Back in June, I wrote about my belief in volunteering and my daughter's upcoming trip to Ukraine. Through her experience, I remembered some of the most important reasons to volunteer....
Personal value is typically found in our ability to plan, produce, and succeed. We don’t start a project without the outcomes in mind; we don’t plan a trip without a budget outlined; we don’t embark on new ventures without knowing where we’re going and why. These measures enable us to avoid discomfort or failure - and often, to avoid discovery.
When my 17-yr-old daughter, Katie, left this summer to work in
Ukraine, she didn’t have a plan in place. She was unaware of any particular reason for going; and frankly, she didn’t care if that was right or wrong. When she was daunted by the money she was required to raise, she followed the advice of her mother and kept moving forward, believing, “what will be, will be.” Katie boarded the international flight with curiosity to motivate her, and waited for something - or nothing - to happen.
“I didn’t go to make a difference; I didn’t go to save anyone. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t even end up giving the Heimlich. Turns out, what I got out of it was way more than I put in...”
Mission to Ukraine
Mission to Ukraine is an indigenously run ministry that serves the Zhitomir region of Ukraine. It ministers to the most marginalized of Ukraine – the unborn and the disabled. Each summer, Mission to Ukraine, puts on a summer camp to provide a healthy and nurturing space for a group of disabled men and women, ages 13-35.
Katie’s team worked at this camp, providing the same routine each day to the campers: devotions, stretches, breakfast, activities, and so on.
“Nothing really changed,” Katie said after the trip. “If we weren’t there for the kids, another group probably would have been. We didn’t experience earth-shattering moments of life-change....we were just there. And I think it was that, just “being there” that mattered most.”
Through Katie, her trip to Ukraine, and the reflections she shared with me, I remembered some of the most important reasons to volunteer. Let me share them with you here:
How to Discover the Value of Volunteering:
Be Irresponsible.
Allow yourself to dive into volunteering without a plan. Who cares if the experience you choose is really the right one for you? If now is not the time for this particular volunteer venue, you’re free to try a different one, at a different time. The more open you are, the greater the opportunity for impact. As Katie shared with me, “I can’t quite describe the impact being with these kids had on me. It’s like trying to describe happiness to someone whose always been depressed. You have to experience it to understand it.”
Be unproductive.
As I mentioned earlier, productivity is where, as middle-class North Americans, we tend to find our value. Deliberately choosing not to produce is painfully counter-intuitive, but it may be the only way to discover that our value is in fact, innate. “I didn’t do anything lasting for the campers,” Katie shared with me. “I didn’t give them money or clothes or a way to cure their disabilities; I just showed up. And somehow, simply telling them through my actions, “I came to meet you in person” was enough for them to say to me, “I love you.” I realized....wow, I love you too.” When I pushed Katie to tell me why it wouldn’t have been better just to send Mission to Ukraine a large cheque, she said, “When you’re sick, what do you want? Love or money? Money never changed anybody for the better; what we need to make the world a better place is to give and receive love.”
Be dissatisfied.
Interacting with the world’s suffering doesn’t often leave us feeling good. Instead, we are left feeling guilty about the water gushing from the kitchen tap, or the warmth of our homes at night. Sometimes volunteering even conjures anger at our own ignorance or frustration toward the issues we can’t fix. These are good reactions. Dissatisfaction urges us toward continued action and discovery. Katie told me that her trip to Ukraine allowed her to find her motivation for volunteering in the first place. “Now I would go back because I know why it matters. The campers spoke to me right where I was; it was the right time for me to be there.”
It Takes a Village....
One more thing about Katie’s experience that made a huge difference to me? The way my online community (blog, facebook, and twitter connections) contributed financially to help enable her to go. I was amazed to see how many people believe in young people volunteering. Katie also expressed how surprised and grateful she was for the kindness of strangers. In her words, “There’s so much good in the world. Just because we don’t always see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”
Chris Jarvis & Angela Parker
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How to Discover the Value of Volunteering
