ANALYSIS
Volunteers are Priceless
Author: Habitat for Humanity Macedonia (HFH Macedonia)
Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.
~Sherry Anderson
Volunteers and volunteering in any country should
be viewed as a source of enormous human potential
that can be mobilized to continuously help build social and human capital. Volunteers can make a profound contribution to all aspects of life, the world
over.
Habitat for Humanity International (or Habitat) places a strong emphasis on building homes around the
world. The organization develops and supports special programs to engage volunteers from all walks of
life in its mission and activities.
Formally established in 1988, the Global Village volunteering program (GV) helps volunteers around
the world fundraise and logistically support volunteer-focused travel to their destinations of choice.
GV volunteers are provided with the unique opportunity to provide safe, decent and affordable homes
to those in need, while also travelling around the
world, experiencing other countries and cultures.
Their participation helps keep building costs for the
partner families as low as possible and enables personal interaction between the families being helped
and volunteers, giving them a sense of satisfaction
while working to help others. The GV program provides a platform for volunteers to create lasting relationships amongst each other, the people they help
as well as to learn more about the effects of substandard housing.
Volunteer teams from around the world come together through Habitat’s online system and usually consist
of 8-15 members on trips that last between 9-14 days.
GV trips are open to all enthusiastic and motivated
people; no other skills are required! Some of the most
common volunteer tasks are mixing concrete or mortar, laying blocks, making window frames, digging
foundations, plastering, painting and gardening. All
expenses are paid by the volunteers themselves, including their travel, accommodation and cash donation towards the project they will work on.
Promoting Volunteerism
in Macedonia
HFH Macedonia is a housing
organization dedicated to providing simple, decent and affordable housing solutions for
low income families living in
substandard conditions. As an
affiliate of Habitat since 2004,
HFH Macedonia has helped
5,108 families with housing improvement and 5,645 in housing support services, contributing to the 800,000 total number of partner famiies that
Habitat helps worldwide.
International volunteers working on a Habitat build site in Veles, 5