Volunteering is commonly thought to be a selfless act and 'ubuntu' is a trendy word these days, but are charity and outreach work always truly selfless? Sarah Kingon spoke to Rhodes University social psychology lecturer Gary Steele and found out the lesser-known benefits of doing good for others.
Volunteering is commonly thought to be a selfless act and 'ubuntu' is a trendy word these days, but are charity and outreach work always truly selfless? Sarah Kingon spoke to Rhodes University social psychology lecturer Gary Steele and found out the lesser-known benefits of doing good for others.
People give their time, knowledge and resources to benefit others but receive virtually nothing in return. Right? Well, not entirely it seems and some psychologists think there are a lot of positive benefits in store for those who spend their time giving to others.
Volunteering has been proven to have numerous physical and psychological health benefits for the volunteer. According to Rhodes University social psychology lecturer Gary Steele, volunteering relieves stress, reduces antisocial behaviour and minimises psychological disorders while increasing self-confidence and self-esteem. He also says that long-term studies and surveys show that volunteering has other health benefits and increases life expectancy.
“Volunteering is recommended for those suffering from depression or even for someone who has just experienced a break-up,” Steele said. Apparently it can provide the social support that people need when going through a difficult time. "It also can make them feel that they are making a difference," he said.
Helping others is especially important for young people who are discovering their identity and wondering if what they are doing is worthwhile. “Exposure to different cultures and ideas broadens your perspective on life and helps you appreciate the things you so often take for granted,” Steele said.
There is also what is known in psychological terms as the “helper's high” – a euphoric feeling often experienced after engaging in the act of volunteering. But volunteering isn't just something to delve into when you're feeling down and need a pick-me-up.
“It is better to be actively involved in volunteering programmes because you can actually see the improvement in the lives of others,” said Hannah McDonald, a committee member of the Inkwenkwezi society, a Rhodes group that strives to improve early childhood literacy in Grahamstown.
The improvement seen by volunteers is commonly viewed as a reward in itself. It is through this that people derive a positive sense of self-worth and the drive to persist.
“We all like to think that we are good people. When we help others it provides the proof that we need,” Steele said. But after a bad experience of volunteering for Inkwenkwezi last year, one volunteer decided to give up.
“One of the guys I volunteered with told the children that they would never get out of their cycle of poverty,” Pamela Bakasa said. These words made the children unmotivated and unwilling to continue, therefore making Bakasa's year-long volunteering experience an unpleasant one. “People become complacent and undermined the effort made by other volunteers,” she said.
Another flaw in the volunteering system is that people don't always live up to their promises. It's been found that many people sign up enthusiastically for programmes to help their communities but not all actually follow through.
For example the Rhodes soup kitchen signed up 130 volunteers at the beginning of last year, but only three to five people remained actively involved on a weekly basis, with a few others that helped out once a month.
The Inkwenkwezi society has had similar experiences, but to a lesser extent. About 250 volunteers signed up at the beginning of 2011, with only 100 participating regularly.
Steele said this apathy is because people lose that initial eagerness. “They can only see the immediate rewards and lose sight of the rewards of volunteering,” he said. “It is only when they look back that they can see how volunteering helped them through a difficult time.”
So is volunteering really selfless, or altruistic? People's responses indicate that they gain through the process of helping others. Whether or not this is done for selfish reasons, the act of volunteering can still make a difference in someone else's life.
Steele said behaviour can change attitudes and perhaps those that started out volunteering for selfish reasons will end up learning to help others. “The culture of ubuntu in South Africa is beginning to erode and it is important that we try to revive it through volunteering,” Steele said.
If the benefits for the volunteer are made known, he believes it might spark further interest in programmes aimed at giving back to the community. Then everyone wins.
This story is a product of the Introduction to Print course which requires Rhodes University students studying second-year Journalism to conceive, write, photograph, design and edit a four-page tabloid-size newspaper covering a beat of their choice. To comment on this feature, email anna@grocotts.co.za or g.rennie@ru.ac.za
