Blog / Dancing in the park and other volunteer adventures

Dancing in the park and other volunteer adventures

Serve The City volunteers

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to volunteer abroad?

Under a warm summer sun in the middle of a Belgian park filled with refugees, Sayed from Cairo began to teach us how to do dance Egyptian-style. As the music played, I couldn’t help think when I signed up to Serve the City’s Big Volunteer Week, this definitely was not what I pictured!

Yet that moment taught me one of the greatest lessons I carry from that week – the importance of relationships.

We handed out food to people who only have the street for their bed and painted rooms for refugees far from home. Actions which are important. But connecting on a human level, remembering a person’s name, listening to their story – these are the moments which stay with me.

Serve the City volunteers making sandwhiches
Making sandwiches for migrant communities

Serve the City’s Big Volunteer Week

In July 2019, hundreds of people arrived in Belgium to volunteer their time and talents for Serve the CIty, one of Activate International’s partners. From teenagers to grandparents, these amazing volunteers showed up and walked out kindness in practical ways to serve homeless, migrant, and refugee communities.

Darline and Amanda, both from Virginia, were among those volunteering.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” shared Amanda. “I’ve been working with kids for many years and I wanted to do something different. I wanted to travel, to get away and serve as I just needed a break from the norm. My hope is for my eyes to be open more to the world, its needs and break our own stereotypes…I wanted to come and help.”

“I think what Serve The City does is that it provides an opportunity for someone who is may be thinking, ‘I like missions but I’m not sure,’” said Darline. “You can come here where people speak English, so you don’t have to be afraid.

“Serve The City is set up really nicely and they take care of you but at the same time, they allow you independence so you can try all these different avenues of service. Maybe you think you might like working with homeless people but you find out you actually work better with elderly people.

“Or you think you like doing repairs but find out that actually cleaning and organizing is your thing. Serve The City offers a big variety in a short amount of time. It can be a great stepping stone or move you onto the next thing.”

Amanda trying the local delicacies in Brussels
Amanda taking a break to sample local specialities!

Volunteer highlights

During the Big Volunteer week, volunteers did crafts with elderly care home residents, played basketball with refugees and more. So what were some of the highlights?

“I feel like God moved from day one,” said Amanda. “We went to Port Ulysees to clean and just seeing the massive amount of empty beds, and knowing that night, there would be tons of people coming in.

“And while we were cleaning, we could see people were trying to make certain beds ‘their beds’. Just tucking things underneath or trying to hide stuff. But the people that run [the center] had told us that everything needs to go. So anything you find except books or clothes, had to be thrown out.

“I’m very much a rule follower and I remember coming to one of the beds and I remember unrolling it. I found all this stuff and I just wanted to roll it back up and put it back. My heart was crying out ‘this is someone’s temporary home.’

“But in that moment, seeing everyone cleaning and wanting to make it the most neat-looking and beautiful environment possible, so the refugees could feel that love, that was amazing.

I felt God saying, ‘it’s okay if you move that. But then the refugees coming in and seeing how beautiful and neat it was going to be, hopefully that would be something that would uplift them.’”

The impact volunteering can have

When you volunteer, you not only get to give, you also receive. And it can sometimes even change how you look at the world.

“I think sometimes, especially for people in America, when you think of refugees, there is a fear that comes with that to you,” Darline shared. “Because the news always reports the bad ones. I have met so many kind, courteous, gentlemen here, that I feel the news have done them such a disservice.

“Most of these men who are refugees, have families that they have had to leave. They just want to bring their family here. They want to have their community again and they just don’t have it. It makes me very sad.

“One the first day, when we did this big banner and we had the skyline of Brussels. We encouraged these men to draw what their perfect city would look like. Most of them drew their homes. They didn’t draw a city, they drew their villages and that just touched my heart.

“What the news reports on refugees, although there is some truth in it, it’s not the whole truth. They miss the real humanity of these refugees.”

Serve the City volunteers at clothing bank
Sorting clothes for homeless and migrant people

Transformation through relationships

So often you hear volunteers say ‘I got more out of this then I put in.’ And it’s true.

Serve The City is a global movement of volunteers determined to show kindness in practical ways. And through the hard work of these volunteers, people all over the world are being supported, connected and remembered.

So, what’s your plans for July 2020?

By Roz Walsh, Activate International