We are a very busy lot, with school work, homework, extracurricular classes, TV, video games and birthday parties, there are so many things that we pack in a day. What if we could cut down on, say TV time, and dedicate some time to the world we live in? It need not always be about saving the world, but also about bringing a smile on someone’s face or helping make someone’s life better, even if it is an animal.
Volunteering is not necessarily something that just adults engage in; even you, as school children, can volunteer in your own capacity and capability — how much time you can spare, your interest, how much you can venture out and so on.
There are so many opportunities available with organisations, and if not, you can even take the initiative to create opportunities, as volunteering not just helps you give back to society, but also helps you build confidence, versatility, offers you a wider perspective of the world around you and empowers you. Plus, it will look good on your profile!
Look around
- Call neighbourhood NGOs or animal shelters and find out how you can help. They may need help in different areas like collecting funds, publicity, awareness creation, day-to-day operations or event organisation.
- Find your neighbourhood or school playground in need of cleaning? Why not gather your friends and help clean up with permission, and under the supervision of adults.
- You could sit at home make calls, post requests online or simple go door to door to raise money for a cause or a particular NGO. If not money, you could also help organise a clothes/ toy/ books drive for a children’s home or an old age home of your choice.
- Don’t stop with just collecting the material and delivering them, spend time with the children or the aged at the home. Your time and care are the most precious things you can give away.
- Plant trees in your neighbourhood or school and also tend to them.
- Volunteer your skills by teaching underprivileged children at homes or a community centre. You could teach them computer skills, English, basic maths and science or events arts and crafts — just about anything that will engage them and you productively.
- Websites like ivolunteer.in help you find city-wise volunteering opportunities.
- And finally, you can even volunteer your time online to do a bit of social awareness. Put up Facebook updates and tweets on Twitter to advocate a cause that is closest to your heart – links, tags, pictures, videos or your own opinion on an social issue will help at least a few sit up and take notice.
Been there…
I took the chance to act as a scribe for a visually challenged student doing his Std X board exam. My school provided me with this opportunity and I immediately took it up. The experience was enriching, as well as humbling. It was heartbreaking to watch someone so young suffer. But as I held a conversation with him, I realised that it was not the student to be pitied but those gifted with vision, as we fail to comprehend what they easily can. We all must try and help those who need help. - Abhinaya Sridharan, Kendriya Vidyalaya, RKP, New Delhi
One for the tree
The Tree Foundation organised a seminar in school about Turtle Walks and since then I have been a volunteer with them helping relocate turtle nests and cleaning turtles. There are so many opportunities to volunteer, if only we looked around. Personally, volunteering has helped me gain exposure and taught me to ask questions, instead of taking things at face value. As an off-shoot of my volunteering experience, I did a study report on sea turtles which I presented at the Jawaharlal Nehru National Science Exhibition in Kolkata last year. - Aditya Baradwaj, Std XII, Vidya Mandir, Chennai
Positive strokes
>WWF India has some interesting opportunities on their website like Adopt a Tree, Share Your Pictures, Online Campaigns and more. Interestingly, the website gives you an >opportunity to send a postcard to a forest guard to show them your appreciation of their work! Just click on any of the featured forest guards and send him an e-postcard, a real postcard too if you can manage to get one, with a message from you. You are sure to bring a smile on their face with this simple gesture.
