Don’t wait to be asked, volunteer now! [Archives:2007/1109/Last Page]
December 6 2007
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Only recently has Yemen started to celebrate the International Volunteer Day. It is celebrated around the world Dec. 5, and this is the fist year when the Yemeni government sponsored such a celebration.
Ministry of Youth and Sports, adopted this year's celebration, which was organized by a Yemeni NGO: The Young Leadership Foundation.
During the celebration, success
YLF dedicated this day to introducing the concept of volunteerism to Yemeni youth through conducting a training workshop on Wednesday. A trainer from the foundation briefed members of several local NGOs on the concept of volunteerism using games and flipcharts and role-play.
The Minister of Youth Hamoud Obad was taken by surprise when the presenter of the celebration asked him when was the first time he volunteered to do anything.
It appeared that when he was a boy scout at school, he went with his scout group to help in the search and rescue operation during the Dhamar earthquake in 1982.
“I was only a little boy, and it was my passion to be a scout and help the others. Unfortunately at that time, the society did not understand the significance if volunteer work and while trying to assist affected families, I used to get beaten and shoed away,” he remembered smilingly.
Included in the celebration's program was to narrate successful stories of volunteers. Hana Al-Kibsi, who now works as a coordinator with SOUL, a Yemeni NGO, told her story.
“I never had a clue what volunteering was. When I had just graduated from high school, one of my friends pushed me to come and work as a volunteer with the YLF. My work as a volunteer gave me so much experience and gave me the opportunity to work anywhere and be successful,” she said.
She asked every one to be initiative and go any where and look for a chance to be a volunteer. “Don't wait for others to ask you. You take the initiating step, this will lead you to success.”
YLF's founder Dr. Intilak AL-Mutwakel encouraged the audience to adopt a sense of volunteerism, and mentioned that the foundation facilitates volunteering work for its students and whoever is interested.
On the same day the United Nation Development Program in Yemen celebrated this day in order to get people working in this field to come together and benefit form each others' experience.
Volunteerism in Yemen is not popular in the modern sense of the word, and many Yemenis think it is a foreign concept. Others because of deteriorating economic conditions would rather work for money than spend time volunteering.
However, there is an increasing acceptance and understanding of the concept, especially because of the works of many local and national NGOs.
Moreover, today's market demands require youth to be multi talented, a skill that comes from a lot of volunteering and social work.
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