Volunteering in the UAE is starting to develop, but because it’s growing so quickly, the majority of the people doing it misunderstand what the term really means.
The problem is that many people are volunteering for profitable causes, rather than non-profit organisations. That’s not really what volunteering should be about. Companies use the term “volunteering” to find people to work at their events, and I think that as a result, young people misunderstand that term. They think they’re volunteering for a good cause, but at the end of the day, there’s no charity involved.
Those companies are simply benefiting from saving money, rather than having to hire an event-organising company. “Internship” better describes that role.
One of the best moments that I have seen of real volunteering in action was on National Day in 2012.
We had the annual National Day parade. We sprayed each other and our cars – it was quite a messy experience. Now it’s more limited by the police.
What I loved about the National Day celebrations that year was how the next morning, I saw everyone walking in the streets with brooms. The younger generation was out cleaning up their own mess. I’m proud to say that I was one of those young people.
That moment sums up the best kind of volunteering, which is not being part of an organisation. It’s simply about helping out in your local community. If you see a water bottle that has been left on the ground, grab it and put it in the bin. But don’t look for anything in return – because when you’re helping out for the sake of seeking publicity, or getting paid to volunteer, you’re not really “volunteering” at all.
When I was 17, after volunteering for a couple of other people’s projects, I decided to form my own group of volunteers. I didn’t want it to be like a normal volunteering group – I wanted to be the guy who thinks up the idea and inspires other people to volunteer for that idea.
The group I set up, which was called Ebdaa – meaning creativity and innovation – no longer exists, but it used to be one of the big pillars of volunteering back when volunteering as a concept first became known in the UAE. I wanted to create headlines for encourage people to volunteer.
We created several non-profit charitable events that carried a positive message, and nobody knew who was behind the event. One event, which we collaborated on with the Government, was for the Dubai Summer Festival.
A lot of the young generation don’t really know much about the UAE’s culture regarding giving back to the country. So we did a Q&A session, in the style of a TV show, at the festival, to ask the youngsters about our culture and our past. It was a lot of fun.
We also collaborated a lot with the UAE Down Syndrome Association – we were part of every one of their events. My aunt, Sonia Al Hashimi, is chairwoman of the association, so it was an easy connection.
I tried to stay away from procedures such as getting trademarks, copyrights and licensing – if I have good connections and can do it easier, why don’t I do that? We also made our own events, but there was no publicity surrounding them at the time.
* As told to Jessica Hill
Ahmed Al Hashimi is a 22-year-old marketing student from Dubai who has been running volunteering initiatives since he was 16.
If you have a good story to tell or an interesting issue to debate, contact Ashley Lane on alane@thenational.ae.
