„Above all, I have an incredible amount of fun doing voluntary work. In the end, it's like a second family. You have fun together regularly and can learn a lot of new things.“
I find it very nice to be active during the summers, for example: at the Baltic Sea. There are always lots of people with whom you can interact and whom you can help. Very often, you find yourself surrounded by people who are expressing their gratitude for your services which, of course, is very fulfilling.
During the 10th grade, we wanted to go on a class trip to the Baltic Sea, and our teacher was looking for few lifeguards. I volunteered, and that's how I got into the water rescue service. At first, I just wanted to drop by, but I liked it so much that I did the training to become a lifeguard and then looked into what else I could do. What I always look forward to most is the feeling of community - that family feeling. At the university, it seems like everyone is more individualistic, but during volunteering, you work together as a team, as a unit, and can achieve much more that way.
COVID-19 has an enormous influence on our work. For the time being, we cannot offer any more trainings, and swimming pools are also closed. However, what is much more serious is that we can no longer get in touch with people and help them in the way we could before. COVID-19 forced us to offer online trainings that took us further as we can offer more trainings that way. The pandemic also forced us to work in fixed teams, which strengthened the sense of community. In general, we work very well with many organizations in Berlin thanks to a large number of committed people. In the case of Wasserwacht, we have enjoyed an ever-growing number of members, especially during the recent years.
The pictures, video and text of Tim are from the series "Volunteers of Berlin - Die Hauptstadtheld:Innen", photo courtesy of GoVolunteer. For more information, please visit: