The World as a Workplace
Meet Evelina: current Volunteer Associate in Moca, Dominican Republic. Evelina’s plans for a short term stay in the Dominican Republic have been derailed due to COVID-19, but she’s taking these challenges in stride.
Learn more about Evelina’s volunteer experience, and her philosophy on giving back, below.
Part 1
I've always volunteered; it's the perfect way to give back to an association, a society, or humanity. The projects have grown in pace with me as I have moved from gymnastic trainer to confirmation leader, from spending two months at an orphanage for disabled kids in Bolivia, and now as a chiropractor for World Spine Care in the Dominican Republic. I'm lucky to have a job that allows me to work without salary, for something more valuable than money. Volunteering is a symbiosis, where everyone involved can actively enrich lives and communities that need it most.
An idea takes form
It was at a meeting with the Danish Chiropractic Association in November 2018 that I first heard about World Spine Care, a nonprofit organization with an aim to provide sustainable, integrated, and evidence-based spine care to under-served communities. One year later, I found myself on a plane to the Caribbean, excited for two months of volunteering in Moca, Dominican Republic.
“Volunteering is a symbiosis, where everyone involved can actively enrich lives and communities that need it most.”
I didn't know that I would like it so much that I would prolong the contract for another two months. I didn't know that I would end up self-isolating in the Caribbean because of the COVID-19 crisis. Nor did I know about all of the new insights that I would have, thanks to meetings with patients and clinicians, and that I would develop a better understanding of the privileges and benefits that some of us are so fortunate to have. I did know that I would have an amazing experience, because the attitude you enter a new volunteer experience with, is what you get back in the end. Not just when it comes to volunteering, but in life in general.
Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon.
