Volunteerism Essay

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Volunteerism – Its Values, Contexts And Opportunities Among Young People * | Written by Dr. Azizan Bahari | Friday, 09 January 2009 05:25 | By: Azizan Bahari, Ph.D Department of Social WorkFaculty of Social and Human DevelopmentUniversiti Utara Malaysia INTRODUCTION Recognizing the importance of volunteerism as a process of experiential learning, as well as personal and socio-cultural development among young people is, in itself, a commendable achievement of our respective societies. Despite the euphoric quest for material affluence we still continue to rediscover the essence of our social existence and why it should be an essential component of our humanizing and civilizing enterprise. Indeed, volunteerism has taken roots in every generation, everywhere. It took various forms and, in the course of its development, has also traveled far and wide. It epitomizes human multiculturalism and diversity, and at the same time, serves to bring about and strengthen human bondage across geographical, political and ideological boundaries. However, this does not mean that we have exhausted its potentials. On the contrary, there are a lot more that can be derived from this durable, tested human spirit cum way of life. We certainly need to reflect and consider the other dimensions of the perspectives and the concepts, the dynamics of the contexts of volunteerism, as well as some possible volunteering opportunities for young people. Instead of providing lists of “what are” and “what should or ought to be”, this paper deals with some pertinent questions with regard to those aspects of volunteerism. This, we hope, would allow further deliberation among us, now and in the future, in helping our societies to develop and become more humane through volunteerism. KEY CONCEPTS AND VALUES Because of the above diversity, volunteerism could be described in many different
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