Being a volunteer at Road of Hope is also a way to create bounds within the team and also learn about how to work with other cultures in a multicultural environment. That was one of the goals of the volunteer gathering meeting held this last 25 of February at De Honingraat (1063 JN, Amsterdam).
A total of 10 volunteers, from different nationalities, met for our first volunteer gathering of the year. On the programme: presentation of the volunteers, animation games, and initiation on how to work with other cultures.
Can you describe your culture in terms of rituals, customs, and language? That was the question that Patricia, the founder and executive director of Road of Hope, asked our volunteer. Thinking deeply about our culture is not something that we do every day but it allows us to understand how our own culture and those of others work.
“I really appreciate learning about cultural differences, it helped me to have a better understanding of why people from a different cultural act the way they act” confides Manon, one of the volunteers. Working with refugees means working with people that may not have the same professional habits and standards as us. Is it essential for volunteers to, first, be aware of the multicultural environment they are working in and then learn how to approach the differences and similarities of diverse cultures in their work and relationship with their teammates.
Another volunteer gathering was held on Saturday 11th of March with Ana Luz, the head of Road of Hope’s communication team, who talked about the “basics of covering”. For a non-profit organization, where all the work is maintained through donations, documenting activities often needs to be part of the daily lives of volunteers. In Road of Hope, it’s not different. In this workshop, the volunteers learned a few tips about how to make registers (photography and text) in a confident, reliable, and intentional way.
Want to become a volunteer at Road of Hope? Check our dedicated Webpage.