|
Volunteer stories |
 Volunteer Paulina Paulina thoroughly enjoys being a volunteer with Herts Welcomes Refugees. She is originally from the Netherlands, so has some experience of what it’s like to live in a different country from where she was born. In her working life, she teaches ESOL and English Academic Skills in Hertfordshire. Here Paulina talks about the impact of volunteering and how the time spent with local asylum seekers benefits volunteers too. “Everything we do contributes to emotional and wellbeing support, me giving a friendly smile or a thumbs up to some of the learners in class when they get the correct answers, the learners agreeing with each other when one person is describing a familiar situation, sharing knowledge of local towns, group work in class, sharing familiar words in different languages, … the list goes on. And don’t forget the happiness they give us in return when they smile after their lesson saying how happy they were with the materials we covered in class. I absolutely love spending my time with everyone from the hostel.” Thank you, Paulina, for sharing this positive view of the impact of volunteering and how it helps both the refugees you teach and what they give in return. |