“Being a volunteer takes a lot of courage”
She had no idea what workshop she was invited to, back in 2016. But once she got there, Sarah Rashid realized this was what she always had wanted: it was a volunteering training from the Pakistan Red Crescent. Sarah: “The RCRC was a perfect platform to serve my community and be a source of healing.”
It was on a hot summer morning, I was about to leave to go to the university when my father called me in. He had received an invitation for me to be part of a workshop and I had to join them in 30 minutes. On my father’s request I went, but I had a lot of questions in my mind: what kind of workshop was this? When I got there, I found out that my prayers had been answered: I was invited to join a ‘Volunteering in emergency’ training organized by the Youth and Volunteer department of the local Red Crescent. This training embarked my journey with the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, the journey that I’ve always been passionate about.
As a psychologist I was always interested in community psychology. For me the RCRC was a perfect platform for serving the community. To be a source of healing and assistance for those who deserve and need it the most, without indulging in any divisions and transcending the borders of ethnicity, religion and culture that we have drawn among people following them in almost every walk of our lives. That is the beauty of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement.
The movement has really impacted me in so many ways since I joined in 2016, It has healed my wounds while assisting people in need and taught me how the smiles of people who are suffering, can melt your own heart and wash away your sorrows. It stimulates my sense of gratefulness and shows me what it means to really connect with people. And – most importantly – it teaches me to ensure the dignity of those whom we help, tolerance and to plunge the discrimination that we often make – consciously and unconsciously.
I try to keep a balance between my humanitarian work and my personal life so that the flow of one does not disturb the velocity of the other. But it isn’t easy. It is important to know that being a volunteer takes a lot of courage, patience and consistency. So if you are a volunteer, don’t take it for granted and talk yourself down: You are a Gem, you are precious.
Sarah Rashid
Pakistan Red Crescent