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In Volunteers Are Changemakers, read about the impact story of Ajay
VOLUNTEERS ARE
CHANGEMAKERS
By Ajay Mehta, AFS Rajkot Chapter
“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” This quote from Aristotle epitomises the spirit of volunteering with AFS Intercultural Programs.
A chance meeting with Ms.Sonal Mehta, an AFS Volunteer from Vadodara in 2010 introduced me to a wonderful volunteering opportunity with AFS. As a teacher of English language and multicultural communication skills, I got interested in improving upon my intercultural competence. I got actively involved in sending, hosting, volunteer development and counselling activities at chapter as well as national level. In 2011, I got an opportunity to be a part of AFS Indo-German volunteer exchange program funded by Robert Bosch Foundation. The objective of this program was to encourage student exchanges between two countries. That was my first exposure to AFS Intercultural learning. Thereafter I got interested in honing my skills as a trainer of intercultural learning. I attended ICL Level 1 and NQT workshops to become a qualified trainer of intercultural learning. I have learnt a lot by attending several TOT (Training of Trainers) workshops and facilitating training sessions for volunteers, students, host families, counsellors and teachers. I have conducted arrival, mid stay and end of stay orientation of hosted students at chapter and national levels. I have been a qualified facilitator for Intercultural Link Learning Program, Global Competence Certificate and Global You Adventurer Program. It is on the Wishlist of every interculturalist of the world to attend the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication organised at Portland, Oregon. The Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication has a history of more than four decades of providing educational and professional development on intercultural theory, training and facilitation. I was lucky to attend a workshop on Training Design for Intercultural Learning, facilitated by Dr.Janet Bennett and Dr.Michael Paige at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication in July 2016. I got an opportunity to conduct country specific orientation In Italy in 2019 for Italian students who were supposed to come to India for AFS Exchange programs. As a teacher I have always felt that AFS offers wonderful learning opportunities to people of any age and educational background. The work of AFS is driven by the voluntary commitment of so many people.
Volunteering with AFS Intercultural Programs has not only changed my life but my family members as well. My son was selected for the KL-YES Program to the U.S.in 2012.It was a life changing experience for him. My wife is a teacher of drawing and painting. It was her dream to showcase paintings on Indian culture. This dream got converted into reality when an AFS Germany volunteer arranged an exhibition of Paintings on Indian culture titled ‘Colours of India’ in Idstein Germany in 2014. My wife has conducted a couple of online workshops for AFS exchange students in the last couple of months.
Volunteering with AFS Intercultural Programs, India has been a transformative experience. It has helped me connect with volunteers, staff members and students from different countries. It has helped me imbibe qualities necessary to be a global citizen. I consider myself very lucky to be a part of the organisation that was created as a volunteer ambulance drivers corps in 1915.This global organisation builds intercultural understanding among people from diverse cultural backgrounds in order to create a more just and peaceful world. Volunteers are Changemakers section is all about how volunteers of AFS India are helping people and communities learn to live together. Experience stories of impact directly from our volunteers and learn how AFS empowered them to become global citizens.
