Curricular Volunteering

This course was one of the best experiences I’ve had as a student at this university. It made a huge impression on me; it was a very enriching activity that paved the way for me to get involved in volunteering, as it was the first time I’d done anything of this sort. It’s an experience I’d recommend you try, as it’s something different from my degree subject but just as important.

This Curricular Volunteering course was very rewarding, as it allowed me to discover new realities outside my social and academic circles. Helping to bring more joy and well-being to those most in need is always a good thing, and this was a constant theme throughout the course.

The Social Work of the Irmãs Oblatas helps women involved in street prostitution and/or who are victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation. These women find themselves in this situation for various reasons that have led them into a state of social exclusion, hence the need to support and assist them. The Oblate Sisters welcomed us as volunteers as part of the family, providing constant support and guidance in the activities and tasks we undertook. Our experience was enriching and we achieved our objectives with ease, largely thanks to the help we received. This experience allowed us to engage with a different reality and learn a great deal about it, alongside kind and approachable people who were always ready to share their experiences and answer our questions. As a result, our first experience of voluntary work was a positive one, fostering in us a desire to continue working for a cause with which we feel a deep connection.

This course unit proved to be a very rewarding experience for me, as it enabled me to grow as a person through my interactions with others. This, combined with the fact that I developed a sense of civic responsibility and had the opportunity to help families in this parish by providing academic support to their children, enabled me, in my view, to make a difference, as I could clearly see the happiness and personal success of each of the children who were in direct contact with me.

It was a spectacular experience that I hope to repeat very soon. It’s something I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life; it helped me grow immensely and will certainly come in very handy in the future when I have to put everything I’ve learnt into practice. I highly recommend giving it a go!! It’s normal to feel a bit nervous – I did too – but that feeling passed, and what remained was a unique sense of fulfilment.

My involvement in this course unit, ‘Curricular Volunteering’, was one of the most enriching experiences I had as a student at the Faculty of Sciences. My initial expectations were high, but I was well aware that it would be a challenging undertaking, given the need to balance my study time with my volunteering commitments. But it was so worth it! It was a new experience for me, and I gained so much both personally – through consolidating and learning different values – and professionally – through time management and forward planning. Overall, it was an experience with its ups and downs, as with everything in life, and if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that, above all, we must value what we have, the people around us, and help others, because we never know whether one day we might be the ones in need of help.

During the 2016/2017 academic year, I was one of the students enrolled on the volunteering module set up that same year by the Faculty of Sciences. For me, taking part in this initiative was a fantastic experience! I met new people. People who, even though I don’t see them often, I know will stay in my memory for a long time, and I think that’s what matters most, as it means they’ve left their mark on us in some way. It was also a wonderful feeling for me to be able to help those most in need. Simply being around people who don’t face the same daily realities as I do made me put things into perspective and think about life in a different way! For that reason alone, I feel I’ve gained something positive from my involvement. But volunteering, as well as helping others, is also about exactly that: coming into contact with other realities and making us think differently.