Volunteering Through Storms and Drizzle

Sri Lanka is a tiny island 30km off the southern coast of India, home to a whopping 21 million people. Best known for its tea, wild life and fantastic weather, Sri Lanka also has one of the fastest growing economies, a highly skilled workforce and an abundance of natural resources. Sadly, for the second year in a row the nation is battling with severe monsoon rains, resulting in 1/3 of the island to be affected by floods and landslides causing over 200 casualties with the death toll and mass scale property destruction rising as I type. As a developing nation with very limited resources and infrastructure for crisis management, still haunted by ghosts of 3 decades of civil war, often these situations are mitigated through the manpower of thousands of everyday citizens, in other words ‘volunteers’. With government officials, the military and relevant authorities being stretched to breaking point, it is very common to see university students, youth organizations, religious communities, media corporations and numerous businesses, mobilizing to provide relief and help in the most creative and vital manners. Unlike the deceptive politicians who emerge from ivory towers to capitalize on these situations to increase their electorate, it is surreal to see everyday people with nothing to gain offering the most valuable commodity of all, their time, to help those whose lives have been upheaved by Monsoon Bora.

While countless acts were being carried across the nations by multitudes of amazing individuals, there was one in particular which really struck a chord with me. It was a short video shot during the morning rush hour in the busiest train station of Sri Lanka, the Fort railway station. It showed thousands of commuters arriving in the morning, pausing for a moment to reach into their bag-packs/handbags/briefcases, take out wrapped packs of cooked lunch and leave them on tables set out on platforms and throughout the train station, before rushing off in their direction of work. As it turns out a group of university students had initiated a Facebook campaign in which they requested all those who could to bring an extra packed lunch with them and hand it over at the train station. Following the rush hour, the thousands of packed lunches collected were delivered with the help of the Sri Lankan Airforce to those affected by the floods. Because the fact of the matter is until sustainable, long-term measures were taken to rebuild infrastructure and restore day to day lives of those affected, they still needed to eat. So as a nation that eats rice and curry for lunch every day, this initiative of bringing an extra packed lunch was indeed a wonderfully brilliant mechanism of ensuring thousands of displaced people received at least one home cooked meal per day during this time of need.

In a world where volunteering comes in many shapes and forms from doctors without borders to girl scouts selling cookies, I found the above example of an extra packed lunch for Monsoon Bora victims particularly significant for this reason. It showed how the smallest of actions can bring about powerful outcomes. I was recently part of a research team, which conducted a series of interviews regarding the Syrian refugee crisis. My target group of interviewees consisted of successful and talented citizens with wonderful personalities residing in Finland. One of the main questions raised or thoughts said out loud during these interviews by these subjects was “I mean, what can I really do?” Often prone to the same line of thinking, I believe the thought of volunteering can make us passive and doubt our capacity to contribute because we think too big too fast. We often forget that we do not have to quit our day jobs, say good bye to our loved ones and travel thousands of miles to make a tangible difference. More often than we think, what volunteering really requires is our time, passion and creativity.

No matter how much we deny or take it for granted we all have that one skill, competence or expert knowledge about something or the other, we could share. It could be on dressmaking, Photoshop, international human rights law, languages or playing the guitar. It may be our ability to lead a summer camp, invite someone over for a warm meal or repair cycles. The key is that we are willing to spend our time and energy, engaging in a selfless act in which the sole purpose is to positively impact another human being, an animal or the environment. The beauty of it all is volunteering doesn’t simply create a sustainable pipeline of those who give, receive and improve. It also leads to empathy and compassion. To knowing who our neighbours are and the make-up of our communities. To care about something or someone other than ourselves. To strive to improve our own skills, dedicate to our passions and stand up for what we believe in. Volunteering allows us to take a step back from the auto-pilot mode of work, Netflix and social media, and comprehend that in the grand scale of this great big world and our otherwise insignificant existence, the only true change, tangible difference and everlasting mark we can make is right now, and right here, if we simply offered our help. As Lt. Col. James Doolittle said in Pearl Harbour (2001), "there's nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer".

[Back dated to 2/6/17, initially written for a local writing competition]