Thursday, February 14, 2008

Volunteers are at the core of all volunteer programs but just who are these individuals that build these programs.

We have many people that have volunteered and moved through our projects so far and all have left something of themselves and their past experience behind.

Most come into a rural or semi-rural environment from a city back home in the 1st world and it would not be unusual if they struggled to find their feet.

The opposite however has been the rule as they jump straight in and start participating.

The word volunteer means, “a person who voluntarily takes part in an enterprise or offers to undertake a task”. The Concise Oxford offers us this very broad definition that does not focus enough on the individual.

Each volunteer has a background and a history complete with achievements and setbacks which they bring on board when they join the project.

These aspects are part of what goes to make a specific person tick and most relish the distance from home and certainty, within which they can work and contribute to a cause greater than themselves.

Our experience so far is that anything less than 3 weeks is not usually beneficial to either the individual or the project. It takes time for the individual to acclimatize to the dynamic and find a niche within which to live and sustain while contributing.

The overlap that occurs when volunteers arrive and depart at different times creates a wonderfully enforced change of personnel and the team dynamic is constantly switching.

This dynamic has a positive spin off and effect on those more permanently involved in Port St Johns and a constant inflow of energy and information. This dynamic would have to be created if it didn’t actually exist.