Volunteering is a calling

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The modern world is oversaturated with stressful situations associated not only with natural phenomena, but also with the peculiarities of society. Trouble is an international concept, not limited to one nation. She comes unexpectedly, and there is hardly a house where she does not look. We cannot always cope with it on our own or alone. And then volunteering comes to the rescue. This movement is spread all over the world, it has no nationality, is not divided along class lines, has no political coloring, does not take into account preferences in religion.

For altruistic reasons, part of the population of our planet rushes to those who are in trouble. It is difficult to talk about when volunteering arose. The ability to do something without expecting a reward is inherent in a person by nature. Volunteering is an impulse of the soul in the first place, and then a conscious organized activity around the world. This is charity and patronage. Ordinary people from anywhere in the world are sent to another point - the disaster area - in order to voluntarily and free of charge, at the expense of their free time, to provide assistance to those who are in dire need of it.

The main thing is to choose the form of assistance that you are capable of. This can be coordination activities in charitable events (promotions, concerts, festivals), technical (take-bring, help visit a doctor, purchase medicines and devices), documentation (translations into foreign languages, medical documentation, visa documents) or any other assistance people or animals, necessary at one time or another. Such a field of activity as social volunteering is especially common - helping the older generation (pensioners, veterans of labor and military operations), children's institutions, kids suffering from various diseases.

Volunteering Abroad

The adult population of the world has volunteers ranging from 20% and above. For example, in Europe - 22.5%, in the USA - 27%, and in Austria up to 36%. Activity abroad is an acquaintance with the culture, life of the country, the way of life of the local population, learning their language (understanding the living language and fluent speech).

At the end of the last century (data from 1998), 109 million people around the world took part in volunteering. In Germany, about 40% of the population went through a volunteer school. The United States allocates about $6 billion a year from the federal budget for volunteer work through a specialized agency. At least once in their lives, 19% of the French adult population took part in volunteer actions. Patronage activities are also carried out in the region of Israel, in a region where the study of the Middle East is available.and North Africa.

Australia is a special country in terms of volunteering. Free volunteer programs are a distinctive feature of this country, where you can make your efforts not only to rescue from disasters, but also as an agro-volunteer. Anyone can apply for an appropriate visa (for 3 months, for 1 year, more than 1 year) to travel to Australia to work on a voluntary basis, study and participate in free volunteer projects for the protection of nature (saving endangered species of animals, marine life, for example turtles), promoting ecotourism.

Volunteering is primarily assistance during natural disasters, man-made disasters in megacities and industries, environmental disasters as a consequence of human activity on our planet. This is help around the world in he althcare, business, teaching at school, building community centers and homes, animal hospitals, farming and gardening. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called volunteerism the ultimate expression of the main purpose of the existence of the United Nations. The parliament of the European Union (EU) is also involved in promoting cross-border volunteering. According to 2012 data, 5% of EU GDP is generated by the activities of 100 million European volunteers.

Volunteering in Russia

Russian society did not stand aside in the issue of volunteering. Altruistic motives, perhaps, are inherent in the nature of a Russian person. In fact,serfdom is volunteering, that is, gratuitous work for food and lodging. In the 19th century, city guardianships for the poor were established, under which volunteers worked. In the Soviet period, volunteering was the development of virgin lands, the construction of BAM, harvesting, work on subbotniks.

The Russian parliament is concerned about the fate of the volunteers. To reward those who like to do good deeds, it was decided to develop an appropriate bill to give volunteers a legal status and raise their social status in order to legitimize volunteer activity, and equate it with alternative military service. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, working as a nurse, builder, postman, etc., it will be possible to pass the ACS - alternative civilian service.

The scope of volunteering will be replenished with budgetary funds with gentle taxation, and volunteers and activists will receive benefits of a different nature (when passing the exam, when entering educational institutions, references when choosing a place of work, social benefits).

People who satisfy the universal needs of others, solving global integration and environmental problems, are he althier than all other earthlings. British scientists have provided mortality statistics among volunteers, which is 20% lower than usual. Free help and spontaneous kindness not only prolong life, but also improve mental he alth. Public figure and writer Henry David Thoreau (USA) called human kindness the only garment that is not subject to deterioration. Wearing such clothes is a great merit and honor.