Life is short. Do Stuff that Matters.
Small Talk with Former Incoming Global Entrepreneur Vice President, AIESEC Colombo North, Pasindu Pathirana about volunteering.
Q: Hey Pasindu, how are you doing? It’s good to have you here? Tell me something about yourself?
Hi…. First, Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I’m Pasindu Pathirana. 26 years old. I graduated from the University of Kelaniya with a bachelor’s degree in Peace & Conflict Resolution. Currently, I am working as a project manager in a community service organization. I’m a straightforward, optimistic individual who is open-minded to new ideologies and diverse cultures. I am passionate about volunteering, the community service field, and language teaching.
Q: Pasindu, you’re a passionate volunteer, right? What do you think about volunteering?
Volunteering is a great platform that allows people to engage in productive activities to serve the communities in different ways. It also gives you the space to develop your own skills and leadership qualities. Volunteering provides people the opportunity to work towards the betterment of the world through engaging in decision making, planning, and implementation of various initiatives at the grassroots level, national and international level. With globalization, volunteerism has been widened its approachability to a large scale, hence you can engage in volunteerism through any field you like. For instance, if you are a social media influencer, there are plenty of volunteering opportunities in social media itself where you can use your own social media account in a productive manner. Thus, volunteering is a great way to serve the world through any field you like, while enhancing your set of skills and qualities.
Q: You got a chance to volunteer in a foreign country. Could you tell me about that experience?
Back in 2017, I got the opportunity to join an international exchange program as a global volunteer through AIESEC. Under this exchange program, I went to Vietnam for a volunteer project named “Hope for Children.” It was a six-week project where I taught English to children from economically disadvantaged families. This volunteer opportunity was designed to achieve SDG no.4, Quality Education.
This volunteer program was indeed challenging and beyond my comfort zone since it was the first time I traveled overseas all by myself. Yet it was a lifetime experience for me where I was able to shape myself into a better version while enhancing my capacities and skills. Most importantly, this volunteer opportunity gave me the chance to contribute towards achieving SDG Goal Number 4, Quality Education by enhancing the language skills of children and raising awareness on the true value of celebrating diversity & unity.
During this volunteering program, an international cultural festival was organized named “Global Village” where I was able to showcase the culture, lifestyle, values, and heritage of Sri Lanka to an international audience.
Joining this global volunteer program is one of the best decisions I made in my life.
Q: What are the key things that you learn from that program?
While working as a volunteer in Vietnam, I was able to gain new learning opportunities and improve my set of skills. For the time being, I always experienced emergency situations where I had to come up with quick and effective solutions. Thus, this volunteering experience taught me how to be solution-oriented in many instances.
As for the first time being in a foreign country, I was having a huge cultural shock during the first couple of days in Vietnam. Nevertheless, this volunteering experience taught me the importance of being adaptable and tolerant when you step into changing & unfamiliar environments.
In addition, this experience enabled me to have self-reflection. It gave me the chance to have a self-assessment of my own where I could assess myself in order for me to enhance my strengths and overcome my weaknesses. This volunteering program provided me with many practical learning opportunities to develop leadership skills and learn the true value of diversity, unity & harmony.
The skills and learnings I gained through this volunteering experience still come in handy to organize my lifestyle in a productive manner.
Q: Okay, finally tell me, what kind of advice would you like to give for the younger generation in our country regarding volunteering?
Youth are the ones who should take up spaces to make this world a better place. The young generation has the potential to make changes in their own ways.
Youth are proactive in nature and always looking for opportunities where they can play a role in decision-making and implementation mechanisms. Due to the radical traits inherited by youth, we can see how different groups are targeting youth and using those young people to fulfill their agendas. Especially, terrorist groups play a vital role in pushing youth towards wrongdoings. Thus, many youths are being used to promote violent extremism, hate speech, and another sort of wrongdoings in order to harm others physically or mentally.
One of the main reasons for such devastating phenomena is the lack of knowledge among the youth about productive opportunities. As the backbone of society, youth should think wisely when it comes to choosing their future goals and paths. Youth must ensure whatever the path they choose, it would never harm anybody physically or mentally. Youth can surely use their own radical ways to make a positive impact in society without causing harm to anybody.
Volunteering is a great thing to do in your life. It will fill you with lots of happiness and satisfaction. Because volunteering can bring a smile to many faces in the community. If we can do good things while we live, that’s all matters.
