5 December: International Volunteer Day

Annually International Volunteer Day is celebrated on 5 December. The United Nations (UN) established International Volunteer Day (IVD) in 1985 to celebrate the power and potential of volunteerism.

The 2016 theme for International Volunteer Day is ‘Global Applause’ – to give volunteers applause, a hand, a clap, or a pat on the back. It recognizes volunteers worldwide and all they do in making peace, providing good will, and sustainable development support. Not just UN volunteers, but all volunteers around the world, especially in your local community.

A 2006 Australian study found that the portion of adult Australians who volunteered increased from 24% in 1995 to 41% in 2004, and the number of hours of time volunteered increased by more than 50% during this period. This was one of the highest rates of volunteerism in the world.

A Good Health studyin 2011 indicated that volunteers experience ‘helper’s high’ (a sense of satisfaction), according to MRI brain scans. It seems that ‘focusing on others causes a shift from self-preoccupation to empathy and sympathy that reduces stress-related issues.’ Kindness is also said to stimulate the vagus nerve, which controls the heart rate, therefore reducing blood pressure and inflammation.

Health benefits of philanthropy and volunteering time include: alleviating depression in both the short term and the long term; being more satisfied with life, with a stronger will to live; alleviating anxiety with fewer psychological symptoms; extending the longevity of a person’s life; stimulating the hormone oxytocin, which protects against hardening of the arteries, dilates blood vessels, reduces blood pressure, and helps the heart to regenerate after damage; and general overall happiness.

https://www.unv.org/international-volunteer-day-2016

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog