Jordanians herald individual, social benefits of volunteerism

AMMAN — On the occasion of International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development 2019 (#IVD2019), which falls on Thursday, several Jordanian volunteers expressed the benefits of voluntary work.

Suhaib Rasmi, a 23-year-old volunteer who works a start-up that collects and resells recyclable waste, said that his personal experience in volunteering helped him develop public speaking skills, noting that now he does not mind standing in front of an audience to deliver a presentation, whether in Arabic or English.

“I even learned about feasibility studies and cash flow, and I had the chance to learn research skills, because we need to learn about certain types of plastics, their impact on the environment and a lot more,” the volunteer told The Jordan Times.

Volunteering helped Rasmi not only build skills and expand on his studies in civil engineering; he said it also helped him develop connections through his work that he feels he can rely on in the future.

He added that he graduated recently and was involved in volunteer work even as a student, mainly working at a rest home for the elderly. 

For her part, Dima Imresih, who is currently a senior HR officer at a company, said that when she was a student at the University of Jordan, she volunteered with an organisation called “Bil Arabic” (un Arabic).

“Volunteering is a great way to dedicate your time to doing something useful while sharpening your skills and making connections. To me, there is a distinction between students who volunteer and those who do not, especially in communication skills,” Imreish said.

She added that sometimes, volunteering opens opportunities for jobs, allowing those who volunteered in a certain field to continue working in it because of the exposure they got during their volunteer time. 

“I believe all the skills I learned while volunteering are still helping me to this day in HR, especially in regards to basic skills of time management and even leadership,” she said, adding that any volunteer work in any field boosts a person’s communication skills as well.

Afnan Hammad, who studied at the Hashemite University, said that even at a campus far from services, she still found it easy to find volunteer opportunities and “enjoyed doing a variety of tasks”.

“My personal favourite part about volunteering is the socialising it involves. I enjoy talking to all kinds of people and learning from them and about them; everyone has a part and a role to perform” she said.

Hammad added that a simple search of “volunteering opportunities in Jordan” in Arabic would bring tonnes of results of places a person can apply to.

UN Volunteer is marking #IVD2019 with the theme ‘Volunteer for an inclusive future’, highlighting SDG 10 and the pursuit of equality – including inclusion – through volunteerism, according to the UN Volunteer website. 

Volunteering, it said, provides opportunities for people to “concretely impact” their own lives and play a constructive role in their communities.