Confessions of a Volunteer Addict

Forgive me all for I have sinned… it has been over 2 months since I last volunteered!

This has to be a record, and as a ‘supposed volunteer addict,’ I feel guilty, lazy and miserable.

Life without volunteering is like travelling without a backpack, like being in a desert without water, site-seeing without a camera… all experiences no one should EVER go through.

I have been wondering what these feelings of longing have been and it finally hit me yesterday when I got an email from a friend in Nepal asking me to look over some fundraising proposals and charity strategies. The feelings of excitement, elation, relief overwhelmed me and I realised this is what has been wrong … I had been missing, needing, craving volunteering

And so I’m hear-by making a pact… NEVER to go so long without volunteering again, and I ask you guys to hold me to this!

The last volunteering I did was 2 weeks in Sadhana Forest in East India at the end of August, a blog that is also waiting to be written but on its way. Since then I have been back in England for 6 weeks, catching up with friends and family, eating my favourite foods and enjoying the luxuries of washing machines and duvets. For the last three weeks, I have been back on the road travelling across Sri Lanka. I had been hoping to volunteer for two weeks for SL Volunteers, a brilliant charity supporting disabled children in Sri Lanka… sadly they were full and it didn’t work out. I recommend you take a look though if you are interested in volunteering in Sri Lanka, just plan a bit more in advance than I did 🙂

I had known volunteering for short periods of time without paying crazy amounts would be tough, but it’s REALLY tough! But I will not give up … an addict will do anything to get their next fix and so the search continues.

As I write this I am on a plane to my next destination of Malaysia, where I will be joining a boat for a few weeks to sail up the Western coast to Thailand. I am imagining that volunteering while at sea is going to make things extra tough so I have decided to focus my energy on virtual volunteering until I am on dry land again with a few more contacts and projects to seek out.

So readers … if you know of any charities that need some virtual volunteers, to write, edit, comment, evaluate, strategize or anything else I can do from my laptop and wifi dongle then please get in touch.

If you are having similar pangs of longing then check out this new campaign I have seen being advertised a lot on twitter recently … Give an Hour!

Until next time folks!