THE HIDDEN TREASURE: BENEFITS OF VOLUNTEERISM

Hidden Treasure may refer to any valuable item which is covered up. In the Bible, Jesus Christ spoke in  parables about some of these hidden treasures. In this short article, the writer intends to talk about what voluntary work is about, why the youth should get involved in volunteerism, advantages and disadvantages of it.

In short, volunteer as a noun refers to a person who offers services free of charge to people in need, community or organizations without pay. Volunteerism is the involvement of voluntary labour whilst volunteering is the act of offering a work or service for free. Voluntary work involves work that is done by the aid of volunteers.

In the year 2014, I was offered Commonwealth Shared Scholarship to study in England, UK. During the application, I was shocked to find out that Voluntary Work was part of the scholarship requirements. I was asked to list all the voluntary work I'd done, with dates, organizations and specific work or activity.

Then when I got the scholarship and was studying, attending conferences and having conversations with the English and non-English speaking students, and looking for the opportunity to get a part-time work; their minds were filled with looking for voluntary works to do in Africa after school. Then out of surprise, I wanted to find out reasons behind their culture of volunteerism in their lives.

Before talking about some of their secrets that I termed as Hidden Treasure, I want us to look at after-school job search in Ghana. All employers ask for at least three years job experience before employing these fresh University graduates. The questions are first, how do you get experience without working? Who should employ these fresh University graduates to gain experience before these so-called employers get that requirements they called experience? This situation calls for looking at the Hidden Treasure-Volunteerism as may be a springboard for job experience.

In view of this, it is a high time Ghanaian fresh university graduates also turned their attention to volunteerism based on the following benefits derive from it.

To start with, volunteerism helps to enrich one's Curriculum Vitae. First, the employer will see you the applicant who offered service for free as a good and honest person to work with. Second, volunteerism will give you the needed new practical skills and experience that the employer needs. During your voluntary work, you'll learn new practical skills in your career area including communication, problem-solving,task management, project planning, organization, social and relationship skills, teamwork, and so on.

Aside learning new skills and experience, one can also be connected to other people. Working in the communities with people and organizations will boost your chance to meet business owners and employers. Through this encounter, you can expand your network and through that you can get positive recommendations when you apply for real job. Besides, you'll become connected with society and get more friends and come in contact with people on the field of work.

Moreso, volunteerism helps to increase self-confidence. There's a saying that practice makes a man perfect. As you do  something similar to your career consistently and gain transferrable skills and experience, you will become more confident doing your work when you're employed. The Voluntary work serves as ground for practical training and as such you'll become self-dependent at your work place. Also, through this, it provides you the sense of purpose; you'll acquire new meaning and direction of life and add more meaning to your life and career.

Another benefit of doing voluntary work is that, anyone who gets involved in voluntary work gets divine or God's blessings. This will include getting job, getting you scholarship for further studies and so on.

Moreover, benefit that can be derived from volunteerism is health condition. Many fresh students become bored and stressed up due to lack of job. They are filled with depressions, worries and anxiety. When they become engaged in volunteerism, they do not only exercise the body and free their minds of boredom, they are also able to reduce stress, combat depression, thus protect their mental and physical health. Aside this, volunteerism provides an avenue for fun making because there's a saying that the more you give freely, the happier you become.

One should not lose sight on the fact that volunteerism also has some demerits including time consuming, work hazards in poor settings, personality conflict i.e working with difficult prisons and more importantly lack of pay. 

For long term purpose, one can see that advantages of volunteerism surpass the disadvantages.

Space and time will not allow me to go into details of questions to ask or things to consider when going into voluntary work and areas where one can seek voluntary work. 

In summary form, the following are things to consider when going into voluntary work. First, where or who do you want to work with? Rural areas or urban areas, home or remote areas, adults or children, animals,etc. Second, do you want to work as a team player or alone? Do you want to work behind the scene or in the frontline? Third, what skill do you want to bring on board and learn? Last, what career area are you going into?

Areas where one can get voluntary work to do include the orphanage house, prison house, refugee camps, NADMO (National Disaster and Management Organization), NGOs, Service Organizations eg Lions Clubs or Rotary Clubs, Rescue Organization (under NADMO), Youth Organisations, National Parks/Wildlife Centres, Community Museums and Library, and so on.

In conclusion, the youth in general through this article are advised to engage themselves in voluntary work in order to gain employable skills and experience, reduce anxiety and depression, be mentally and physically strong, connect to people and create fun and self confidence whilst waiting for long term career. When going into volunteerism, there are things and areas to consider based on your future career.

Writer's Details

SIR CHARLES FREEMAN

ABOASO-ASHANTI, GHANA

+233 (0)542566337

baducharles111@gmail.com