Volunteers unwanted!

Society cannot do without volunteers. There is so much to do, so much to take care of, and money is scarce. Paid jobs provide only a fraction of all the work that is needed to keep our society going. Professionals alone cannot do the job. They need the sustained dedication of volunteers to turn basic provisions into quality service.

It is not difficult to sing the praises of volunteers. Right here in Aston an elderly man makes sure that school children cross the busy Witton Road safely. He is there every school day, all year round, in all weather conditions. He is small in stature but great in service.

Given the importance of volunteers it is quite incomprehensible that often life is made difficult for them. Our own experience in volunteering bears this out. One requirement that comes back time and again is the Criminal Records Bureau check. The intention is to protect children and vulnerable adults against sex abusers, a protection which is far from watertight, but the unintended effect may well be to deter potential candidates from volunteering at all. I myself had to apply for the CRB check three times since my arrival in England four years ago, as every institution or organisation of my volunteering choice required its own check. I was told that meanwhile the Law has been changed in this matter, but to my knowledge implementation has not started yet.

Volunteers have to put up with a lot more. Training may be another requirement involving not just a few sessions but up to a dozen demanding a considerable investment of time. It is never sufficient to read articles or training handbooks on one's own. Self-study is not an acceptable way of doing the course. One has to be present in person, sometimes at all sessions without exception.

Questioning the whole procedure may yield some interesting answers. Of course, the organisations do not wish to appear patronising but the point is that the insurance company requires the training as a precautionary measure in the context of their health and safety policy. Or the particular training is part of an accredited course and the accreditation agency requires attendance at all or most of the sessions. So absences cannot be lightly dispensed with. It is always the other, the outsider, who is to blame for the bureaucratic demands on volunteers!

Volunteering does not always come cheap. Trainings may usually be free of charge but it happens also that payments are required. This is the case when volunteers are supposed to represent organisations and it is these organisations which are supposed to make the payments. Where the presuppositions are wrong, the volunteers are left to foot the bill themselves.

Why putting up with all these obstacles? There can be only one reason: an overriding sense of mission. We want that much to be part of Aston and to befriend its people! We want that much to build bridges between the different ethnic and religious communities, and we want that much to believe that it is a God-given task for us!

Ton