Volunteering in adolescence: you receive more than you give
Being a volunteer is a combination of varied personal and even social reasons that make up a huge opportunity to grow. All of them share in some measure the desire to commit themselves to an "other" and the need to solve the problems that afflict the current society.
Volunteering means a commitment, to put into practice a job that demands physical and intellectual work without profit, that is, not remunerated. You can volunteer in a large number of areas, the fields of action are diverse and cross the social, the religious, the health sector and artistic spaces, among many others. There are infinite possibilities of selfless work, and this depends on the creativity and availability of the person who wants to exercise it.
The satisfactions of volunteering in adolescence
The satisfactions of volunteering in adolescence they are innumerable: to feel useful, to find a place in society, to learn from different jobs and life experiences, to value one's own and different, face life from multiple realities, break daily routines and learn to socialize with multiple people are some of the good reasons to think about volunteering.
On the other hand, belonging to this world from young people allows to generate qualities such as independence, responsibility, organization, encourage leadership, lose the fear and shame of relating to a large number of people. The volunteering Many times it is the solution to problems such as insecurity, shyness, arrogance and lack of humility, giving us a vision of the world in which there are more important values to build and rescue.
There are so many benefits and satisfactions that young volunteers can achieve in this type of activity that, many times more than what you can offer to another, is what that other gives you. The possibility of experimenting a different form of socialization mediated by love, by the simple desire to offer, deliver without expecting anything in return, constitute an experience of life that can not be renounced; Being able to learn to put on someone else's shoes is often the gateway to valuing our lives, appreciating what we are and learning to see others in a different way.
As there is so much need for volunteer work, everyone can find their space, often only the desire and a little guidance are needed to know what places we can approach and make specific this experience. It is important to realize that we are not alone in the world, we live within a society that requires the concern, both individually and collectively, to solve existing differences.
Volunteering: you receive more than you give
"You wake up one day, you see everything upside down, you look back, you see your path, the one your feet made". Just a moment! That is the song of Melocos and La Quinta Estación. But have not we skipped the first verse? Maybe it will come better to us like this! In this order. At the end of the day the first part is the one that speaks of a moment that "changes your life" and that is precisely what provokes a volunteer experience in any self-respecting adolescent. First, suddenly, they see the road they have traveled, and then, either because they want to take another route, or because they believe that something is missing, they join other initiatives that are so "nutritious", it is volunteering.
The person in charge of Volunteering of the NGO International Cooperation, Teresa Martín Aguado, maintains, from a solid work experience in the sector, that many of the young people that participate in activities of this type "speak even of a before and after". He also argues that this type of experience gives young people the opportunity to "contribute their bit in the fight against the many social injustices that exist in the world" and often collaborate to improve "environments that touch them closely" .
In an interview published on the website of this NGO (www.juventudsolidaria.org), the psychiatrist Jesus Poveda notes that "adolescence is characterized by being a phase of life in which one seeks identity and commitment." It is, therefore, a stage in which it is necessary to face numerous situations of inequality. For this reason, volunteer work can help young people to have a good contact with reality and generate in them the will to become instruments of improvement for society.
Every day we run into hundreds of unfair situations for which, a priori, we do not seem to have a solution. Maybe this is not within our reach but we can always resort to the professionalism of those experts who know how to solve the different social conflicts through solidarity. In this sense, Jesús Poveda maintains, in that same interview, that "crises are necessary for the growth of people because, in most cases, they are opportunities for development"."Almost all crises are overcome with another quantity of another quality," says the psychologist, who refers to the use of seeing things from another perspective to discover new solutions. Aspect, by the way, which is very common in volunteering because it always introduces novel circumstances, as well as situations and problems that do not occur in daily life. In this way, it can be said that there is a reciprocal benefit. Helping us helps us overcome crisis and grow as people.
The younger group also brings to the volunteer an important incentive. This is what Teresa Aguado sees, which refers to adolescents as "nonconformist by nature" and argues that it is precisely this characteristic that causes young people to contribute, to volunteering in general and to beneficiaries in particular, "solutions, time, illusion, optimism and effort ".
"Childhood and youth", "Elderly and social exclusion", "Sick people and people with disabilities" and "A smile for Christmas" are some of the programs that International Cooperation offers not only for adults but also, and especially, for the younger ones because they are essential to achieve a more just society.
Isabel Martínez Y Elisa García
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