Category: National Volunteering Week

We continue our special National Volunteering Week series where we speak to seven volunteers about what they do, why they do it and what advice they have for others with Hicham Lamchaali. Share your story with us on Twitter using #WhyIVolunteer and #NVW2019.

Hicham is an asylum seeker who has been in Ireland since 2015. Born in Morocco and having spent time in South Africa, Hicham has a wealth of life experience – he is trained in IT and has worked running a B&B and as a Kitchen Manager in a Greek restaurant in Johannesburg. More recently, Hicham has undertaken a course in Trinity College so that he may one day run for the local elections.

Living in a Direct Provision centre in Clondalkin, Hicham was keen to get involved in his community as soon as he arrived. He plays football with the Dublin Devils and runs 5k at his local Parkrun every Saturday. He is a member of the South Dublin County Volunteer Corps where he volunteers with local events and festivals, most recently helping to organise the local St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Clondalkin. He also coordinates visits of residents in the centre go to all Shamrock Rovers’ home matches in Tallaght Stadium as part of sponsored partnership with the Hoops.

We asked Hicham why he volunteers and he told us it’s simply ‘in his blood’. “Volunteering is natural to me, it’s now my mother brought me up since I was a baby. I love making other people happy – that’s what makes me the happiest. I love to integrate, meet new people and make new friends. I can also bring something of my culture to Irish culture when I volunteer. Irish people are very friendly, they have welcomed me with open arms and I would love to do more.”

What piece of advice would he give someone who has never volunteered before? “Volunteering will make you happy. Even if you are happy now, volunteering will make you happier. When you are not from Ireland it can help you make friends and learn things about Ireland you never knew before. It will also make you feel like you’re doing something good.”

This is the second in our special National Volunteering Week series where we speak to seven volunteers about what they do, why they do it and what advice they have for others. Share your story with us on Twitter using #WhyIVolunteer and #NVW2019.

Gemma lives in Kells, Co. Meath with her husband Mick and 5 year old son, Dylan. She works from home full time with ebay.

Just over 10 years ago, Gemma’s now husband Mick gave a friend a dig out by doing a bit of driving for the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps in Navan. Out of sheer nosiness, Gemma decided to go along to see what it was all about. 10 years later, Gemma is now the Officer in Charge of the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps’ Kells unit. In that time, Gemma has trained all the way up to Emergency Medical Technician and taken on a number of roles with the organisation. Most of her time has been spent with the cadets (10 – 16 year olds), training them and supporting them to use theirs skills at smaller duties and events.

Gemma describes herself as an ‘accidental volunteer’ so we asked her why she’s still there 10 years later. “You just get the bug. You get to meet an amazing circle of people and they’re now my second family. I know they’d be there for me in a heartbeat if I needed something and I’d do the same for them, which is especially important on occasions where we deal with difficult scenes. There’s a real sense of camaraderie and we do have great craic too. You need to have a sense of humour to sit in an ambulance all day if nothing is going on!”

“There’s also that sense of giving back and making a difference. When we do transports to hospital appointments, sometimes that’s the only interaction that person has all week and just being able to sit there and listen to them is a real privilege. We can also identify other ways we can support people through our community care team and that feeling of helping someone is unbeatable.”

What would Gemma say to someone who has never volunteered before? “Pop along, have a conversation and a cup of tea. If it’s not for you, you can find something else but you’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a go.”

This is the first in our special National Volunteering Week series where we speak to seven volunteers about what they do, why they do it and what advice they have for others. Share your story with us on Twitter using #WhyIVolunteer and #NVW2019.

Patrick is a farmer from Hackballscross in Co. Louth. Mostly farming cattle, he manages the farm by himself. He recently discovered bats and barn owls in some of his farm buildings and contacted some conservationists to come and check it out. Now his farm is registered as a protected natural area.

Although Patrick is busy with the farm and has little free time, he still finds ways to give back. Last year, he raised over €34,000 for Temple Street at the National Ploughing Championships. Having seen an ad in the paper, he approached Temple Street about getting involved. When they asked what he thought he’d like to do, he suggested they fundraise at the ploughing and used his contacts to make it all happen.

On Day 1, Patrick could see that it might be difficult to get people’s attention with so many things going on at the event. He decided to organise some games and after setting up some skittles, he had queues of families looking to play and donate within a couple of hours!

Patrick helps out in other ways when he can like selling lollipops at the most recent Lollipop Day or helping out at the Southern Area Hospice in Newry.

With such a busy life and lots to contend with on the farm, we asked Patrick why he goes out of his way to get involved. “I get a lot of satisfaction out of it. It’s a social thing – I work alone on the farm all day and when I do this I meet a lot of different people and have a chat. It’s always in the back of my mind, I don’t have a lot of free time but when I do I try to do something. Even if I have to plan it a few months in advance so I know I’m free. If it’s something you want to do, you make the time.”