Life is better when you volunteer

Mihovil Frater, 27 years old, is a computer engineer  and in the last two years he has been volunteering with Volunteers’ Centre Zagreb (VCZ). Officially founded in 1998, VCZ has its roots in the Croatian Anti-War campaign in 1996, when the first foreign volunteers arrived in the town of Pakrac to help rebuild war-devastated areas. VCZ  promotes volunteering through organizing and coordinating international volunteer work camps in various parts of Croatia and since 2001 has been mainly focused on the development of local volunteering activities.

Why did you start volunteering?

I first volunteered in 2005 in a student organization called Best (http://www.best.eu.org/index.jsp). It was an international organization and there was the chance to travel. I thought it might be an easy way to get to know new people and different cultures.

And now what do you do?

With VCZ I volunteer four hours a week, both in a handicraft workshop with homeless people and in a center where I help primary and secondary school children in learning. With the homeless people we create simple art handicraft that we can sell. We wanted to do something easy in order to get as many homeless as possible to join. This group has now been together for quite a while and we have become friends. This is very important, it should make them feel that they are more accepted by society.

What do you value the most about this experience, both at a personal and professional level?

At a professional level I’ve improved my communication skills, I can now communicate more efficiently and I also gained experience in leadership. Besides I had the chance to meet many people. Many volunteers are really stimulating, they have interesting experiences they can share and you can learn a lot from them. I must say that my job doesn’t fulfill me as much as those few hours a week that I spend volunteering . I feel that these volunteering activities are more important than my actual job in a way.

What do you expect from the European year of volunteering?

I expect volunteering to be promoted, so that more people can learn more about it. In my country volunteering is not perceived as an activity worth doing, when you say you volunteer, sometimes people say, “ok and how much money do you get?” When you explain that you don’t get paid, they say they’re not interested. I think people are not aware of all the benefits they can get and the European Year could be a great opportunity to promote the benefits of volunteering to more people.

http://www.vcz.hr/