Volunteering
You've probably volunteered in the U.S. before, and in many different ways. US Americans love volunteering, and they make it easy to do. After all, who doesn't love free labor?
The Germans, that's who.
Okay so maybe that's dramatic. But! It really is drastically different in the Vaterland.
As part of the CBYX program year, we were all required to do 40 hours of Ehrenamt (volunteer service) during the university phase of the program. This didn't mean "show up and volunteer," this meant find places that accept volunteers, figure out who to contact, schedule an introductory meeting, figure out if there are issues with insurance, then show up and volunteer.
I recall hearing discussions about how difficult it was to find volunteer work, but I figured that there would be plenty of opportunities in Hamburg due to the size of the city. In large part, I was right. My friends and I in Hamburg really had no issues finding places to volunteer--they worked at refugee centers, soup kitchens, and the Red Cross, and I found a cozy spot the the Zentrum GenderWissen an der Uni Hamburg (the Center for Gender Studies at the University of Hamburg).
Originally, I was planning on volunteering at a refugee center. I figured it would be relatively straightforward, I'd build some good relationships, and I'd make at least a slight impact in someone's life. One day, though, I was discussing CBYX with my advisor at the HAW, and she said she'd reach out to a few people to see if they could use a volunteer. A couple weeks later, she gave me the info for a woman at the Uni Hamburg and told me to set up an appointment to see her. Unsurprisingly, I did just that.
During my volunteer hours, I ended up learning a lot about how gender and gender-related issues are studied at German universities, and everyone I worked with was incredibly nice. One thing that surprised me was that, though they accepted me as a volunteer, they really had nothing for me to do. It was sort of a scramble every time I walked into the door to figure out a task for me. Eventually, I mentioned that I had some limited design capabilities, and that I would be more than happy to redesign any flyers or information packets with which they weren't satisfied. This ended up being my task, and made for a relatively enjoyable 40 hours of service.
I, once again, got lucky with my opportunity. Sometimes volunteer work is really hard to find, sometimes it's only available on an infrequent basis, sometimes it's not exactly what you'd prefer to be doing. This is to be expected, and the GIZ told us so. Nevertheless, we received a slew of emails as the end of the University Phase approached, reminding us to get our hours in. They were understanding of differing situations regarding work availability, but they were not patient if you just procrastinated.
It's surprisingly easy to procrastinate this part of the program. After all, it's only 40 hours and you've got 4 months to do it. I mean, yeah, but at least two weeks of those 4 months are going to be spent finding a place to volunteer, two more are just for the holidays, there's the days you plan to travel... it's not as much as you might think, so vorsicht, bitte.
Though it may not seem like one of the cruxes of the program, the volunteer requirement does allow you some time to explore something that may not exactly have to do with professional development. I appreciated the chance to learn about how the Germans approach a topic that interests me, practicing my German related to gender and gender studies, and altogether having something other to do than just go to class. Volunteering is a great opportunity to learn about German culture in lots of different ways--don't miss it.
The Germans, that's who.
Okay so maybe that's dramatic. But! It really is drastically different in the Vaterland.
As part of the CBYX program year, we were all required to do 40 hours of Ehrenamt (volunteer service) during the university phase of the program. This didn't mean "show up and volunteer," this meant find places that accept volunteers, figure out who to contact, schedule an introductory meeting, figure out if there are issues with insurance, then show up and volunteer.
I recall hearing discussions about how difficult it was to find volunteer work, but I figured that there would be plenty of opportunities in Hamburg due to the size of the city. In large part, I was right. My friends and I in Hamburg really had no issues finding places to volunteer--they worked at refugee centers, soup kitchens, and the Red Cross, and I found a cozy spot the the Zentrum GenderWissen an der Uni Hamburg (the Center for Gender Studies at the University of Hamburg).
Originally, I was planning on volunteering at a refugee center. I figured it would be relatively straightforward, I'd build some good relationships, and I'd make at least a slight impact in someone's life. One day, though, I was discussing CBYX with my advisor at the HAW, and she said she'd reach out to a few people to see if they could use a volunteer. A couple weeks later, she gave me the info for a woman at the Uni Hamburg and told me to set up an appointment to see her. Unsurprisingly, I did just that.
During my volunteer hours, I ended up learning a lot about how gender and gender-related issues are studied at German universities, and everyone I worked with was incredibly nice. One thing that surprised me was that, though they accepted me as a volunteer, they really had nothing for me to do. It was sort of a scramble every time I walked into the door to figure out a task for me. Eventually, I mentioned that I had some limited design capabilities, and that I would be more than happy to redesign any flyers or information packets with which they weren't satisfied. This ended up being my task, and made for a relatively enjoyable 40 hours of service.
I, once again, got lucky with my opportunity. Sometimes volunteer work is really hard to find, sometimes it's only available on an infrequent basis, sometimes it's not exactly what you'd prefer to be doing. This is to be expected, and the GIZ told us so. Nevertheless, we received a slew of emails as the end of the University Phase approached, reminding us to get our hours in. They were understanding of differing situations regarding work availability, but they were not patient if you just procrastinated.
It's surprisingly easy to procrastinate this part of the program. After all, it's only 40 hours and you've got 4 months to do it. I mean, yeah, but at least two weeks of those 4 months are going to be spent finding a place to volunteer, two more are just for the holidays, there's the days you plan to travel... it's not as much as you might think, so vorsicht, bitte.
Though it may not seem like one of the cruxes of the program, the volunteer requirement does allow you some time to explore something that may not exactly have to do with professional development. I appreciated the chance to learn about how the Germans approach a topic that interests me, practicing my German related to gender and gender studies, and altogether having something other to do than just go to class. Volunteering is a great opportunity to learn about German culture in lots of different ways--don't miss it.
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