Volunteering in Sweden

Details: Created on Monday, 20 March 2017 12:35; Written by sweden

Volunteering in Sweden / Ronneby

We believe that volunteering is an important part in society and a lot of people in Ronneby are involved in some voluntary work one way or another in their spare time. There are several different volunteering organisations here like ”Stödkassan”, Lions, UNF and much more. Some of us are, or have been, involved in a few of these organisations personally.

”Stödkassan” is a volunteer organisation run by five people. ”Stödkassan” has a facebook page where they post when families are in desperate need of help with, for example, food or clothes. People can then donate clothes, food or money to the organisation so that they can help the families. ”Stödkassan” mostly helps families with children.

“Lions club” is one of the largest aid organisations in the world since they have 1,4 million members. The members are committed to helping in community and aid projects since the club wants to help to make the world into a better place for everybody. Lions works against violence, drugs and bullying and they help people who have different kinds of disorders and diseases. But, to help as much as possible they need money, which they earn through flee-markets, fundraisers etc.

Another volunteer organisation in Ronneby that works against violence, drugs and bullying is “UNF”. UNF is an organisation in Sweden for teenagers and young adults between the ages 13 to 25. The organisation´s vision is ”a democratic and inclusive world free from drugs.”. The organisation is run by the members and together they arrange fun and drug free activities who everyone is invited to – not only members. They want to show teenagers that there are a lot of ways to have fun without involving alcohol or other dangerous drugs. Around big holidays, where a lot of alcohol and other drugs is consumed, UNF usually arranges bigger events that their members and other teenagers can attend instead, of being at home with their alcoholic parents. UNF is run by the members, they do everything in their spare time; after school or work. And they don’t get paid for arranging the activities, they all do it because they want to and because they think it’s fun. The money that the organisation earns goes to the activities the members arrange. Every summer, for 25 years, UNF in Ronneby had a camp at Aspan in Ronneby for Polish kids and teenagers who come from Katowice and Bytom. Most kids and teenagers that attend the camp come from a district in Bytom called Bobrek. Bobrek is one of the poorest districts in Poland. Their families are poor and some of the parents even have addiction to drugs and alcohol. The camp is two weeks long and completely free for the kids and teenagers. At Aspan a lot of them get what they don’t have at home; food several times a day, new clothes if necessary, hot water to shower in and their own bed to sleep in. For many it’s the first time seeing the ocean. At Aspan they can feel safe and be happy and only think about being kids/teenagers. Members of UNF are camp leaders and some of them are chosen to plan the whole camp.

“Women’s Shelter” is a volunteer organisation that mainly works with helping and supporting abused and sexually assaulted women. The women can turn to Women’s Shelter for advice and support. Women can reach the organisation at any hour of the day by phone and there should always be someone that answers immediately. The woman can tell the organisation what has happened and the organisation can help the woman with what they can. The organisation helps women and children that live in destructive relationships. If the women only need someone to talk to they will be there to listen and talk to the victim, maybe help them get away from the home and give them a secret and temporary place to live in. Women’s Shelter is a voluntary work where seven people currently work full time in Ronneby, but there are a lot of people that volunteer at weekends. Everyone that works at the organisation are sworn to secrecy; they aren’t allowed to say anything about the women they help. In 2016 Women’s Shelter in Ronneby helped 200 women and children from destructive homes. Ronneby city think it´s important that everyone should live with good conditions and therefore the municipality of Ronneby and the state give the organisation money that goes to, for example, apartments so that there’s always a temporary home at hand if it should be needed. The apartments are secret and belong to the organisation.

In Ronneby we have two second-hand stores, “Lindra” and” Kupan”. Lindra is an organisation with several stores spread all over Sweden. The one in Ronneby opened in the summer of 2016. Kupan is run by the Red Cross, which has many other second-hand stores around the country, and the one in Ronneby has existed for several years. Both Lindra and Kupan have clothes, furniture, toys, all donated by those who do not want them anymore. So the stores are not buying from you, you give them things for free.

We think that the reason why so many people donate to second-hand stores is because you want to make a change. Because first of all, things are sold cheaply, meaning that a lot of people can buy things they would not be able to afford in regular stores, like clothes, presents for your children, something for your house, etc. Secondly, the money the store makes goes to charity, to provide medical aid or let more children go to school. What they have in common is that the money mostly goes to helping children around the globe. That is probably also a cause to why a lot of people donate to these stores, wanting everyone to grow up in a happy life and give everyone a bright future. We grow stronger by helping each other. It is possible to work as a volunteer in the stores. The reason why is probably like the ones mentioned before, but you also get some experience of working which can be good when you get a non-volunteering work in the future.

More than 20 000 sports clubs spread across Sweden give everyone, from small children to adults, the possibility to both have fun and make their dreams come true in fellowship with others. But all of that is dependent on people who volunteer to lead it. Around half of the adult population in the Swedish society do some kind of voluntary work and a big part of that half do voluntary work in the sports. A huge part of those who do voluntary work in sports clubs are parents of the children or youths that are members in the club. The parents can help in a lot of different ways; be the trainer of their sports team, lead the children through different activities or even sell hot dogs at their matches.Sports clubs in Ronneby often help out at festivals with organising parking spots for cars and help to control the traffic. The children and the youth of the sport club sometimes sell different things and the money goes to different stuff, like trips to different matches, or even to the Cancer Foundation or other similar foundations.

Several voluntary organisations in Ronneby are working with helping refugees. Most of the activities for refugees are run by the Red Cross together with the municipality of Ronneby, ABF (which is Sweden’s leading and oldest study association) and Save the children. At the second-hand store Kupan, the staff often and gladly answer the questions from the refugees and at some hours at the day there’s Arabic- and Kurdish-speaking staff in the store. Every Wednesday between 18:00 to 20:00 there’s a language-café where refugees can practise their Swedish and get help filling out various important documents. There is even volunteers who speak other languages than Swedish as their mother tongue, like Arabic, Kurdish, Dari and Persian. “Refugee-help Ronneby” is an organisation that helps and support refugees in the municipality of Ronneby. They give the refugees what they desperately need, like clothes, shoes, hygiene products etc. Refugee-help Ronneby has a facebook page where they post when there’s some things they need. People can then donate to the organisation so they can help them help the refugees. There are several fun activities in Ronneby for refugees that an organisation called Children in the centre, arranges. They arrange activities like chess tournaments, football and much more. And sometimes they just meet and eat food together and socialise. All children are welcome to their activities but they mainly focus on refugees. The main idea is to get the youths to meet new people of all cultures and to help them do meaningful activities in their sparetime.

One of the good sides of volunteering is that you get a whole new perspective on life. Something small for you can mean the world to someone else. You realise how unfair the world is; while some people have money to buy things and do things whenever they want, others struggle just to get clean water. Volunteering may also help you find out what kind of job you would like to have in the future. Meeting people while volunteering can help you make contacts, find jobs and will be a positive thing when you look for jobs, since it will show that you are engaged in what you do. It might also make you realise that maybe you want to have a job where you will help people. Working as a volunteer gives you the opportunity to meet new exciting people with different backgrounds and stories and because of that you can get inspired to keep on volunteering. And seeing other’s happiness will make you happy as well, and happiness is something we all want and are worth. The experience will give you a different perspective of life and hopefully make you realise how lucky you are and make you appreciate small things.

Written by: Nora, My, Sanna, Livia,Viktoria