|
Volunteering: How to find the best fits
As an administrator of volunteers, I have spoken with thousands of interested volunteers and interviewed hundreds of potential volunteers.
Apply to Have the Experience of a Lifetime
The search continues for a few good men or women to represent Canada at Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Beijing Olympic Games volunteers offer lessons for VANOC 2010
They know they will have to stand for hours and keep their cool amid the 33-degree heat waves of Beijing in August.
The Business Case for Volunteerism
Many employers believe money is a sure way to keep top talent, but some find a culture of volunteerism is as appealing to workers.culture of volunteerism makes them more appealing to workers.
Tours with duty
Lying on a beach and sipping margaritas is no longer enough to satisfy world travelers. Instead many people are opting for spend their vacation time volunteering.
Using time off work to save the world
High-profile TV correspondent, Lisa LaFlamme often reports on strife -- recently, she spent her vacation doing something about it.
|
By Isabelle Laporte
They know they will have to stand for hours and keep their cool amid the 33-degree heat waves of Beijing in August. All for free. But the 100,000 Olympic volunteers, most of whom have already been confirmed, are grateful for the chance they have to meet the world and play their part in helping China achieve its goal of putting on the best Games ever.
Their experience may prove to be a template for Canadians who are thinking about volunteering in Vancouver in 2010. While the BC event will happen on a smaller scale –about 80 countries participate in Winter Games vs. more than 200 in the Summer Games – volunteers such as Hou Liling will be just as needed.
The 19-year-old Hou tested her volunteering skills last summer, during the “Good Luck Beijing” 2007 competitions. She was assigned to help at the International Green Hockey Tournament. When she applied to be a volunteer, she didn’t even know such a sport existed. Extensive training soon transformed her into an expert.
In China, the Olympic authorities have put great emphasis on the linguistic skills of the volunteers, so that services can be offered in 55 languages. In Canada, applicants will increase their chances to be selected if they can speak a language in addition to English. Canada’s multiculturalism should ensure a wide variety of different tongues can be accommodated.
Sponsored by various organizations, 20 students from four universities in Beijing even went to Cuba to undergo intensive Spanish language and culture training. They returned home in early March after having spent four months studying at Havana University.
Of course not all Beijing volunteers are of university age. More than 300 retired Chinese diplomats once working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed their willingness to serve during the Olympic Games.
With extensive language and cultural experience these diplomats are expected to help at a higher level in the communication services department.
In Vancouver, age diversity is also to be expected. In the last Olympic Winter Games held in Canada –Calgary 1988–, the volunteers were described as an extremely varied group, including students, the retired and the elderly. There were also only 9,500. That’s about the same number of sign-language volunteers that are being trained right now in Beijing.
What needs to be said is that Chinese Organizing Committee gave itself ambitious goals in terms of national participation. It specifically aims to “attract and inspire 1.3 billion Chinese nationals and millions of overseas Ex-Pats to support the Games.”
By comparison, with its mission to “touch the soul of the nation and inspire the world,” the Vancouver Organizing Committee expects to recruit some 25,000 volunteers. That’s more than in the last two Olympic Winter Games, Salt Lake City (22,000) and Torino (18,000).
Interestingly, Beijing officially listed in March a first team of volunteers including people with disabilities. Ten visually impaired massage therapists were chosen among more than 500 applicants, according to the Beijing Massage Training Center for the Blind. They will work at the Games in August.
In Canada, volunteers with disabilities are also welcomed. Criteria are the same for all candidates:
- Minimum age of 19 as of September 1, 2008
- Availability Pre-games for training as well as a minimum commitment of volunteer hours during the Games
- Volunteers need to find their own local accommodation
- E-mail address to communicate with organizers
- Successful RCMP background check
In Beijing, when the registration process wound up March 31, 2008, the officials could boast an Olympic record: 1.13 million applications. Of this number 97.87 percent were sent by people under 35. (Half of China’s population is 32 years of age or younger.)
The majority of applicants come from Beijing, but they also include people from other regions in China’s mainland and Special Administrative Regions. Some 28,000 overseas Chinese and 22,000 foreigners have also expressed interest.
Apart from the Olympic and Paralympic Games’ volunteers, some 400,000 city volunteers will be recruited. Posted in several hundred locations they will provide information, translation and emergency services. Part of their job will also consist of raising the level of etiquette among city residents. Already the Beijing municipal government is holding a “Queuing Day” and “Seat Offering Day” each month to promote better manners. Since last year, those caught spitting on the street risk a small fine. Littering is also declining, as the locals become more aware of their image and are keen on giving visitors from abroad a good impression.
But the volunteers will go a notch higher. Their guidelines even include instructions on how to sit, stand and walk. For instance, when walking, volunteers are urged to “hold upper torso still, raise head and level the chin with the ground (and to l)ook forward with a bright smile.” They are also briefed on various international customs and taboos, minimizing their risk of faux-pas. “Some elderly Western people may be offended if you attempt to assist them without their request to do so” is one sample instruction.
The volunteers will play such an important part of the Games, that there is already talk of erecting a monument in their honour right in the centre of Beijing. Is this an idea to be entertained for Vancouver, too?
|
|
