing into capitalism. It has its successes and struggles, one of which is that there are lots of young people with not enough to do, not enough opportunities, and not enough critical thinking skills.
As an organization, one of the overwhelming problems we face in promoting volunteerism (apart from the stigma) is that kids sign up but don't show up. I do not understand this at all. Is there a social science study that can tell me whether this is a common thing or if there's an underlying cultural reason for this phenomenon? Let me give you an example. We posted a sign-up sheet online for people to sign up to volunteer on International Volunteer Day, and got about 80 people who responded. From there, we called every single one the day before to confirm and give any last-minute details. Of course some dropped out when we called, which was to be expected. We still had about 70 volunteers who explicitly said yes. When it came time to volunteer, however, less than 15 of those who signed up and confirmed showed up. We had people we got involved just from proximity on the day of the event so we ended up with a good turnout regardless, but how does that happen? Why would you go through all the effort of signing up and confirming if you know you're not actually going to go? How does that benefit you at all? How can you blithely disregard all of the hard work that went into setting everything up and coordinating with organizations all over the city by bailing on us? I get that Georgia is trying to get its footing and become a thriving democratic society, but somewhere along the way many fell into believing that success is money and image is more important than action, like an instagram profile full of beautiful photos and thousands of friends and followers from someone whose reality is a dingy house, an abusive relationship, and has never left their own neighborhood. Basing your entire life on how you look to your facebook friends is unhealthy and unproductive. It reminds me of The Onion satire article about the girl whose Facebook forever changed when she visited Africa. I don't care that you signed up to volunteer. If you didn't come, it doesn't count.
My co-workers told me this happens all the time. But why? Is there no social conscience or sense of responsibility to follow through on something you commit to? Is it just that no one has led an activity where everyone bailed so they don't understand how it feels to be let down by others?
So I started to think about my experience volunteering. I thought about the one time I completely failed to follow through on my end of a project as part of a committee in college, and how I didn't want to look my fellow volunteers in the eye after that because I felt so guilty about saying I would be there and not doing it. The event was extremely successful, everything came together in the end and we all spent a lot of hours working leading up to and on the day of the event, but to this day I remember that I failed my group on a responsibility they gave me, and someone else had to do it for me. To this day I do not sign up for things I know I won't commit to fully because I know that others will commit and really care about the project. To this day when I do agree to a project or an activity, I think about that time I didn't follow through and vow to never do that to someone else again. When I commit to a project, to a committee, to a job, I follow through (or at least I try, and sometimes, let's be honest, I fail). I make sure I'm realistic, not the "yes" man. (s/o to Catherine and Emily, who did a role-playing training for Peace Corps trainees on the different types of people in a project and how to deal with them. You didn't think I'd remember all the trainings, but I totally do.)
But why do it at all? As I listened to the students talking, almost all of them older than me, I tried to map out my own perspective. This is what I came up with. Throughout my life I have had various roles with varying responsibilities, but I only had three reasons I volunteered:
1. To do something with like-minded people either that I care deeply about, or that they do.
2. To gain skills which I can use in my personal and professional life in the future.
3. To pay back for opportunities I was afforded in the past.
That was it. Volunteering feels fulfilling to me in a way that no job so far has. It is because it is something voluntary, something that I don't need to do but choose to do anyway because I care about it and the people who are involved, and because it is something I can give without losing something of myself. I hope I can make a career out of the things I would happily volunteer for, but that's not always possible or feasible. Peace Corps is the ultimate amalgamation of why I volunteer, which is why I had no doubts about doing it for three years of my life. I care about international development and helping communities break from cycles of dependency. I'm learning a ton about project design and management, grant writing, leadership, internal management, etc. from both Peace Corps itself and the people who surround me. I've been afforded a lot of opportunities by virtue of my birth in the US and my awesome family, and although I don't always love the way my country acts (especially seeing the news these days), I cannot deny that I owe my country a lot. There are many things I like about the US and many things I think we do well (and just as many that we could learn to do better from others), and that's what I'm trying to pay back and represent and do credit to to improve my own country as it has improved me.
No, I don't spend all of my free time volunteering. I don't even spend most of my time volunteering. I read and binge-watch YouTube and spend far too much time on the internet. I like to watch YouTubers like Hannah Hart, who undoubtedly has a heart of gold, and the Green brothers who are currently raising millions of dollars for charity with the Project for Awesome (which you should DEFINITELY check out and participate in because decreasing worldsuck is always a good thing) because they do things they love and inspire action in others. They, along with many others both living and dead, certainly inspire me. They also have created a really lovely online community. I'm not lording "goodness" over anyone. I care very little how others spend their time or money. I care whether I can live with myself at the end of the day.
New Books Read: 115
Total Books Read: 158
Recommendation: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngodize Adichie which, apart from having fantastic imagery and word choice, also is a really good look at American culture, race, and immigration from the perspective of a Nigerian woman living and blogging in the US for fifteen years who makes the decision to return to Nigeria.
