Volunteer Voices: Midlothian Sure Start
Once more we are pleased to highlight a story from a local volunteer, as part of the National Volunteer Recruitment Campaign #VolunteeringForAll.
In this piece, Monika describes her current experience volunteering on a project with one of our member organisations, Midlothian Sure Start. She also discusses her search for volunteering roles before finding her place at Midlothian Sure Start.
“Thanks to this project I am growing as a person, meeting new people, making new friends, and feeling like a part of our community.“
Monika
Volunteer at Midlothian Sure Start
“I am Monika, one of the 13 trained volunteers that are working on the “Our stories” project that is led by Midlothian Sure Start. The project is sponsored by Midlothian Council and funded by the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Accelerator Fund.
We, the researchers, are all different and come from different backgrounds and possess different skill sets that complement each other. We all have lived experience when it comes to children’s poverty, hence our passionate approach to the topic.
We had a 6-week course (one group is based in Dalkeith, one in Penicuik) preparing us for working on our community research project that involves talking to local families with children who experienced or are currently experiencing either absolute or relative poverty.
In general, we are aiming to talk to 100 families by December. Before that, we are hoping to talk to the majority of families to identify common struggles and to then present them to The Scottish Government in October during Poverty Week and propose some changes.
At the same time, we are hoping to show some of the stories in a creative way during our exhibition in October and January.
Our community project is the first of its kind in Midlothian, we don’t have any ‘set structure’ and we learn as we go. Our group is very creative when it comes to working on exhibitions, and I would love to say the sky is the limit, but, unfortunately, we have a limited budget, and we need to find more budget friendly ways to express our findings. Each of us devote their free time as much as we can, talk to others at various events, like today’s one, share news about our project on radio etc.
I feel supported by Tim and his managers, I believe I could ask for their guidance or help with anything. And if you know Tim, you know he is ready to help anybody 24/7.
My personal journey has been an interesting one and I believe everything happens for a reason. As my kids are very young (the oldest one was 3.5 years old when my third kid was born) and I was working full time and part time, I had limited opportunities to volunteer. We don’t have any family in the UK, and I felt that by contributing to our community it would make me a part of it. I contacted two places in Penicuik within the last year where I could put my skills to use but, in the end, nothing came out of it. I ended up on Sure Start’s emailing list and just one day contacted Tim about the project he was starting as I was curious what it was.
Fast forward a few months, I am helping with interviews, meeting new people, creating exhibits based on the stories we collected. If you told me last January I would be writing poems, a song with a professional singer and writer, or using my passion for photography, I would simply not believe you. Thanks to this project I am growing as a person, meeting new people, making new friends, and feeling like a part of our community.
I had recently learnt that I love listening to people and decided to become a counselor in the future. I have already planned the studies and plan to apply for the next term. I am very excited about it as I will be able to help people and learn new skills”.
We, the researchers, are all different and come from different backgrounds and possess different skill sets that complement each other. We all have lived experience when it comes to children’s poverty, hence our passionate approach to the topic.
We had a 6-week course (one group is based in Dalkeith, one in Penicuik) preparing us for working on our community research project that involves talking to local families with children who experienced or are currently experiencing either absolute or relative poverty.
In general, we are aiming to talk to 100 families by December. Before that, we are hoping to talk to the majority of families to identify common struggles and to then present them to The Scottish Government in October during Poverty Week and propose some changes.
At the same time, we are hoping to show some of the stories in a creative way during our exhibition in October and January.
Our community project is the first of its kind in Midlothian, we don’t have any ‘set structure’ and we learn as we go. Our group is very creative when it comes to working on exhibitions, and I would love to say the sky is the limit, but, unfortunately, we have a limited budget, and we need to find more budget friendly ways to express our findings. Each of us devote their free time as much as we can, talk to others at various events, like today’s one, share news about our project on radio etc.
I feel supported by Tim and his managers, I believe I could ask for their guidance or help with anything. And if you know Tim, you know he is ready to help anybody 24/7.
My personal journey has been an interesting one and I believe everything happens for a reason. As my kids are very young (the oldest one was 3.5 years old when my third kid was born) and I was working full time and part time, I had limited opportunities to volunteer. We don’t have any family in the UK, and I felt that by contributing to our community it would make me a part of it. I contacted two places in Penicuik within the last year where I could put my skills to use but, in the end, nothing came out of it. I ended up on Sure Start’s emailing list and just one day contacted Tim about the project he was starting as I was curious what it was.
Fast forward a few months, I am helping with interviews, meeting new people, creating exhibits based on the stories we collected. If you told me last January I would be writing poems, a song with a professional singer and writer, or using my passion for photography, I would simply not believe you. Thanks to this project I am growing as a person, meeting new people, making new friends, and feeling like a part of our community.
I had recently learnt that I love listening to people and decided to become a counselor in the future. I have already planned the studies and plan to apply for the next term. I am very excited about it as I will be able to help people and learn new skills”.