International Volunteer Day: why youth should get more involved

Rwanda joined the international community on Monday to mark the International Volunteer Day that is marked to recognise and promote the tireless work of volunteers across the world. This year, the day was marked under the theme Solidarity through volunteering and it highlights the power of collective humanity to drive positive change through volunteerism. According to the United Nations (UN), volunteers, drawn together by solidarity, develop solutions to urgent development challenges and for the common good. Speaking to The New Times, Eric Mahoro, Deputy Executive Director of Never Again Rwanda, a non-government whose 90 per cent of volunteers are youth, said, volunteering helps young people to better direct their brains into focusing on doing activities that make an impact in their communities He said youth are energetic and have the effort to do different things, thus helping in building their country, adding that through volunteerism, young people acquire new skills that result in an experience that will help them to secure jobs in the future. “Volunteering isn’t for the unemployed. Youth who are employed are also welcome to do volunteerism work in their spare time. Instead of using the time for only leisure, they can spend it volunteering by doing work that helps in building the country,” said Mahoro. “For instance,” he continued, “those working in the education sector, like teachers, can spend their holiday time teaching youth to avoid taking drugs. Of course, there has to be a better way to prepare the volunteerism policy to orient those with different skills so that they can know the available priorities they can lend a hand to.” Mahoro also encouraged the public to join volunteerism activities as well as the government to put into force explaining to Rwandans the national volunteerism policy for them to know how better they can do volunteerism to develop their nation. Emmanuel Mazimpaka, Head of Communication, Fundraising and Humanitarian Diplomacy Development at Rwanda Red Cross also supports the idea of youth involvement in volunteerism activities, declaring that by doing so, they help the government to save money and use it in other development activities. He said that over 100,000 volunteers at Rwanda Red Cross are involved in different activities such as building houses for the vulnerable, farming for them, malnutrition prevention, and raising awareness about different public health issues, including Covid-19. Mazimpaka noted that volunteerism reflects patriotism, urging youth to spare some time in a week to either do volunteerism work or support it, contributing to the development of the country. He encouraged the public to play their part in supporting the government, declaring that by doing more volunteerism work, they reduce the number of vulnerable Rwandans who live in poverty. Rosine Uwimpuhwe who currently volunteers under CorpsAfrica Rwanda told The New Times that International Volunteer Day means “understanding the living conditions of people and embracing how you can improve the livelihood of your community.” She said she has spent four years volunteering in different organizations and has been able to learn to listen, humility and take time to reflect on the lives of others which helped her to grow empathy and value for human beings. “That helps me in my journey because I get different opportunities due to what I have learned through volunteerism works,” she said. “I believe that all people can volunteer. It only takes one to understand that they can do it. Anyone should volunteer where they are in any field they want. During Covid-19 we saw that everyone’s effort was needed and youth volunteers did a great job.”

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International Volunteer Day: why youth should get more involved