As well as my reviews I am now going to start including my experiences when completing my voluntary work. I have previously volunteered for my local Marie Curie hospice, but I want to experience a wide range of areas and work with as many different people as possible. Therefore more recently I have started volunteering for a local charity who work with disabled children.
I now spend my Friday evenings taking a group of children, most with mild disabilities, though some are severe, with the help of 8 other volunteers ice skating. I can honestly say that it has to be the most rewarding thing I have ever done, because after merely a few hours with these children you leave with a huge sense of accomplishment, knowing you have improved their day.
Obviously due to privacy for the children who I volunteer with I will not mention either there names or delve into too much detail of the conditions, as frankly I think it unnecessary. I will however include on my blog moments that have inspired me, and have taught me something new.
I find it very hard to believe that the children I volunteer with have disabilities, some as extreme as severe autism, because they are the most polite, kind and entertaining children I have ever met, who coincidentally are a thousand times better at ice skating than myself. One of the biggest lessons I have learnt from them so far is that as teenagers we have a tendency to 'sweat about the small stuff' - I believe that is the correct phrase - because these children despite their disabilities always have a smile on their face. To me they are truly inspirational and never fail to make me laugh.
One such example is last week, whilst sitting in the cafe with the two children who I was watching that evening, another of my fellow volunteers came and sat with us, and commented on how 'who has all that vinegar on their chips, my nose is burning out', one of the children I was watching then looked up from his plate of vinegar drowned chips, with a sheepish smile, to ask what exactly vinegar was. The reply from my fellow volunteer was that vinegar was gone off alcohol, before I could correct him though that it was actually a mixture of liquids including acetic acid, the boy had jumped up off his seat and proceeded to stagger around the cafe, flailing his arms in the air. When I asked what he was doing, he simply replied, between his fits of laughter, "all that gone off alcohol made me drunk!"
To me it is the little moments like this that will stay with me, and remind me that the voluntary work that I am doing really is changing, shaping and allowing me to grow as a person. Simple moments, like this inspire me hugely and make me extremely grateful to know that hopefully I am improving these live's of these children, even if it is through simple comments about gone off alcohol, more commonly known as vinegar...
No comments:
Post a Comment