Global Day of Voluntary Youth Service

3000 YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADOLESCENTS DONATE THEIR TIME AND ENERGY

Bottom of photo (juventuduruguaya) To be a testimony of social commitment through service to neighbor.

On Saturday, April 28, the Global Day of Voluntary Youth Service was celebrated in more than 144 countries, and for the eighth consecutive year Uruguay celebrated with more than 1,600 young and adolescent volunteers in Montevideo and almost 3,000 throughout the country.

In Uruguay, the pastoral ministry of CLAI participated in the coordination of this activity together with other social organizations, schools, churches and youth movements that find in volunteerism a way to serve society.

The event, celebrated every last Saturday in April, consisted of two great phases. In the first, more than 50 organizations cooperated in almost 30 projects that required the will and service of everyone in order to function. This took place in day-care centers, primary schools and public high schools, with cleaning, repair, painting, paper recycling and recreational activities with children.

In the second phase, all the organizations met together for moments of encounter and fellowship; sharing in conscientizacion workshops, recreation and expression, and culminating with a musical show.

Preach, and if necessary use words
As a youth ministry it seemed very important to us to participate in this activity in order to be able to be a testimony of social commitment through service to neighbor. Our churches encourage people to dedicate time to volunteer service in different ways, and this opportunity was one that we could not pass up. Every opportunity to preach with gestures and to serve the other must be taken advantage of and celebrated, and even more if it is shared with thousands of people pertaining to different groups, but with the same commitment, to serve.

In a moment of reflection, the young people of the ministry were thankful "for the possibility of knowing other young people from different churches in a common activity of service, and for being able to feel that we volunteers are not few, but that there are many more, and that with the same spirit, they do similar things.”

Small testimonies. Gratitude

"I have not come to be served, but to serve." Mark 10:45
Volunteerism is the free and organized exercise, without remuneration, of solidarity between citizens in activities and programs that benefit the community. What is it basically that the volunteers give? Their work and their time. And in a society where people live to race against the clock, the most precious and difficult thing to give is one’s time, which is the reason why voluntary work is so invaluable.

It is estimated that in the few countries where voluntary service is studied empirically the contribution constituted between 8% and 14% of the gross domestic product.

There are more than 3,500 associations and organizations of all types in Uruguay that involve "social volunteers," representing 11% of the adult population, with an average dedication of time of 3.8 hours weekly. It is supposed that more than 200 thousand people participate in these activities of solidarity, contributing more than 800 thousand voluntary working hours each week (46 million hours each year).

This does not stop being a significant savings for the State, since if this had to be fulfilled by civil employees these activities would cost about 100 million dollars more each year.

During the crisis in 2002, Uruguayan voluntary service grew to 16% (according to a survey of Interconsult), with an average of 3.7 hours a week. This supposes approximately more than 900 thousand voluntary working hours a week, which are 50 million hours a year.

These statistics help us to confirm that the voluntary work really exists, and that it makes great contributions to our communities. We celebrate and we ask for a Global Life of Volunteer Service.
 
Viviana Ordóñez Silva and Nicolás Iglesias Schneider