Challenge: Volunteer Charities: The British Red Cross, The LifeTrain Trust, The Natasha’s Project, Be@titudes Thoughts: “Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.
The Final Challenge: To Volunteer
Why Volunteering?
Having had different charities each month benefit from my failures by reaping financial reward, it made sense to close the year by giving my time to some of these Charities.
Volunteering has always been something close to my heart. Growing up in West Africa, poverty and need was not something alien to me, and one of my favourite things about the culture of Ghana, was the willingness of the people to share with one another. It was not unheard of for people to show up at a friend or neighbour’s house in a time of need and expect to be fed, housed or even have money lent to them. For all it’s flaws, the Ghanaian culture is an open and giving culture and teaches you that what you have is not yours alone; it is by good luck if you are well off and it is your duty to share this with your friends, your family, and even strangers.
The welfare system we have in place here in the UK, although necessary and a God-send for so many, seems to put a distance between our connection to need and our understanding of how we fit in in terms of giving. Here, if someone needs, it’s the government’s duty to provide. In Ghana, if someone needs, it’s the family’s duty to provide. One common way this is done is by having “house girls” or “house boys”; a distant relative or friend of a friend of a friend could approach you and in exchange for food, shelter and sometimes even school fees, they will cook and clean and look after your house. My Granddad has helped many a person in this way, and the most recent girl, Baawa, has just graduated from university as a nurse!
Where, Who and What?
Sleeping outside of St. Albans Abbey to raise money for the homeless one Christmas
I have chosen a number of charities that I feel are close to my heart for various reasons. I have supported these charities throughout my year’s challenges except for one; The British Red Cross.
The British Red Cross help people in crisis. Part of a global voluntary network, they respond to conflicts, natural disasters and individual emergencies. They help vulnerable people in the UK and abroad prepare for, withstand and recover from emergencies in their own communities.
The Natasha’s Project is a charity that a good friend of mine has worked to set up. It is a merger of two things she has been passionate about for as long as I have known her; dance and putting a stop to human trafficking. They travel around the country to raise awareness of human trafficking through dance and to help restore trafficking victims through dance workshops.
The Lifetrain Trust assist young people of underprivileged backgrounds providing them with the skills and give them the opportunity to build a life they have chosen rather than the one they were destined for; seek further education or qualifications and to say no to anti-social behaviour.
Be@titudes are a children’s shop, with a play area for children to use their imaginations and interact with one another while parents relax, shop or share stories. It’s intention is to be a community project, making it more affordable for low-income families to be able to obtain necessary baby and young children’s clothes, equipment and toys. It’s a project focused on bringing people together, where all local parents and children are welcomed in.
The Plan
What I plan to do is give as much of my time as possible to each of these charities, if they are happy for me to do so. I have already accumulated 3 hours of assistance that I must give Be@titudes from last month’s challenge, but the rest is out of the spirit of goodwill… after all – it is Christmas!
I’d like to take the opportunity to remind us all of how blessed we really are, and though some of the things we have gone through may seem too much to bear, we must always thank God that things are not worse. There is always someone better off than we, but more importantly, there is always someone worse off. Let’s do what we can to help, when we can and the world will be a better place.
“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” ― Barack Obama
Happy Christmas X