Me, I am also a volunteer here at Praxis Greece. But what exactly does that mean for me and for the people around me?
Generally volunteers have the role of a responsibility person, especially when you are volunteering in a different country abroad. You take the responsibility of representing your country your culture and you represent specific values that stand for being a volunteer. It starts by accepting people whatever they look like, accepting that every individual on our planet is different and ends by taking responsibility for your own actions.
That’s why volunteers often be called ambassadors, because these are things that an ambassador should embody. In my opinion it is true that volunteers are kind of ambassadors, but they are also so much more. I think that it is really important to support and promote volunteering in every of its aspects. It guarantees that we do not lose our humanity and the values that made us strong. In a world that is increasingly dominated by economy and policy, values like acceptance, friendship and cooperation getting more and more important.
The International Volunteer Day reminds us of these values as much as it honors all the millions of volunteers, that help out every day to make the world a better place.
So think about the question of the beginning again and you will notice that the world would be a different one without volunteers.
Felix Neo Rieder
Sources: https://www.unv.org/news/international-volunteer-day-2018-volunteers-build-resilient-communities
https://www.unv.org
http://www.un.org/en/events/volunteerday/