About three-quarters of Canadians, aged 15 and older, spent 3.4 billion hours on informal volunteering in 2018, equivalent to roughly 1.8 million full-time, year-round jobs. Source.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers managed to reengage with their communities through online volunteering or safe in-person volunteering. A study in October 2020 showed that almost 70% of volunteers found that virtual volunteering provided flexibility.
Volunteers continued to be an essential part of CVIMS during the pandemic. Today, we’re celebrating two of our volunteers, Eileen and Theo. Here is their story:
Certainly, we’ve gained a lot from volunteering – a chance to help some very good people and to enjoy variety in language and culture.
When we retired, cultural diversity abruptly went missing in our own lives. Previously, we had taught and lived residentially at Lester B Pearson College, an international college just outside Victoria. We were used to living with students from all around the world, with cultural diversity and the sounds of numerous languages a natural part of every day. In our teaching for the International Baccalaureate, we were able to include the literature of the world and discussion on the shaping effects of differing perspectives. Then suddenly, in retirement, we found ourselves surrounded only by people who, for the most part, looked an awful lot just like us – white and grey! It’s been through volunteering with CVIMS that we’ve regained some of the diversity we value in life. Between us, we’ve worked, chatted, and laughed with people from Lebanon, Chile, Japan, Sudan, Syria, and Korea. We’ve been able to give a larger context to our own lives.
Aside from volunteering for CVIMS in recent years, we’ve also been able to get beyond our borders more literally. We volunteered at a school in Guatemala with Qualicum-based Aldea Maya, and have travelled a lot through house exchanges – for instance to France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, and South Africa.One of Theo’s current core projects has been writing walking books to get people outdoors enjoying Vancouver Island – the Secret Beaches series and several walking books: Popular Day Hikes, Seaside Walks, Family Walks and Hikes. He donates his royalties from the books, as well as funds raised by selling his artwork, to Doctors without Borders (MSF). In fact, he says he would have little motivation for doing any painting these days unless he could use his “hobby” for a good cause. (See https://theodombrowski.net/). Central to his life now, however, is playing: mountain biking, kayaking, skiing – all of which Eileen claims he does immoderately!
Eileen’s recent projects show that she was slower than Theo to retire fully: she wrote a book on critical thinking for the International Baccalaureate, blogged until the end of 2018 for teachers of its core course (https://activatingtok.net/), and developed and facilitated IB online courses for teacher training. Although she still gravitates to web-based projects, for instance doing the website for Oceanside Grandmothers to Grandmothers, she is learning (slowly) to wean herself from the computer screen. Fortunately, she also enjoys walking, cycling, kayaking, and cross-country skiing – always at a more sedate pace than Theo!
Together, we find volunteering with CVIMS fits very naturally into the continuing interests of our lives.
