5.1 Reflect on a volunteering placement

We hope that your international volunteering placement was challenging and exciting. We are sure that you learnt a lot about yourself, about other people, and about the host country. During this time of personal growth, you should really reflect on your experience.

According to Johnson (2015), “Reflection is about taking the time to consider and ponder an experience (whether that be with a person or a book or a lecture or an event). The word itself combines two words, “re” which means ‘back’ and ‘flexion’ which means ‘to bend.’ Together, the word literally means to bend back. So, instead of moving forward first, when you reflect, you’re bending back in time to consider what happened or what you read or heard or experienced.”

“Reflection is a crucial part of community service, which allows volunteers to look back on, think critically about, and learn from their service experience. Reflection may include acknowledging and/or sharing of reactions, feelings, observations, and ideas about anything regarding the activity.” (Northwest Service Academy, n.d.)

There are many benefits to reflection which are listed below (adapted from Northwest Service Academy, n.d.):

• Gives meaning to the experience
• Provides an opportunity to establish expectations of yourself as an individual and of the volunteer team
• Can help volunteers understand the limitations and opportunities of volunteering
• Can relieve tension and re-energise
• Can create a sense of accomplishment that is crucial
• Can create a habit of appreciating ourselves
• Can improve service as volunteers examine the effects of their behavior and discover ways to improve the quality and quantity of their service
• Can create a sense of closure, especially important after a long service period, project, or emotional experience
• Personal and team development:
  • Fosters life-long learning skills and develops an ability to learn from positive and negative experiences
  • Serves as a reality check to guard against reinforcing inaccurate perceptions and biases
  • Volunteers gain a broader perspective of others’ experiences
  • Builds community among the volunteers
  • Personal problem-solving increases personal empowerment and confidence
  • Group problem-solving creates shared understandings, open communication, and better teamwork
  • Clarifies values as volunteers confront new situations
  • Provides practice clarifying goals and making choices to accomplish these goals
  • Encourages volunteers to do higher level thinking, as they look for root causes of complex issues
  • Acknowledges that skills gained build confidence

Task 1 – Achievements and challenges

All tasks are compulsory in order to successfully complete the course. Your answers must be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 500 words.

Think of three achievements gained and three challenges experienced during your volunteer experience and describe them below.