On Saturday, I volunteered my service to an old folks' home in a joint effort to beautify the place. The project is conducted by the volunteering committee from the University.
A few months ago, I made a decision to do some volunteer work and I did. Once I made up my mind, I don't expect to retract it. It doesn't matter much if I went alone, of course, I did wish that I've friends whom I can chat with. But, you can't always be together with your friends and you can't hold back what you want to do because you don't have friends around. I believed that one cannot expect to work around the schedules of others all the time.
It was a one-off project so there is less of a commitment for me.
By the middle of the day, I was all worn out from the stencilling and painting. In words, it seemed so easy since it was only painting. Well, let me tell you, it is not just painting. It is squatting down and painting around the designs stencilled on the bottom half of the walls. There's also the lining the tiles and windows with masking tape and newspapers and white-washing the walls. My legs had gone all wobbly at the end and I can hardly walk up or down the stairs without experiencing sharp bursts of pain. My back hurts too.
Yes, I could have sat down and paint and I did, occasionally. It's just that the floor is lined with newspapers with splotches of paint on them. Besides, one always have to haunch the back to fill in the paint nicely.
Overall, it was a good enough experience even though it was tougher than I thought. There is a good chance that I will do it again next year so that it could be more consistent.
I've my own motives for wanting to do volunteer work and it's not all that innocent about merely wanting to help the less fortunate. I need something to boost myself with.
