In our previous article we discussed why people decided to do volunteering work and there are a lot of reasons. We’ve covered learning new skills, being devoted to a cause, feeling empathy with others, experience abroad, meeting foreigners and experiencing their lifestyles from within their communities, working with animals, giving something back to the world, supplementing travel experiences, personal growth, compassion, discounts, feeling good about one’s self, experiencing gratitude and making new friends but there’s more…
There are so many new things to learn, like, how Eastern Europeans greet their friends and family or what Mexicans eat for breakfast and what games Tanzanians like to play over a hot drink. It is worth hanging around and testing out the experiences that these places have to offer, like learning to dance around a tribal fire or rub noses with a Maori.
Skills and experience are there to be benefitted from in a huge range of fields of work. It is no longer a venture only to be enjoyed by people with medical, agricultural, biological and construction degrees and diplomas. These days there are many more positions available including web design, marketing and politics (just to name a few examples).
Having the opportunity to learn a new language is another reason why people may decide to do some voluntary work. It will massively develop your skills in language. Being thrown into real life situations where you have no choice but to learn how to speak the local tongue is probably the best way to learn. Especially when English is not the main language and you find yourself trying to learn their language 90 percent of the time as opposed to spending a few hours a week learning something in a classroom. When you’ve got extra languages under your belt, a whole lot of new jobs open up for you. International trade and communication is growing more every day and business need employees who can bridge the gap for them so it always looks and works great on a CV. Not just when job hunting but very much so in travelling situations when you’re out and about in the world. Extra languages can give the ability to speak with millions more people.
Getting a job is a very real need and reason why people turn to voluntary work. In many cases a voluntary employee who proves their competence can be offered a paying job going forward. Spending time in a position voluntarily shows a sign of the employee’s passion and commitment to that job.
And last, but not least, a great reason to do voluntary work is for the sake of having fun! The work can be difficult, emotional, strenuous and dirty but it is usually great fun and always extremely rewarding. Playing with children, experiencing local markets, dancing to local music, hiking, swimming, tasting new flavours. Whatever the reason you choose to volunteer, you will have fun while you’re there.