Do you know what volunteering means and what they are doing? Volunteer is actually a person or a group that is offering free services or works for any tasks or rescues. Nowadays there are so many organisations that we have seen that have been widely involving themselves in volunteering work all around the world. It is definitely not a seasonal activity because we could still see how these kinds of organisations are still in mission even without any big tragedies. Somehow, we could tell that there are two types of volunteering organisations which are; the government organisation and the non-government organisation. Either way, both of them would be actively joining any of the volunteering work in every reachable place that they could.
Types Of Volunteerism?
However, volunteerism will not just revolve around humans, where there are a lot of activities that you could get involved with. In fact, there are actually more than one type of volunteering that any person could actually get involved with. Some of them don’t really get enough exposure or discovery of their volunteering work but somehow are still passionate about volunteering. Basically, these are the types of volunteering that we have:
Animals volunteering work.
This kind of volunteering could involve something related to the wildlife or animal charities centres around the world. This kind of volunteerism actually could involve so many types of duties such as cleaning, grooming, feeding and probably also for any events such as photography or fundraising.
Community volunteering work.
This kind of volunteering is commonly involving yourself with community projects such as team cleaning, physical help such as building and tidying up recreational parks or even open spaces to have a better environment.
Sports volunteering work.
There are a lot of activities that you could actually get involved in this kind of volunteerism with collaboration of any sports organisations or sports centres. This is where you don’t have to be a sport enthusiast or good in sport, you could also help either with the training, management, supervising, committee or even as any sports event organisers.
Hospitals volunteering work.
In this kind of volunteerism. There are also a lot of tasks that you could actually take in doing the volunteering work at the hospital. For volunteers in the hospital, they can choose between helping the management, hospital cleaning, visiting and cheering patients in the hospital or even feeding them food.
Environmental volunteering work.
There are so many types of volunteerism that are related to environment that you could choose, which they are:
- Conservation of wildlife.
- Environmental education initiatives.
- assisting with overseas assistance efforts.
- Recycling.
- Participating in your local community group that focuses on environmental or global concerns.
Natural disaster volunteering work.
This last type of volunteerism is the most common type that we could see lately, especially since the world has been shaken by the spread of Covid-19 about three years ago and also the flood recently all over the world.
Is It Important To Have Preparation?
An early preparation will always be the most crucial part doing anything to ensure everything is well organised and going smoothly. Hence why, before going for volunteer activities, it is a must to have a proper preparation for both volunteers and the activities. These are the most important things to check on before you are going for volunteerism.
Essential Things To Prepare for Volunteerism
#1 Extra clothes
It is undeniable that as volunteers, there will be a lot of unexpected challenges to be faced while dealing with whatever volunteering activities. Hence why it is crucial to actually standby or get prepared with extra clothes and outfits to ensure the volunteer activities could be run smoothly.
Other than that, extra clothes also could be used not just for the volunteers themselves, but also can be used for those that are involved with it. For example if you are going for natural disasters volunteerism, the victims probably would be in need of new clothes. This is the reason why extra clothes should have been brought and packed together.
#2 Hygiene Essentials & Food Stock.
Other than extra clothes, these two hygiene essentials and food stock are also important to be packed by the volunteers. Things like towel, soap/shampoo, toothpaste/toothbrush, tissues, hair brush and more. These are also essentials due to the activities that volunteers will get involved with as sometimes it can be extra dirty and extreme.
Other than that, the food stock is also crucial to ensure that there will always be food stock to be eaten along the journey and progress of the volunteerism. This is also crucial as preparation to face whatever the condition or situation is during the volunteerism.
#3 Enough and Great Gadgets
As we acknowledge, the world nowadays would eventually evolve around gadgets and technologies. Hence why this kind of preparations are also going to be important to make sure that every activity will be covered and they are reachable no matter where they are travelling for the sake of safety.
The gadgets or essential things here would be phone, tablet, camera, drone, good charger, tripod or even sports lighter to ensure that they are going to have enough fittings to make recordings or documentaries of their volunteerism.
#4 Medical Emergency First Aid
The last but not least, volunteers should and must have for volunteerism is the medical emergency first aid. No one would like the idea of falling sick while travelling but early preparation is important to ensure that everything is under control. In fact, everyone should have this medical emergency first aid anywhere they are going, especially when it comes to this activity.
The simplest that you could bring along would be the painkiller, panadol, bandage, bug repellant, thermometer, ointment, cough and flu pills, anti diarrheal medication etc. These are the basic and simplest medical aids that you could get.
To conclude, volunteer activities do need proper preparation to make sure that every activities and missions are going smoothly as planned. And of course, in accomplishing that, volunteers must get themselves fully prepared too.
