Speeches,
dancing and mingling with other volunteers. This is how the
Armenian Red Cross Society (ARCS) celebrated the day of voluntarism
2004.
"To be a volunteer is to work for people who need you,
without getting paid. It gives me a lot to help others, and
that is why we are continuing our work," said Mary Dagesyan,
a youth volunteer for the ARCS.
Friday 3rd of December, the Armenian Red Cross Society invited
all its volunteers to celebrate themselves and the important
work they are doing. A vast majority were youth, as almost all
the volunteers of the ARCS are young people. In addition, volunteers
from other NGOs were invited to spend the day in the ARCS headquarters.
Not always appreciated
Emma Khatchatryan, an experienced youth volunteer, talked about
voluntarism in a world perspective, and stressed the importance
of the added value of the work of volunteers all over the world.
"The world would have been a worse place if it hadn't been
for the volunteers. The sad thing is that the work of the volunteers
very often is not appreciated properly by their leaders,"
Emma said. "Still, your experience as a volunteer might
be important for your future job," she added.
This was confirmed by the former leader of the Armenian Red
Cross Youth, Karapet Beglaryan, who is now a member of the Armenian
Parliament. "My time in the Red Cross was the best years
of my youth. It gave me a broad experience that was essential
for my future carrier. I will do my best to help improve the
appreciation of the volunteers in the future," he said.
Every third person…
Emma announced that according to statistics, every third person
in the world does some kind of voluntary work during her or
his lifetime. The audience clapped spontaneously.
Following Emma's speech, the audience got to know the projects
and activities implemented by volunteers in Norway, as there
are two youth delegates from the Norwegian Red Cross working
in the Youth Department of the ARCS..
The presentation of voluntarism came to an end with a video
from this years summer camp on the shores of Lake Sevan. This
is an annual project implemented by the Armenian Red Cross Youth,
where volunteers from different parts of the world work together
to clean the big lake.
Dancing volunteers
After finishing the presentation, there was the typical mingling
and chatting over canapés. However, the celebration had still
not reached its climax. Most of the volunteers continued the
party in the Safari discotheque, where both ten-years-olds and
fifty-years-olds enjoyed the rhythms from the DJ. At the dance
floor the happy bodies of volunteers were moving and shaking
to the music. As Armenia is a junction between east and west,
the dancing-queens and -kings danced into the night both to
Armenian, Arabic, American and European music, celebrating each
other, and the spirit of voluntarism. At least the volunteers
know how to appreciate each other.
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International Day of Volunteering was celebrated in Armenia
Red Cross Society by current and former volunteers. In
front to the left sits the former leader of the Armenian
Red Cross Youth, Karapet Beglaryan, who is now a member
of the Armenial Parlament.
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| Emma
Khatchatryan, an experienced youth volunteer, talked about
volunteering in a world perspective. "Every third
person in the world will do some kind of volunteer work
in his or her lifetime," she said. |
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| After
the speeches, presentations and canapés, the volunteers
danced the night away at the Safari disco.
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