Writen by Nyla Rizvi, a second year student.
Throughout my time at UCL, I’ve always wanted to take part in some sort of volunteer activity. Back home, I spent a lot of time volunteering. I was making an impact in my local community, got to spend time with my friends, make new ones, and the benefits for my mental wellbeing were profound.
However, coming to a new country, settling down, and trying to make friends while balancing university, societies, and work was already time-consuming. On-campus volunteering felt out of reach - I didn’t know where to look for opportunities.
To my surprise, and delight, I found out that the Students' Union regularly hosted short and flexible volunteering workshops in and around campus, that required no long-term commitment - Big Help Outs!
Taking part in a Big Help Out
Last week, I took part in one of these short volunteering sessions, known as ‘Big Help Outs’. The idea is to bring like-minded people from around campus together to do as much as they can for the community in a short period of time, offering low time commitment projects for time-starved students like you and me.
The task of the week was litter picking – you might be wrinkling your nose at the mere thought of dragging yourself out of bed to go and pick up the remnants of other people’s lunch in the cold. What I’m going to describe is the exact opposite of the grim picture in your head.
This Tuesday afternoon was gorgeous – the sun was shining, exceeding all the usual expectations of gloomy October weather in London. The timeslot for this session was also conveniently placed between my two classes for the day. So, off I went to the Bloomsbury Theatre to pick up my high-vis jacket and unexpectedly agile litter picker. There, I was met by the other students, and a member of the student union’s volunteering team who explained the route we would be taking and how to use the equipment we had for the two-hour session.
As we ambled along Gower Place, the other volunteers and I started chatting. One of them was the volunteering officer of a large sports society, who aimed to instill the value of volunteering and service amongst his teammates as a core part of team building, and said he was leading by example through attending various volunteering events run by the Students' Union.
Others had more personal reasons for volunteering. One student was four weeks into an MSc in Global Humanitarian Studies and thought that volunteering was a perfect extension of her course and a way to meet new people on campus.
Everything about this litter picking experience was unexpected – I didn’t think many people would turn up, but I was met with a sizeable and welcoming group of strangers, each with their own unique reason for dedicating two hours of their day to make their campus cleaner. I left with a heavy bag of rubbish, a light feeling, and the contacts of two new friends! All in all, a very worthwhile use of two hours that I would have otherwise spent scrolling or cooped up in the library.
If the sound of short volunteering opportunities and the chance to meet like-minded people piques your interest, check out how you can get involved in Big Help Outs. Upcoming events in November include a bookmark making session for young people, and a museum conservation and painting day!