Volunteer & Save our world

I recently spent 2 months in Germany partly volunteering, partly training to become an international workcamp leader but also representing South Africa in the new AALA(Africa, Asia, Latin America) program which IJGD(NGO in Germany)has launched, called the Weltwaerts program. This was sponsored by the German Government & is a new initiative to encourage intercultural learning, self organization, social learning, ecological learning, emancipation of sexes & voluntary work. German volunteers wanting to help communities but also gain a new perspective on the world offer their services & skills to developing countries. This particular program last 12 months, however we did learn about medium term volunteers (2-8 months) and workcamps(6 weeks)

The other AALA participants were Hoai from Vietnam, Lesley from Equador, Jovana from Mexico, Rose from Kenya & Sheila from India.

What I found amazing is how caring, considerate & conscientous most Germans are.It's so great they have systems in place for everything & all is so structured & well planned & all citizens obey the law! Although I had lived in London for 3 years & it was also a first world country, Germany is still so much more advanced. Everyone was so warm & welcoming & opened not only their homes to us but also their hearts. It was astounding that so many youth were willing to give up their time to help other countries & most were so knowledgeable & keen to learn about other cultures plus spoke atleast 2 languages.

***Whilst jogging 1 morning in the forest near Gottingen, I accidentally dropped my mobile inbetween heavy logs & had to, after a serious struggle & many scratchmarks, abandon it there. I was very heartsore so was dumbstruck 3 weeks later when I got a call from a policeman who said someone had found it & actually called every single number on it until they found out who it belonged to.***

What I learnt:

Being in Germany made me realise how much work there is to do in South Africa before we get anywhere near how it functions. The good thing is I'm full of ideas & have tremendous energy to put all my ideas into action (becos ideas will always remain ideas if no action is taken)

It raised a few questions like:

1. "why are more people going to other african countries & not South Africa?",

2. "If there are so many people eager to help, why do we not have clearer channels for volunteering in South Africa?", also this is an ideal opportunity that is bound to increase tourism, help the rural community & provide a plaform for personal growth so,

3. "Why are not many people in South Africa aware of volunteering?",

4. "Why doesn't our government do a similar funding scheme if there are so many benefits to volunteering?"

In terms of Personal Growth for myself, working in the forest & doing hard manual labour was ideal for thinking & planning & i've come back with more of a thirst to learn more & to help the community. It has inspired me start my own organisation so I can provide more opportunities like this for other South Africans. I would also love to start learning languages. Xhosa would be essential but then also German, Spanish, Russian at a later stage.

If you would like more information on becoming a volunteer, please contact me on funkymani@gmail.com