Here is the first interview with one of our International Red Cross Volunteers at the JUPRO.
Meet Ashley Raye, she is 23 years old and is from Singapore Red Cross where she has been volunteering for 2 years.
I became a volunteer as I wanted to give back to my community, but I also wanted to learn more about the different volunteering opportunities that Red Cross can provide.
What I like about being a Volunteer?
I love the fact that I get to engage with my community. I like working with the other volunteers because we are all working towards a common goal.
Everyone is so friendly here. I love how excited all the youth volunteers are – no matter what the time – it can be early in the morning or late at night, they have a lot of energy which is really nice to see. The camp is nice and I have got to see a lot of Timorese people creativity.
I think the Seven Fundamental Principles are really important, as it reminds us why we are volunteers and keeps us impartial like helping everybody.
Youth are our future – what impact do you think being a Red Cross Volunteer has on young people?
When you are young and you become a volunteer, it instils in us the need to help others and the need to give back; I think that is why it is important to start when we are young.
When Ashely asked about what would you say to someone if they were thinking about being a Red Cross Youth Volunteer, she enthusiastically called out JOIN – PLEASE JOIN!
It’s a good experience and you will have a lot of fun and you get to experience different opportunities.
Finally, we asked Ashley could she give us some suggestions about how we can make JUPRO better next time?
Laughing and a little sheepishly, Ashley said
Maybe leave a little bit earlier at night, because the events can go on quite late. Which is of course a lot of fun, but after a while, you feel a little bit tired but everything is pretty good here.
Ashley Raye is a Youth Volunteer with Singapore Red Cross. She is attending the 4th CVTL Youth Camp, JUPRO (Juventude Productivu) in Baucau Municipality – with nearly 900 of Red Cross volunteers from across Timor-Leste, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Indonesia. The theme of this JUPRO is “Highly Effective and Sustainable Humanitarian Action”.
