Volunteering. Something many of us are required to do while in high school or college.
While initially, it may seem like a drag, volunteering can have as much of an impact on you as on the people you are helping. I was assigned to volunteer at a community center/ daycare while I was in high school. I was not expecting much.
I was expecting to see a bunch of toddlers going through a normal school day learning their letters and numbers. I thought that maybe I would help them do crafts and clean up any goo they might have gotten on themselves. While this is indeed what happened, there was so much more that transpired on my typical Wednesday at the community center. I soon found myself attached to the children and trying to make a meaningful and long-lasting impact.
Some of the worries I had before arriving at the community center included being able to understand toddler talk, being able to control ill-behaved children, and making a meaningful difference for them.
As much as I love children, I do not seem to have that motherly ability to derive a coherent sentence from baby blabbing. If I wanted to make a difference, I would first have to understand the children. This worried me greatly. Another weakness I feared I would have is the incapability to properly handle poorly behaved children.
The thing I feared the most, however, was leaving the community center at the end of the second quarter and not leaving it better than when I found it. This was all uncharted territory for me and in addition to my excitement, I had many questions and worries.
One of the many highlights of my six weeks of service was connecting to one of the little boys. Being a primarily Spanish-speaking child in an English-speaking school posed some unique challenges for him. He understands a lot of English but responds to instructions more efficiently when given in Spanish.
After learning this, I spoke to him in Spanish for a while. After realizing I could speak some Spanish, I was his best friend. He took me with him everywhere. I spoke to him in both languages because it seemed that he had to become more immersed in English, but on the other hand was very comfortable with Spanish.
It was a relationship I had never had before. Only a few other children in the school could also speak Spanish, so it is understandable as to why he latched onto me.
In my experience with volunteering, I have gained wisdom and had the opportunity to make numerous observations about myself and the world around me. One of the things that struck me the most was the simple innocence of the children.
Regardless of home life, these children are the happiest they could possibly be. Because they do not have a true understanding of what is going on, everything is perfect to them and they couldn’t be happier. If everyone had the same attitude as these children, the world would be so much of a better place.
I learned that I excel at reading story books in a fun and entertaining way as well as being able to get down to the children's’ level and play with them as if I were one of their peers.
My advice to anyone who wants to volunteer is to go in with the desire to make a positive impact. If someone serves here just for the sake of having a graduation requirement, they will not have a meaningful experience. Connect with the people and you may learn something about yourself. Find something there that you think can be improved and improve it.
Wherever you volunteer, leave it in a better state than when you arrived.
