“Do good regardless of who it is and what they have done” or “charity is only valid if done spontaneously” are the mottos of those who choose to take time out of their routine to be volunteers. But how is it to reconcile this work with the daily life of college, and still have time to have fun and sleep well? We talked to some students from Cásper Líbero to find out how.
Barbara Morau, a student of the 3rd year of the Public Relations course, says that it is very difficult to focus on social causes and reconcile this with college activities. She volunteers in a spiritual center, but after she started to work, she needed to be more absent. Her time has become scarcer, even if for the casperian girl to do voluntary work is a priority. Morau understands that it is a matter of will to set aside time for this practice.
Image Source: Pixabay
Barbara is a volunteer since 2015 in a center that values people’s well-being and spiritual evolution. Therefore, she has participated in several visits to asylums and shelters, as well as thematic collection parties for patients in the center. The tip that she gives to those who also want to act in this area is, first of all, identify yourself with a cause, then find a place where you feel good and useful. According to her, accepting differences is imperative within these spaces.
Clarissa Silva is a volunteer since always. She is a student of the 3rd year of Journalism and works in a women’s asylum. Silva says that although the place has caregivers, the ladies who live there are very lacking in attention and care. She and her mother are responsible for celebrating the birthdays of the month and for her, this work is a source of personal fulfillment.
In addition, there are students who have had the opportunity to help people outside their home country. We interviewed Alícia Gouveia, a 3rd-year Journalism student who spent a season oversea. Apart from that, it’s pretty clear to see that the experiences with this type of work inside and outside Brazil are quite different.
She worked in an orphanage in Nakuru, Kenya, and through that experience, sha has discovered with children many realities totally distant from hers. “In Kenya it was different because at the end of the day, I did not go back to my house, to my shower, to my bathroom… Proof of my life“, she confess.
Much is discussed about the relationship between exposure to volunteer work and spontaneity. What is more beneficial, to expose or not? Alicia says she believes that the human beings are selfish and always expect recognition for the things they do. The Journalism student does not support overexposure but understands that self-promotion and inspiration go side by side and is very proud of the exchange she has done and the people she has influenced. At the end of her trip, for example, many people started following @exchangedobem, the agency that helped her go to Kenya.
Image Source: Instagram/@exchangedobem
Another casperian who went through the experience of volunteering outside Brazil was Pedro Nascimento, a 3rd-year Journalism student who worked in Cape Town, South Africa. “The volunteer project has transformed me completely on all personal levels,” he says. In the project that Pedro participated, taking pictures of the children was forbidden. There the volunteers could not use the cell phone while doing the social project activities, in order to keep in mind the goal of being more immersed in the moment. Another reason is that some children who participated were also daughters of traffickers and gangsters, so it was not recommended by the organizers to expose them.
Nascimento said he did not agree with some projects of large exchange agencies because he considered them expensive and superficial. At the end of the work he did, the casperian said he did not think it has changed the lives of those children, since the social context in which they are inserted is extremely weakened and neglected. Volunteer work, for him, is a way of softening it so that their daily lives do not get so heavy.
Sometimes it is difficult not to question what is the real motivation of those who seem to post photos of this experience more than living it. However, we can not deny that, willing or not, work, even if done for reasons of narcissism, helps many people in need, and this is something to be recognized.