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| Right now I really want to work more towards goal 5 and goal 10. What about you? |
Yesterday I was invited with my boss to support one of our volunteers who was talking to a small group of university students about volunteerism, what it means, and why they should do it. To give some background, volunteerism is a new concept in this country and is largely viewed as a negative thing. The idea is that people volunteer either because they have no good use for their time and can't get a job, or they are forced to participate in one-day environmental events. The idea of doing something without pay or an immediate prize is at once baffling and undervalued. I think it likely it's tied to Georgia's Soviet past because communism means everyone works, no one does more or less than their share, and the government provides. Volunteering is absolutely not a part of the system. The idea that we are all responsible for the country's success, and that giving when we have the resources to do it will help better the community as a whole and in turn benefit us and our own futures, is too broad to grasp. Now, Georgia is building itself a democracy and venturing into capitalism. It has its successes and struggles, one of which is that there are lots of young people with not enough to do, not enough opportunities, and not enough critical thinking skills.
As an organization, one of the overwhelming problems we face in promoting volunteerism (apart from the stigma) is that kids sign up but don't show up. I do not understand this at all. Is there a social science study that can tell me whether this is a common thing or if there's an underlying cultural reason for this phenomenon? Let me give you an example. We posted a sign-up sheet online for people to sign up to volunteer on International Volunteer Day, and got about 80 people who responded. From there, we called every single one the day before to confirm and give any last-minute details. Of course some dropped out when we called, which was to be expected. We still had about 70 volunteers who explicitly said yes. When it came time to volunteer, however, less than 15 of those who signed up and confirmed showed up. We had people we got involved just from proximity on the day of the event so we ended up with a good turnout regardless, but how does that happen? Why would you go through all the effort of signing up and confirming if you know you're not actually going to go? How does that benefit you at all? How can you blithely disregard all of the hard work that went into setting everything up and coordinating with organizations all over the city by bailing on us? I get that Georgia is trying to get its footing and become a thriving democratic society, but somewhere along the way many fell into believing that success is money and image is more important than action, like an instagram profile full of beautiful photos and thousands of friends and followers from someone whose reality is a dingy house, an abusive relationship, and has never left their own neighborhood. Basing your entire life on how you look to your facebook friends is unhealthy and unproductive. It reminds me of The Onion satire article about the girl whose Facebook forever changed when she visited Africa. I don't care that you signed up to volunteer. If you didn't come, it doesn't count.
My co-workers told me this happens all the time. But why? Is there no social conscience or sense of responsibility to follow through on something you commit to? Is it just that no one has led an activity where everyone bailed so they don't understand how it feels to be let down by others?
So I started to think about my experience volunteering. I thought about the one time I completely failed to follow through on my end of a project as part of a committee in college, and how I didn't want to look my fellow volunteers in the eye after that because I felt so guilty about saying I would be there and not doing it. The event was extremely successful, everything came together in the end and we all spent a lot of hours working leading up to and on the day of the event, but to this day I remember that I failed my group on a responsibility they gave me, and someone else had to do it for me. To this day I do not sign up for things I know I won't commit to fully because I know that others will commit and really care about the project. To this day when I do agree to a project or an activity, I think about that time I didn't follow through and vow to never do that to someone else again. When I commit to a project, to a committee, to a job, I follow through (or at least I try, and sometimes, let's be honest, I fail). I make sure I'm realistic, not the "yes" man. (s/o to Catherine and Emily, who did a role-playing training for Peace Corps trainees on the different types of people in a project and how to deal with them. You didn't think I'd remember all the trainings, but I totally do.)
But why do it at all? As I listened to the students talking, almost all of them older than me, I tried to map out my own perspective. This is what I came up with. Throughout my life I have had various roles with varying responsibilities, but I only had three reasons I volunteered:
1. To do something with like-minded people either that I care deeply about, or that they do.
2. To gain skills which I can use in my personal and professional life in the future.
3. To pay back for opportunities I was afforded in the past.
That was it. Volunteering feels fulfilling to me in a way that no job so far has. It is because it is something voluntary, something that I don't need to do but choose to do anyway because I care about it and the people who are involved, and because it is something I can give without losing something of myself. I hope I can make a career out of the things I would happily volunteer for, but that's not always possible or feasible. Peace Corps is the ultimate amalgamation of why I volunteer, which is why I had no doubts about doing it for three years of my life. I care about international development and helping communities break from cycles of dependency. I'm learning a ton about project design and management, grant writing, leadership, internal management, etc. from both Peace Corps itself and the people who surround me. I've been afforded a lot of opportunities by virtue of my birth in the US and my awesome family, and although I don't always love the way my country acts (especially seeing the news these days), I cannot deny that I owe my country a lot. There are many things I like about the US and many things I think we do well (and just as many that we could learn to do better from others), and that's what I'm trying to pay back and represent and do credit to to improve my own country as it has improved me.
No, I don't spend all of my free time volunteering. I don't even spend most of my time volunteering. I read and binge-watch YouTube and spend far too much time on the internet. I like to watch YouTubers like Hannah Hart, who undoubtedly has a heart of gold, and the Green brothers who are currently raising millions of dollars for charity with the Project for Awesome (which you should DEFINITELY check out and participate in because decreasing worldsuck is always a good thing) because they do things they love and inspire action in others. They, along with many others both living and dead, certainly inspire me. They also have created a really lovely online community. I'm not lording "goodness" over anyone. I care very little how others spend their time or money. I care whether I can live with myself at the end of the day.
New Books Read: 115
Total Books Read: 158
Recommendation: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngodize Adichie which, apart from having fantastic imagery and word choice, also is a really good look at American culture, race, and immigration from the perspective of a Nigerian woman living and blogging in the US for fifteen years who makes the decision to return to Nigeria.
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