Beyond limits
Part 2 in Red Vest podcast's series for the International Year of Volunteers. Opening doors, revealing pathways and testing the limits of the possible.
'Beyond what I normally do'
Sitting in the passenger seat of a white Red Cross land cruiser, Doctor Claricel Martinez looks out the window at a very bumpy road ahead.
It's a winding dirt and gravel road that's been severely damaged by recent flooding.
Just to the right, the torn up banks of a still rushing river show the destructive force of the floods.
Doctor Martinez is part of a small team of health personnel from the Venezuelan Red Cross who drive for hours upriver to reach remote communities cut off from health care due to the floods.
After many hours, the small convoy stops and the medical team crosses the river using a zip line cable strung across the riverbed.
With her medical bag strapped to her stomach, Martinez buckles in and is pulled across.
Once on the other side, the team gets to work assessing needs, setting broken limbs, and even doing surgical operations in a makeshift operating room. It's difficult, stressful, but rewarding work.
"How do i feel? I feel happy," she says. "I feel proud that i was included, that i have been given this opportunity and do even more than what i normally do at my local branch."
Dr. Martinez' story is just one of many stories, captured in this episode of Red Vest podcast, in which we explore the many ways volunteering opens new doors, exposes new pathways and opportunities, and even tests the limits of what people thought was possible.
'I can't cure, but I can teach'
For Sotiris, the volunteer journey offered a new start during a difficult time. Eight years later, his dedication continues.
Before taking on this tutoring job at a welcome center for refugees in Geneva, Switzwerland, Sotiris never thought of himself as a teacher per se. After all, he was trained as an architect.
But volunteering provided him with a purpose and a feeling of self worth during a difficult time in his own life.
Volunteering helped him find a sense of belonging, purpose and community in his adopted home.
It’s a theme that comes up often in this episode of Red Vest podcast. Volunteering gives people opportunities to expand their competence, andtheir confidence, even as they push themselves beyond their own expectations of what's possible.
"When I help the children you see the gratitude in their eyes and when they do the small jokes with you, it's so gratifying that it's like you forget everything.
You forget about the fact that you travelled two hours to get there. You forget the fact that you are tired, that you're going to return home late.
You forget everything because it's so gratifying. I cannot explain it to you in words."
Is that why you keep doing it?
"I like helping people, because I see the love inside and IO want to fulfill my days with love.
And it's like when you love someone, the two greatest things that you can do to help him is to teach him or cure him. I'm not a doctor. I cannot cure anyone, but I can teach."
Untold stories, local impact
We’re share these stories during the International Year of Volunteers because too often these stories go untold, or they are simply ignored.
This is despite the fact that locally based volunteers are absolutely critical, not only to every emergencies, but to providing local responses to very complex social challenges. And it's local volunteers and first responders who usually lead the way during even the most catastrophic of crises.
Local, everywhere
In fact, around the world, the vast majority of volunteers are people who are helping others right in communities where they live. It’s those local volunteers who are caring for people, teaching, providing food – even saving lives – on a daily basis.
Even in the case of a major natural disaster where considerable resources and rescue teams are coming from far away, the vast majority of first responders are still from the local area.
But that also means the first responders are impacted by the same wildfires, the same floods, earthquakes or conflict as the neighbors they are seeking to help.
Three other volunteers you’ll hear from in this episode, are perfect examples. Eithinzar Khaing, Thet Ko Ko and Soe Soe Mon were going about their daily lives when a massive earthquake, and many subsequent aftershocks, shook their region of Myanmar in March of 2025, claiming many lives and causing widespread destruction.
Thanks for volunteering your time to listen to this episode of Red Vest podcast.
In coming episodes in our International Year of Volunteers series, we will go further into exploring the many risks and dangers volunteers face, as well as the global efforts to support their work and protect them from harm – particularly during emergencies and armed conflicts.
Red Vest podcast is a production of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the IFRC. In each episode we take you on an immersive audio journey into communities around the world where ordinary people doing extraordinary things to make their world a better place.
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