Graham and his volunteering team in Uganda

Three young award-winning volunteers share their stories.

By Louise Ridley

"There's a lot more to it than just building walls"

When an opportunity to volunteer on a project in Uganda came up, 22-year-old Graham Oakes couldn't resist. A scout for over 14 years, he was used to the great outdoors and helping others, but this was another story. "I'd been on things like activity camps but this was very different – we had to start by raising money to buy materials for the projects we were setting out to do."

His group of scouts raised the necessary funds by organising céilidhs and dances, an auction night, a wine tasting evening and bag packs in supermarkets. "We raised a few thousand pounds," he says.

This money went towards materials for a giant chicken coop designed to house 1000 chickens for the Kavule deaf school in Uganda. "The idea was to give the school a reliable source of income through selling the eggs as well as providing extra food," says Graham. The next stage was to build it. "It wasn't too taxing," he says, "when they were preparing the project the leaders had to bear in mind exactly what skills people had."

For Graham, the manual labour was only a small part of his volunteering experience. "The people you meet are just as much a part of how you remember your time there," says Graham.  "There's a lot more to it than building walls and digging wells, you become part of something a lot bigger, and you can't really anticipate that until you've experienced it for yourself."

"It really gives you a buzz"

Joshua Macdonald, 17, volunteered a little closer to home for Ready 4 Action's annual community project across Guildford. "I'd heard it was life-changing for both the volunteers and the people who we were working to help and I really wanted to be a part of that," he says.

Armed with a strimmer, spade and fork, he worked with a group to clear a family's garden. "It was totally overgrown with brambles; they were a complete nightmare, scratching our legs and arms."

For Joshua, however, the rewards outweighed the pain. "It was incredible to see the progress, and once we'd finished it was great to be able to say, 'I helped clear this, so the family could use their garden again'. It really gives you a buzz," he says.

Joshua is starting uni in October but would like to continue volunteering. "I may find something similar to get involved with at uni, but I'm always going to have strong ties with Ready 4 Action and will try and help out for years to come."

"It challenged the way I thought"

For Tashomi Balfour, 21, it was the advice he received from youth charity JUMP 2K on job hunting, confidence and spiritual development that inspired him to help others. "The sessions were always active, not heated, but really engaging and good for people to bounce ideas off each other – I liked that environment. From being around like-minded people I started to volunteer."

Tashomi's volunteering through JUMP 2K began with climbing up mount Scafell Pike – the tallest mountain in England – to fundraise for orphanages in Botswana. "It was petrifying to say the least," he says. "Mountain climbing is one of the things you don't get to do when you live in south east London." But the climb gave Tashomi a real taste for the outdoors and he's since been camping and navigating.

Back on his home turf, Tashomi started to volunteer with JUMP 2K's education programmes in primary school assemblies. He realised that working with young people was what he wanted to do. "Some parents are very disengaged with their children, so young people grow up being taught by their peers – not all of whom have a positive influence." He's now on a gap year scheme working full-time at Jump 2K, running drop-in sessions about bullying and knife crime and will be starting a degree in informal education in September.

As well as shaping his career, volunteering has affected the way Tashomi sees the world. "I volunteered at a school in Botswana in 2008 and it really made me sit back and look at other people's circumstances," he says. "Without volunteering I'd be taking a lot of things for granted because I didn't realise how adverse other people's situations can be."

Winning the award

Winning the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service helped all three projects develop their volunteering schemes and was a confidence booster for the volunteers. "It was surprising to be honest," says Tashomi. "We're in a little corner of Crofton Park so you don't tend to think you're noticed on a bigger scale. To know that our work was recognised was kind of humbling. I don't think awards are necessarily a proof of good work though - seeing young people's lives change and their report cards come back positive is the core reward."

Find out how to nominate a group for The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.

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