Monthly Motivation #2

So here we are, a little bit late on my second monthly motivation (almost a month late...). Anyhow, it's here now thanks to work from Julia, one of the founders of NEST and now the Marketing and Communications Manager. I reckon she's made the wait worth it and has written a brilliant and lovely piece - have fun reading!

It’s safe to say when I began volunteering at what was once referred to as the ‘homework club’, I never could have imagined it would become what it has.

Back in 2014, I had just dropped out of university in London. I was wallowing at home feeling sorry for myself with no idea what the rest of my life was going to look like. A few months later, I had missed the deadline for UCAS applications and it seemed as if I had sealed myself to my fate of a life without a university degree.

But then something changed. One afternoon, while wasting away hours flicking through YouTube in order to distract myself from the frustration and self-pity that my gap year had brought me, I came across a video. That video was a clip of Syrian refugees’ testimonies about the horrors they had witnessed that had compelled them to flee from their homeland. I saw the faces of these broken people and their crying, traumatised children and I felt something shift inside me. I’m a very empathetic person and I felt angry that these innocent people had been forced into such a horrific situation and how little was being done to help them.

It was then that I realised that cursing the disregard of others is just as unproductive as their unresponsiveness. I remember thinking: “why don’t I do something to help?”

It was that drive that led me to submitting a late application to Newcastle University in May 2015 to study History, Politics and Philosophy, and to my surprise I was accepted. I had pulled myself out of my rut.

Like many new students, I spent my year enjoying the carefree and party-lifestyle of first year. I had seemingly forgot what had motivated me to go to university in the first place. It was only when my housemate forwarded me an email from Phil, the Go Volunteer Coordinator, asking for volunteers to teach Syrian refugees English that my motivation re-emerged. I immediately responded and come September at the start of my second year, I attended my first volunteering session.

A few weeks in, the original eight volunteers sat around a table in the SU on a Saturday, planning. We knew that this project could be so much more than just a homework club, it could reach so many more refugees and students.

We began rebranding. I remember in October 2016, names were suggested in our early WhatsApp group until ‘North East Solidarity and Teaching’ emerged and we all agreed that it summed up our aims perfectly. That same month, I had volunteered to create our logo and was pleased that I could finally utilise my artistic skills that had been somewhat dormant for two years. I sketched and painted the logo that month, and N.E.S.T was born.

Now, eighteen months later N.E.S.T has exploded (quick addition by me, Fabian, is that NEST won a Celebrating Success Award), and it has given me the chance to develop new skills that I otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to have gained. I’m now in my last month of university and my marketing role at N.E.S.T has been a vital bit of experience that is helping me to apply for jobs.

I’ve met some amazing people and heard their heart-wrenching stories. They are people that I will remember for the rest of my life, even as my life is now taking me to new places, away from Newcastle and N.E.S.T. People who have seen the worst elements of human nature and witnessed atrocities beyond my darkest imaginings yet have never once let those memories dampen their spirits. I have met volunteers whose kindness, devotion and selflessness has moved me greatly.

It’s very easy when you’re comfortable and safe in our ‘first-world’ privileged lives to remove ourselves from humanitarian disasters because we can convince ourselves that they don’t affect us. But those circumstances only prevail when the rest of the world chooses to be idle. N.E.S.T is an example of what a small group of young people can do to make a difference and change the world bit by bit.

Thanks for reading Julia's post and happy voluntravelling,

The Voluntraveller