August 19, 2014
Summer is the time for vacation and relaxation. But at BustedHalo.com, we’ve put an emphasis on service and volunteering, encouraging young adults to take advantage of their “down time” and put it to good use! Shaheen Tokhi, one of our summer interns from Fordham University, created a list of service ideas and volunteer opportunities in “5 Ways To Make a Difference This Summer.”
We also invited our writers to share their experiences of volunteering. One of my favorites comes from Brian Harper who served as a Jesuit Volunteer in Peru. In this reflection, “Being There,” Brian reminds us that our very presence – not the walls we paint or the meals we serve – is what mission service is all about:
Being There
A few years ago, I moved to Peru to work as a teacher with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC). Each year, the school where I taught picked a tema trasversal, or transversal theme, toward which the entire academic community would strive.
I like the idea of naming a broad idea that encapsulates a particular season of life. When I consider my own tema trasversal for the year and a half I spent in Peru, I consistently arrive at “presence.” It arose almost every day during my time with JVC, rearing its head in everything from the books I read to the retreats I attended and the community activities in which I participated.
Why presence was so important is probably not mysterious. Service programs take all kinds, but volunteers frequently share an ambition to not only be someone great but to do something great. Whether starting an after-school sports program or building a library, volunteers can be prone to a “save-the-world” mentality, which, however idealistic, is generally naïve and sometimes even patronizing. Click here to continue reading.
Be sure to read Shaheen’s list and Brian’s reflection, along with the other inspiring stories of young adults taking time to live out the call to be present in the lives of those in need.