Volunteering brings joy to life
Pamela Paniagua, education sector Peace Corps volunteer in rural St Elizabeth.
IWANTED to serve as a PCV because I wanted to learn more about Jamaican culture and to help my assigned community by sharing my skills as a trained teacher.
Volunteering is necessary because it provides one with the opportunity to do good for one’s community and for the world.
I think that one can begin to change one’s mindset about volunteerism as ‘free’ work or work that one does when one is jobless by thinking about the benefits of donating one’s time to a good cause. Some studies have shown that folk who volunteer for an organisation whose mission they believe in experience increased feelings of happiness, as well as connectedness. Consequently, one should think about volunteering as something one does in order to bring joy into one’s life.
Professionally, I think that volunteering can help one learn to work with others who may not share one’s cultural background in order to accomplish a task. Improving the aforementioned skill can help one work better with others in ones ‘paid’ work. On a personal level, I believe that volunteering helps one develop humility.
Here in Jamaica, I team-teach with the grade-four and -five teacher at my school. I also co-teach Spanish with the teachers in grades one to six and work individually with students to help them improve their reading. My community is welcoming and supportive. They are glad that students are getting the help they need in order to do well in school.
Based on my experience as a volunteer, one may be able to encourage volunteerism in Jamaica by making it a part of the curriculum in schools. Teachers can help students come up with a project of importance to their own community, and then students can volunteer their time in order to make the project a reality.
During my time in Jamaica, I have learnt to listen to the needs of my community. After listening, I have tried to match my skills and resources to help the people around me. For example, teachers at my school mentioned in one of our meetings that they would appreciate assistance with teaching Spanish. As a native speaker of the language, I have been able to help them plan and deliver Spanish lessons with correct pronunciation, as well as spelling.
On a global scale, international volunteers working in host communities must be open to learning about other cultures and to adapting their behaviour in ways that are culturally appropriate. So volunteerism can help one understand perspectives that are different from one’s own and realise that one can live as well as work alongside people that are different from oneself.