Volunteerism in the world

In some countries volunteer work has become an integral part of social and economic activities, securing solidarity and stability. In others, volunteerism has had much less exposure. But problems – poverty, violence, drug use, HIV/AIDS, pollution – exist everywhere, and volunteers can provide help. Volunteer work in industrial countries can be carried out by youth, working adults, and even the elderly.

The most renowned figure in the world is Mother Teresa (1910-1997), a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity, which attend to the poor and sick. In 1979 she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) was born August 27, 1910 in Skopje (currently Macedonia, in those times part of the Ottoman Empire) to an Albanian family. At age 12 she decided to become a nun, and at 18 she joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish Catholic order that was carrying out missionary work in India. At first she worked in a school for girls, followed by 20 years of teaching geography at St. Mary’s High School not far from Calcutta. Finally, she served as principal of the school for a few years.

At 36 years old she heard the call “to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them”. In 1948 she began the Missionaries of Charity and devoted herself to helping those living in the slums of Calcutta. At the time when Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize, the order of nuns was working in many countries. In March of 1997, with Mother Teresa’s health declining, she stepped down from her position and was succeeded by sister Nirmala. Mother Teresa died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997 despite her will to live. 

“Volunteers are citizens who of their own free will, and not in order to reflect their moral obligations, uphold a common idea for solidarity. Having once shown their obligations to the community and to themselves, the volunteers are now at the service of the community, and can promote solutions to society’s problems, granting priority to visits with the poor, the suffering and the homeless.”