From A Volunteer To Other Potential Volunteer

Being a volunteer means being beneficial for the world and living by it. I say. So based on this idea of mine, I try to be as beneficial as I can for the lovely kids and staff of Hlavicka Kindergarten, where I have been doing my volunteering project for 9 months. I have gained a great sense of working with foreign people and living abroad through my project. I have learned that it is the best way to motivate the kids and engage them in society as best as possible. So I am going to tell you what you can do to be more beneficial during your project.

First of all I want to start with why you should choose to work in Hlavicka with kids. It is simple actually. If you like to spend your  time with kids and want to touch their lives even in a small way and become a role model by your behaviors in terms of raising respectful, kind, smart adults in the future, then do not wait. You will like to play with them, create games together, do crafts, sing, dance and many other things. And you will be more addicted to them as they tell you nice words, wait for you on the door, hug you and show that they love you. Then you will realize that you are getting what you are giving. The more love you share the more you will get. The more children feel that they are loved the more they will be creative and happy so that it will lead them to be kind and helpful people in the future. 

I’m not saying that it is always easy to work with kids. It bears its own responsibility but the key is actually love and patience. If you give enough love and become patient when it is needed, then you will handle this. Other than these you need to be creative, flexible and responsible. You should know how to play with kids. I play with the kids most of the time, try to include them in their world and understand them, I always observe what they are doing. I teach new activities in English –dances, songs-, I speak with them in English, just simple sentences, I teach English vocabulary and topics two times every week. I repeat and remind them the words I taught during normal conversations so that they do not forget. What Hlavicka actually wants is to raise respectful, kind and smart children who are also familiar with the English language. So It is important to have the ability of teaching English while you are working here. Further I help the staff with their daily work and organizing children events on special days. I also join the events with them. 

Now I am going to tell you what you will gain during your work. If you did not leave your home country before or did not live abroad then you will challenge yourself by adapting to a new country, living in a different culture and language. It will help you grow personally. You will work in Hlavicka and have the chance of being a good role model for children. It is like what a teacher does. So it is a big gift since many adults carry what they went through in their childhood throughout their whole lives. You can make a good impact on some people. If you have related university studies or if you want to work with kids in your future job, then it will be a great opportunity for you to practice and see how it is. You will have friends from different nations and you will expand your knowledge and perspectives. You will gain stress-management, project management, team-work abilities and improve yourpatience, creativity, flexibility, responsibility and many more skills. 

These were the things I wanted to tell you. Do not forget that the key is love and patience :).

Text a foto: Hilal Ozen

Hilal je dobrovoľníčka programu Európsky zbor solidarity na projekte v detskom centre Hlavička. Projekt bol podporený z programu EÚ Európsky zbor solidarity.