Lenara Serazheva
English Composition II
May 11, 2014
Can Voluntarism Make a Difference? Thousands of people around the world volunteer their time and skills to improve the lives of the less fortunate. Students, civic groups and retirees are many of the groups that respond to the call to volunteer. Volunteerism can be done locally, but sometimes volunteerism takes place in distant places. Some volunteers spend weeks, months and sometimes years, helping organizations and less fortunate communities. Some people argue that some volunteers do this type of work, not to help others but only to help themselves. Does volunteerism help or harm communities, who are looking for assistance from volunteers? Volunteerism is a great opportunity for everyone to get experience in the field. It is a great opportunity to give back and to get experience dealing with issues they may not see in their daily lives. Also it is an excellent way of learning about other cultures, and the less fortunate and the issues that they face. Volunteering is the easiest way to get involved by using your knowledge and skills to help others. Often, I volunteer with local not for profit groups assisting them with events or whatever they need to accomplish. I am always looking for something that I can volunteer my time and skills as a way of giving back to the community. Although volunteers receive no monetary reward, knowing that they are doing something good to benefit everyone rewards them. Also, it is a great way of networking with others, who may share your same views. I volunteer because I see it as a need, but some volunteers may do it for the wrong reasons, which could be an ethical problem and create issues for those who they are trying to help. Volunteering is a call, it is something that many find as necessary to help the less fortunate. Many groups go overseas to less developed countries; to conduct many needed tasks, to improve the lives of the communities that they visit. From building schools, roads and churches, these are some of the tasks that different groups of volunteers undertake in the time spent volunteering. Like anything, if it is done for the love of volunteering and help others, then, those are the right reasons to get involved. Some argue, that many volunteers seek opportunities to volunteer for the wrong reasons, from traveling the world to fulfill their own personal needs rather than the needs of those who need help. This could lead to cultural insensitivity when dealing with others, and perhaps imposing views on the people that the volunteers are trying to help. Although, some volunteers are only thinking about themselves, we must look at the overall picture and the good that volunteers do. Without volunteers reaching out to the ends of the earth, many communities would not have access to required and needed assistance. Volunteering has been a great and useful tool that has been used for many years to improve the lives of others. Whether, at the local level or worldwide, volunteers are needed to continue the work that is needed to improve the lives of the less fortunate. For those reasons, I think, that volunteerism is an important and helpful opportunity for volunteers to get needed experience and for communities to receive needed assistance to improve their population’s lives.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/29/can-voluntourism-make-a-difference