“She taught me what love should be in the midst of Europe. She taught me tricks of life. She taught me how to fight and now she taught me how to fight. She gave me a glimpses of what is it like to be 95 years old.”

I volunteered to help a home for the aged in northern Europe. I will not just mention the name of the institution. So when I started my volunteer work. Everything seems so boring and no life at all. No peers to laugh with and talked with during the long night.

As I went out from my room to watch the beautiful night scenario, I noticed somebody also gazing beyond the windows and appreciating the beauty within under the night sky. It is Nana, a 95 -year old spinster. As told by them, Nana waited for 77 long years for her lover to come, get her and fulfill his promise. Yet to no avail years just passed by with no news from her lover!

That night became the start of a talking relationship of Nana and me. She told me events, fears, hopes that I would never thought would exist. Nana gave me a glimpse of what is it like to be 95 years old. For 6 months, Nana’s plight to be found by her lover became mine.

Nana gave me insights on how it was to leave alone. Nana gave me an insight to share happiness, loneliest, pains and despairs with strangers not related to her. A boring life became so alive with giving hopes for old people like Nana. Now Nana and I still communicated through the home for the aged caretakers. I still do volunteer work for the home for the aged.

Take a look of interesting home for the aged.

• Hninzigone Home for the Aged in Myanmar has the mission to take care of the homeless and helpless old people in their place.

• Slovene Home for the Aged in Cleveland, Ohio provides medical, personal and social needs of the people in their care. Volunteers support this institution.

• St. Ann’s Home for the Aged in New Jersey is taking care of the aged people and their family since 1911. It is actually a Roman Catholic Nursing Home.

There are advantages when you will encounter as being a volunteer abroad and this doesn’t only mean that it will look good in your CV but also it has advantages and benefits for your health and well being. The benefits that you will get from volunteering are surprising and what it can do to you. Mostly the benefits that you will get from volunteering are:

• Improving one’s Health. There’s a study actually shows that volunteering improves one’ health and well being. This can improve one’s health because volunteering has strong social support and thus can lower heart disease, health risk and health risk. Volunteering can lower health risks this is because it has enhances the psychologically aspect as what to healthy people have and this also strengthens interpersonal relationship and the sense of identity.

• Building Long Term Relationships. This is the place to meet new people and eventually building long term relationships with them. This is the best place to meet people who have the same interests as you, having the same causes that you believe and working together are just some of the things that makes up a healthy community of volunteers.

• Building one’s Confidence. Volunteering gives you a variety of challenges yet sharing these experiences and skills to them is the most fulfilling thing about your volunteer work. Having that fulfillment builds confidence and confidence that you can take with you after your volunteer work.

• Career Opportunities. No doubt that having a job experience especially volunteering abroad it makes your CV look good and more marketable to employers. You will have a higher market value and you will be able to attract employers more. There has been a survey that has been conducted showing that in a two hundred companies in leading business establishments in UK, that there are 94% believe that volunteering add skills and 73% of it would want to employ candidates who have experience in volunteering.