How extraordinary is volunteering? Abroad or in our own country it doesn’t matter.. You know that you are doing something good in the world and you feel enthusiastic..
I remember my interview with Hope For Children..my anxiety and happiness when I met the other volunteers with whom I supposed to spend one year. The arrival in October at night, the card game to choose the room (I obviously lost ^^’), the first delivery dinner with rice and vegetables.
The first days in the office… understanding how the printer works is the first step. To get to the heart of the atmosphere we attended the Transnational Forum Event with specific tasks. Our coordinators trained us with the “learning by doing” philosophy that now – in my humble opinion – I can say has worked very well with us.
My volunteering at Hope For Children is a work behind the scenes. Everyone sees the results, they see the smile of the children, the pictures or even they participate at the events. But many of these things wouldn’t have happened if someone hadn’t been preparing the field. This is what happens in the office. Do you think it’s just about filling the paperwork the right way?.. no honey.. Working in these kind of offices means much more. It means having a dream, starting researches to find someone around Europe with the same dream but perhaps with different tools or skills, putting the pen on paper and writing the dream as a proposal to ask for funds. Waiting months for the response… But finally, if the response is positive, it’s time to start building your dream concretely. Do you think it ended here? No, obviously…
Now it is time to coordinate, report, manage people and money, pay attention that everything goes the right way and on time. And if not, find an alternative way to make it possible. Needs more creativity in a project management office than in front of a canvas.
Even though I haven’t had the chance to work on all the aspects that are around a project, attending the office meeting is a way to understand further steps, common mistakes and how avoid them.
I learnt and I am still learning a lot in the Research and Development Department at Hope For Children. Here I understand who I would like to become and I have the opportunity to try to be someone I can be proud of one day…
