A volunteer can apply their efforts in many areas of life
Any person who is ready to do socially significant work for free can become a volunteer. This can include helping the disabled, restoring castles in Europe, working with children in youth centers, helping organize festivals, and much more. Every year, many young people go to Europe, Africa, Asia, and other corners of the world, where they live side by side with other young people throughout the project, communicate in a foreign language, and do good deeds.
All expenses for accommodation and meals are covered by the host organization. So all you need is to buy a ticket to get to your volunteer project. Unfortunately, not many people dare to take on such an adventure, as they think: will it work out or not, what if it is difficult, I won't find common ground with other people in the project, my English is bad, etc. The example of one person can truly inspire you to take a step toward something new and adventurous.
I would like to tell you about one amazing person who lives in Romania, whom I met while participating in one of the volunteer projects. I came to Austria, where my volunteer camp was held. Among the other volunteers was a woman in a wheelchair, who lost the ability to walk independently at a young age due to a terrible accident. Despite all the difficulties, she managed to come to Austria and took part in the work as much as she could alongside the other volunteers.
I managed to quickly find common ground with her because I once lived in Moldova, which is near Romania, and the languages of these countries are almost identical. She was very surprised to learn where I am from. We could chat for a long time on a variety of topics. As it turned out later, she leads an active lifestyle, participates in various volunteer programs across Europe, teaches English to children in her city, and during all the time I spent with her, I never once heard her complain or be dissatisfied with anything. I think her resilience and determination are truly enviable.
Quite recently, I contacted her to find out how she was doing and also to boast that I started learning Italian (this year I will participate in three volunteer projects in Italy). It turned out that in the few years since our joint project in Austria, she has managed to visit Spain, Italy, and several other countries as a volunteer, and this year she wants to go to Switzerland. And since I was in Switzerland for a volunteer program at a center for emigrants where we organized activities for children, I was able to share useful information with her and also gave her a link to a blog about volunteering that has articles about my experience in Switzerland. For her, this is a very good option because, in addition to active games, children are also happy to play games that do not require much movement.
I hope the experience of this wonderful person from distant Romania inspires you not to despair but to start acting and creating. Therefore, if you want to learn how to become a volunteer, just do any good deed without personal gain – this is exactly the concept that underlies this global movement.