Chapter 386: – Let’s be a volunteer!
Being a volunteer at an orphanage...
Lin Jin had never thought about this kind of thing. Although she was a fairly kind hearted person, she had never thought about being a volunteer or anything like that. She always thought it seemed kind of stupid, especially since she had never participated in or learned about it before. She would probably be clumsy and not know what to do, and others might even dislike her for it.
So, since she didn't know anything, then she should go online and search up what you do at an orphanage, right?
Lin Jin held her chin with one hand and walked to the computer with her already scabbing feet. She searched on the computer for what volunteers should do or rather, could do at an orphanage.
Then she found out that volunteers rarely go alone, they usually go as a team from some group or organization…
And the tasks for volunteers were quite simple. Basically, just chatting with the kids would be enough. As for tasks like mopping the floor or cleaning windows, the orphanage already had people specifically for it.
However, someone online with personal experience said: If you don't have enough love, if you're not sure enough, if it’s just a momentary passion and curiosity, if it's just for an activity for your workplace or school, then never, never go to an orphanage or a nursing home. Because the kids and the elderly, their emotional investment in you, their dependence and trust in you, is something you can't imagine and live up to...
It seemed kind of heavy.
Lin Jin initially thought that this task from the black cat was just a volunteering task, but she suddenly realized that it seemed to be a long term thing that required emotional investment, rather than just a simple task.
After reading through the information for volunteers online, Lin Jin held her chin with one hand, pondering whether she should also join an organization and go with a group. But if she went with a group, it would usually be for just one or two days, right? However, Lin Jin needed to keep at it for a week.
It was Sunday now, so she still had time to think. Tomorrow, she will be busy volunteering.
Going alone might be too tiring and it didn’t seem too good to join an existing organization either. How about... starting her own group? Maybe Wu Min and Wen Xuan would join. If Teacher Lin didn’t have any classes in the afternoon, she should be quite willing to do this kind of thing. More people would mean more strength, right?
And maybe she could ask Zhu Dong to come too? He could bring a camera and make a short video about the one week volunteer experience. This kind of short video with a charitable theme would be quite popular, at least reaching a wider audience than dancing videos.
After thinking for a bit, Lin Jin immediately took action and called her friends one by one to ask if they were interested in volunteering long term, the kind that needed to go every day.
However, Wen Xuan declined, Wu Min said he would think about it, Teacher Lin was unavailable and Xia Tian was busy looking for a job, but Zhu Dong was free and readily agreed.
It was completely different from what she had imagined... It was clearly such a meaningful thing, yet so few people agreed. This Zhu Dong person’s words were also unreliable. Even after agreeing, it was unsure if he would show up.
But this was good too. According to the reminders online, even if Lin Jin forced them to go, their lack of enthusiasm and emotional involvement might just end up hurting the kids.
Speaking of which, according to what she read online, there were actually a lot of volunteer organizations. Every holiday, dozens or even hundreds of volunteers would flock to the orphanages, but what those kids needed was a long term companion to talk to, not a short term, one day pretentious helper...
Well, that was what was said, but Lin Jin thought she should call Jimei Orphanage and say something... Except, there was no such thing as Jimei Orphanage here! There were only a few orphanages with Jimei prefixed into their names.
Did the black cat mean an orphanage in the Jimei district? Rather than an orphanage named Jimei Orphanage?
Too lazy to think about it too much, Lin Jin decided to find someone with more life experience, preferably someone who had volunteered at an orphanage before, to ask. So she directly called Teacher Lin.
When the call connected, Teacher Lin asked in a surprised tone: "Yo, my little fairy actually took the initiative to call sister? Did you get yourself into some kind of trouble?"
"I want to volunteer at an orphanage, but I don't know how to go about it," Lin Jin frowned and continued. "Didn’t I ask you earlier if you wanted to go? You said you were too busy."
"I'm a teacher, of course I'm busy. If it were summer break, it would be fine. On regular days, you students only have two or three classes, at most five. But as a teacher, I sometimes have to teach five classes for three or four days straight," Teacher Lin tried to justify her behavior. "And even if I'm not teaching, I have to prepare lesson plans. So I can only go with you for a day on the weekend."
"One day is fine too. Then have you gone before? Can you tell me what to watch out for?" Lin Jin coquettishly smiled. "I'm really nervous about doing something I've never done before by myself."
"Well, let me think..."
Teacher Lin thought for a really long time on the other end of the call. In the end, she thought of a super crucial point: "Oh right! Don't casually make promises to the kids!"
"Yeah, that I’ve read about online," Lin Jin nodded.
"And also, don't randomly give the kids any food. Most of the children in orphanages have some health issues, which is why their parents abandoned them. Some foods shouldn’t be randomly eaten." Teacher Lin tilted her head and thought for a long time, but only thought of these two points. She then shrugged and casually said "You wanting to volunteer is pretty good! You could also record a video while you’re there. Even if no one watches them, it’ll still be meaningful watching them when you’re older."
Why did it feel like Teacher Lin was trying to dupe an elementary school student?
"Oh right, if you're going alone, you can just go directly. Calling works too. Since it’s just you alone anyway, the orphanage probably won’t make a big deal out of it."
"Really?" Lin Jin nodded. She didn't need the orphanage to pay special attention to her. Anyways,. She didn’t have the money to improve the kid’s living conditions or anything like that. "Then I’ll hang up now?"
"Don't hang up yet. There's more I want to tell you," Teacher Lin seemed to take this matter very seriously. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "When you go, if a child accidentally makes you angry, don’t scold them or anything. They're very sensitive and mature. They can easily tell if you're upset and then try very hard to now upset you again."
"Of course, there are also kids who are a bit dull. But after all, being raised in an orphanage, even the most dull ones are actually more sensitive than normal people."
"The last time I went to an orphanage was when I was about to graduate..." Teacher Lin's tone suddenly grew heavy. "I told them we'd meet again the next week. But because I was graduating, writing my thesis, and finding a job, I ended up coming to Xiamen to work at this college and never had time to go back and see them."
"If you really plan to go, try to go once a week, okay? Don't disappoint the kids."
"Yeah. I'm still just a first year, I’ve got plenty of time!" Lin Jin vigorously nodded. "Although I'm actually not really fond of children, I think the kids at the orphanage will definitely be very charming."