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Monday 9 June 2008

Recruiting new volunteers...

I had wanted to update my blog earlier today but I had been purging and vomiting since afternoon – the day when my story was featured in Malay Mail’s BlogSpot column. Hmmm… I guess I may be allergic to the MSM. (Just kidding, Sheila, just kidding…)

Am feeling a lot better now, although not fully recovered yet. Hopefully by tomorrow morning, I’d be back to normal. I promised to meet up a potential volunteer tomorrow afternoon.

When we did our exhibition last month during International AIDS Memorial Day, we had a list of people who submitted their names to become volunteers in our organization. But we don’t simply accept anyone who wants to volunteer. We’ve got to assess first if they are suitable for the line of voluntary work that we do. Some people may not fully understand the nature of things that we need to do. Some people may not understand the confidentiality issue. So we’ve got to interview them first, albeit an informal one. Then if we feel they may be suitable, we take them in as trainee volunteers, whereby they will be assigned a senior volunteer to take them around during our house visits or during clinic duties. After they are given enough exposure and if the senior volunteer is satisfied that he/she is capable, then only he/she will be confirmed as a full-fledge volunteer. I had to go through the same process when I joined in 2004.

Since we are all busy people, during the last Board Meeting we decided we should divide the list amongst a few of us so we could call the potential volunteers to arrange for the interview. I took down the phone numbers of 3 people. And last week I started calling.

The first one told me her off days are Mondays and Tuesdays, so our meet is tomorrow afternoon.

The second one, who does part time business (I’m not sure if it’s insurance or direct-selling), asked what the meet is all about and if we could just speak over the phone without having to meet up. Hmmm…. bad start. Come to think of it, I wonder if she knew what she was volunteering for. She did say she knew where our center was, but she mentioned the center of the Perak Family Health Association, not Buddies. Maybe she wanted to volunteer for the PFHA? Oh well, she said she’d call me this week when she’s free, so I’ll just wait and see if she’ll really call me back.

The third one, didn’t even answer my calls. I was thinking maybe she didn’t want to answer calls from unfamiliar numbers, so I sent her a text message explaining who I was and why I called earlier. I didn’t get any replies either.

So yeah, from the three names, I guess I will just have to be contented with one who still sounds interested.

Hopefully my stomach won’t be giving me any problems tomorrow. I wouldn’t want to make a scene in public…


8 comments:

Typhoon Sue said...

ah, dahling, don't say that.... u'll make sheila weep again...
:-)

I wish I can be a volunteer, but i know I'm lacking a certain criteria -- patience. Reading your stories abt the antics of some of your clients, I know I would snap 16 times a day if I'm in your position.

Get well soon.

Unknown said...

salam akak...

purging? you eat something delicious and forget ME? need the chi kit teck aun pills? I've still have the one I wanted to give kerpie the last time he REFUSED to take the medication...hahahaha

it hard to select a volunteer, nowadays... i want to be one too, in the group that i'm in but i really cannot fit into the kind of lifestyles they practise...their meaning of active lifestyle is different than mine...

maybe the scope with mine and yours are different too...yours would be difficult because people still have strong stigma about HIV/AIDS...

get well soon ya...

Pi Bani said...

Sue,
Tak paaa... biaq pi la kot Sheila nak weep pun...

Kalau you jadi volunteer and selalu snap back at the clients, probably clients pun tak berapa berani nak call you kot... ;)

Pi Bani said...

RG,
Bila pulak I ate something delicious nya. Hari Sabtu tu ada la pi kenduri but Sunday I ate home cooked food. Mungkin tak tahan my own cooking kot... hehehe... Pagi ni rasa dah okay sikit tapi still tak berapa berani nak makan... so this morning dok minum ORS.

The volunteers in my NGO now memang I can get along with - semua jenis simple and low profile. Definitely no politicking involved. Tu pasal I selesa...

Lee said...

Wa Pi bani, you celebrity now ahhh? Hang on, saya go chari my note book get your autograph. Sign dua kali, boleh?
Pi Bani....your house ada perigi? hey, for old times sake, can I come over try my long lost skills at dropping a pail into the well? Ha ha.
Gurantee...3rd try tentu dapat full tank or pail, ha ha.
But no...I will not take a bath at your well, ahemmm,....my body no longer like Rambo, arhaaa ha ha.
Ya la, you correct, it's "Sereh", not 'serai', ha ha. And 'Pinang'. 'Hey, you don't expect me to remember everything, right?
But I bet you not many people have sat on a kerbau? Ha ha.
But don't fool around with an upset kerbau, they can tendang kaki kuat...Amir and us ran one direction, the two kerbaus another direction, ha ha.
Okay, saya pergi chari my old autograph book.
Hey, you change your profile pic...wa, jadi celebrity, profile pun da tukar, lagi pun pakai Dior designer sunglasses.....Okay, okay, I chabut now before you throw stone at me, Lee.

Pi Bani said...

Lee,
Nak autograph? Sign dua kali? Boleh.... but second one kena charge lah. Nowadays price semua naik so nak autograph also kena jual mahal!

Want to try your skills at getting water out of a well, eh? I also a few tries baru dapat full pail. Problem is, when pail is full, mau angkat pulak berat so sometimes I prefer if the pail is only half or 3/4 full!

And speaking of sitting on a kerbau, now that oil price has really shot up, maybe we should go back to riding animals as our mode of transportation.

Btw, mana ada designer sunglasses! That one I pakai murah punya lah... ini celebrity tak glamour one! And yes, you'd better cabut before I lastik you!

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

the second one tu Kak Pi, my bet is she had a change of mind. i think the most polite way of telling you to stop bugging her is to turn the table and say she'll call back. trick lama tu...hehehe...

get well soon!

Pi Bani said...

Kerp,
Yang 2nd one tu I pun dah berat hati nak take her in even if she does call back. Kalau belum apa lagi dah suruh bagitau whatever on the phone je, nanti bila dah jadi volunteer, bila masa pulak nak gi visit clients? And bila masa pulak nak join our fellowship activities?

So, biarlah kalau dia nak pakai trick lama pun...