"The important thing about doing volunteering is that you will feel like what you did will make a change for someone."

Which Hackathon event did you take part in?

I attended the Social Hackathon on the 11th November with the charity Wonder Foundation. It is based in London at Brixton, and mainly focuses on providing accessible education resources for women and girls. They want to provide more accessible education resources to make sure that everyone gets the education that they deserve.

What did you do on the day?

The main task that we did was search for the contact details of different cultural communities in the UK. We were divided into several groups, and each group had three members. The one that my group was assigned to was South America. So basically I was with my group members searching for the contact details for South American communities in the UK.

What were you able to take away from your experience in the Social Hackathon?

The thing I learnt from the Social Hackathon is that even if we are really doing kind of basic research, I still get a feeling that we are making a little bit of change. The important thing about doing volunteering is that you will feel like what you did will make a change for someone. You really feel like you make a change, even if it is little. We searched for information to help with the research they will do in the future about how these communities will help girls and women get access to education. So we really gain a sense of achievement from the Social Hackathon.

I also learnt teamwork and inter-cultural communication. In my group we had three people, each person from a different country – one from South Korea, one from France, and I am from China. So this kind of inter-cultural communication was really fun, and I was also able to make new friends. I think it was a really great chance for me to try new things and to meet new people.

I also got a chance to speak with the manager at the charity. By doing the Hackathon, I think you will gain more information about the initiatives behind the charity and about why they are doing this. You learn about how they start the charity, what the purpose is, and what they have already done. You can get more information than if you are just looking through their website. You will gain more personal feelings and thoughts, so you can have more of a direct connection to that charity, which I think is a really great chance.

How did you learn about the Social Hackathon?

I heard about the Social Hackathon last year because I attended a UCL Consultancy Challenge. So this year I paid a bit of attention to when the Hackathon was happening, and I finally got to try it! It was a really great chance and I really enjoyed the experience. 

Would you recommend the Social Hackathon to others?

I would definitely recommend the Social Hackathon. Even though you may be doing really basic things, I feel like this can be a start of your whole volunteering journey. I feel like it would be a really great start for new volunteers or people who have interest in volunteering, to start thinking about what they can do, what kind of help they can offer through volunteering. 

Thank you to Jingyi for sharing her experience! If you're interested in the work done by Wonder Foundation, why not check out their opportunities for a Communications Volunteer or Fundraise to help Ukrainian Refugees.

If you would like to learn more about Jingyi's work as a Volunteering Officer, take a look at our interview with the 22-23 Volunteering Officers!