Volunteering - Medicine for the Heart!

I have been volunteering for a couple of non-profit organizations and self-initiated projects as far back as 2007. I must confess, it’s been the most rewarding, memorable and eventful accomplishments for me.

When I started, all I knew at the time was I cared about causes that affect children and women (girls), especially with regards to them having equal opportunities and access to basic human rights such as an education.  I never at the time thought I would eventually make it a full time job; although I remember always day-dreaming about being on world’s impact platforms such as the United Nations. (Dreams, by the way do come true and mine certainly will!)

Giving the gifts of my time, resources and self has helped with my heart a lot more than red wine would ever do. If you ever wondered why I am so free spirited and sometimes play a lot like a child, now you have the answer.

Trust me; there were days, times and moments I would weep uncontrollably in my closet at the injustice of this world and sometimes at how helpless I was at days I wished I could save the world at once. An almost impossible task for an individual!

Volunteering placed a burning burden in my heart. It helped me learn to pause from the consumption of my desires and look out for another. It has helped me become more compassionate and patriotic.  Although I think from childhood, I probably must have been labelled to be a patriot from heaven. No doubt, some of my teachers and my Dad especially planted these seeds. Or how can you explain a 5 year old crying with goosebumps all over while reciting the national anthem and pledge?

It was more than mere words for me. I read the dictionary then for the meaning of the word ‘pledge’ after my primary school teacher drew our attention to that word. I knew I was making a vow to the country I love and could die for, with every word from that national pledge.

It’s sad that more than two decades after, we are still or worse than where we were - Story for another time and post. Perhaps, those words grew into intentions and actions that I couldn’t resist.

Volunteering is life and living.

If you have a space or platform you can volunteer with, be it a religious organization or faith based projects, or with a non-profit or it’s just you initiating projects around your communities (virtual or physical) – you don’t even have to register a non-profit in order to do some good; please by all means go ahead and be committed. It’s usually not about how long but how ‘present’ you are at the time of service.

Volunteering is fun. Have lots of fun planting smiles, learning something new and investing in the future. Irrespective of the causes you care about; climate, education, health, gender equality, security etc., make each moment you share with the people you meet and work with a lasting sweet memory.

To all who have selflessly dedicated their lives in whatever measure, thank you for being a part of a solution! No matter how tiny you might think your contributions are, no matter how ‘invisible’ your works or projects might appear, no matter how ‘unfamous’ you might be, remember one thing; YOU are a vital and crucial part of an enormously dependent world full of love, hate, hunger, plenty, violence, peace and everything in between.

YOU and your contributions matter to restoring peace and humanity on earth. You, my dear friend are a part of a bigger picture, way too big for one person to fit in alone.

This is my antidote for a long, happy and selfless life. You should take a sip of this sweet wine too.

To living and dying empty,

Cheers!

 TA