The Training for New Volunteers of the Hand in Hand organization meeting was held on the 16th of December, 2018 at 6pm in the PG Building of Jiangsu University, Room G115.

The main purpose of the meeting was to officially introduce the association and its activities to the new volunteers, explaining the roles and importance of the organization. Moreover, the new models of the association were introduced so that members can decide which team to fit in.

The association’s patron Dr. Adeleke Banwo outlined the basic importance of volunteering and stressed the need for members to live to impact, to use their talents and learn by doing.

The president, Tawonga, then explained the organization in depth, and some of the events and activities carried out during the past years. Clear pictures were used in the presentation to support the evidence of the events. The rest of the discussions were split into different categories, being Airport-pickup, Discover Initiative, the International Cultural Festival (ICF), Registration and Accommodation.

The first category was the Airport-pickup, which was briefly explained by Raghul the organizing secretary; the head of Discover Initiative (DI), Theolan, talked about the organization’s role with discover initiative in raising funds for charity. Some fund-raising events mentioned included, the garage sale, sports-meet sales and the newly launched movie night where items such as wristbands and key holders are sold. He ended his presentation with a short video based on loving humanity and quoting a saying by Mother Theresa, “The hands that touch are better than the lips that pray”.

Thereafter, one of the active Volunteers, Okechukwu, a 4th year medical student, was called up to give a brief testimony of his work in HIH and say a few words about the International Cultural Festival, which is one of the biggest events held in the University and managed by the association. Okechukwu pointed out that being a volunteer has to come from the ‘heart’ and it requires much dedication.

Mr. Grace, a postgraduate student explained the process of Registration. He did not ‘sugar-coat’ his presentation, giving emphasis on the difficulties faced during the whole process. He also encouraged the new volunteers to be patient and understanding in such scenarios.

Eleanor, the secretary, also gave a presentation about accommodation process for receiving new students and importance of ensuring that they settle down into their rooms as well as the introducing the new model to the volunteers.

When all the presentations were done a question and answer segment was held and forms with the categories; Airport pick-up, Accommodation, Registration, Publicity, Charity Fund-raising and Entertainment were handed to the volunteers to sign according to which one each was interested in. Gratitude was shown to the volunteers that showed up and a group photos taken before departure.