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► What the students say
“Volunteering was a whole new experience for me. I started this with St. Hilda community centre with an oral history memories project which involved conducting interviews and making transcripts to store in the archive. I had the opportunity to talk to people about their childhood days and their view of the world then and now. We were trained by a professional of oral history about how to conduct interviews and prepare transcripts. This was a learning experience where I met new people from different backgrounds and cultures and got to know their view point about the history and the people involved with it. I feel privileged to be a part of this memories project”. S.D
“I've really enjoyed volunteering, giving up a few hours in my local community. Working outdoors at allotments which is something new to me. I've tried something new and enjoyed it and it's quite rewarding when you see the work completed by the efforts made after a few hours. Volunteering also gives me the opportunity to meet new people from UEL which are studying different courses”. R.E
“Volunteering is a worthwhile experience full of life knowledge and education. I have chosen to volunteer as it has exposed me to better understanding of life and humanitarian services.
Volunteering has brought out more value of my life, it makes me to be more confident and believing I can do any job, even the most difficult activities and jobs.” D.O
“I want to say thanks for the project which helped a lot making me realise I also know how to paint but needed a start with today being the confirmation and hopefully subsequent ones in other fields. It was more or less like a gym to me with the addition of team spirit, togetherness, fun thus building up our mental, physical, social and volunteering status.
I look forward to working with you in subsequent events as we can collectively extend this exercise by liaising together.” O.E
“Volunteering is a very rewarding experience not only because through your skills you could be potentially making a difference to someone’s life but also because of the new skills and experience you will pick up on the way. As a volunteer I have had the opportunity to work within organisations which probably would not have been possible if I had taken the conventional paid route.
I am currently volunteering with an organisation called Aanchal, this is an Asian women’s organisation that revolves around domestic violence issues in the Asian community - it aims to give Asian women a voice. If I had not volunteered with them I would never have had the opportunity to work with vulnerable women, emotionally support them and gain enhanced listening skills. In addition I learn about the law within an applied context instead of learning it from a text book as I do in my degree. I also do mentoring where I support older women with their English and ICT skills; it really is rewarding to see them apply these new skills in their day to day lives.
Volunteering makes you appreciate yourself as a person, it helps you to share your skills and indeed learn more skills and gain valuable experience within your areas of interest. UEL offers loads of opportunities you could learn how to save a life volunteering with St Johns Ambulance or you could gain that admin experience you need to get that job you really want. To me volunteering is the most amazing thing you could do not only for what you will gain in terms of experience but also because it gives you the edge over other graduates, employers are always really impressed by my volunteering work".!S.K, recipient of VCG award 2011
"I'm writing this, to thank you for all the support, help and encouragement that you provided me. Being an international student this country, university, culture, people everything was new to me. I was so scared initially, whether I'll be able to survive or not but, you helped me like anything (getting volunteer jobs, participating in various events, attending workshops, meeting and working with professionals from diverse fields, working in UELSU's events and projects etc).Today I came to knew that you nominated me for Adult Learners Achievement Award and by GOD grace, I'm going to receive that award.Nothing would have been possible without your support and encouragement.You really made my experience of UEL nice and memorable.Once again, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING. N.B
