My name is Ookeditse, I prefer to be called by my other name Tinah as most people find it difficult to pronounce the 1st one.
As a young resident of Rathmore in Wicklow Town I decided to get active by being part of the community by volunteering. It’s been an exciting, beautiful journey. One day, I will share a full story of how I got to where I am today.
Volunteering has been a significant part of my life, career development, personal development, and social development. I must say over 70% of my network or friends who know me now, would be those I have volunteered with on various projects or we met during different volunteer engagements e.g. Community Clean-up in the small town of Ashford, Irish Hospice event in beautiful Avondale, St Patrick’s Day Parade in Wicklow Town, Grow With Lakers event in Bray, St Saviour Easter Fun Day event in Arklow and so forth.
I volunteered for every opportunity that came before me, whether I was qualified for it or not, I took it. The good thing about it, is that I was given training, and everyone was so friendly, so welcoming and supportive in all areas. I even meet Minister Simon Harris! Who knew I would get to meet with a Minister, he came over to where my team was volunteering to meet us. We were so humbled.
I went to Bray and Arklow for the first time when I volunteered there. What beautiful places to visit. Me and my team were taught that communication and time management are important, my team was the best when it came to time management! We are so dedicated, and working with friendly people was so giving. It is true what they say, “everything works together when done as a team”. Although language was a barrier, we were always a winning team.
Volunteering is important because your life changes for the better, new languages, new mindset, new culture, and new life. If you think of making a career change, volunteering can give you the opportunity to try different tasks and work that you may not get exposure to in a typical paid capacity. It can offer you the chance to learn new skills that could be applicable to future job opportunities. It offers the opportunity to develop personal and professional relationships that you would not necessarily have been exposed to otherwise. You will never know who you will meet, and they could be helpful for your career growth. It helps you stay humble.
It is all too easy to become wrapped up in your own world and begin to take yourself too seriously. It opens your eyes to other ways of living and the importance of remembering that we are all small cogs in a very big wheel. Volunteering can help you to realise how lucky you are and instill a positive attitude, which is always an advantage when you are job hunting.