It was the final day of the event where I was volunteering for the weekend.

People from all around the world had met, exchanged ideas, encouraged one another and even had the chance to “vote” using very cool voting pads. I’d never seen these things before, but they make a conference a very interactive thing (“if you think membership of this organisation is too expensive, press 3 now”).

Anyway, the event ended with an inspiring speech and a nice metaphor comparing NGOs to Christopher Columbus (he didn’t know where he was going, when he got there he didn’t know where he was, when he got back he didn’t know where he’d been, but he changed the world and he did it all on other people’s money!).

Then there was the inevitable list of thank-yous, which only differed from usual thank-yous by the fact that as well as thanking all the volunteers, staff, waiting staff etc they even thanked the producers of the food! Nice thought.

And then came the bit that was different to any other secular conference I’ve ever been to. They sang a song! And did a dance! It was a calypso, possibly the only calypso in the universe with the words “accountability” and “responsibility” in it?!?

Much nicer way to end than with just thanking everyone and lots of clapping. It got everyone smiling, even the ones who were far too british to join in!!

uh-oh, and its even made it onto You-tube ! (warning, it will make you dizzy!)

Oh and another good thing was that while tidying up at the end of the conference, recyling was done as a matter of course, and they paid attention to how much was left over in order to better plan for even less waste next year.

On Friday, after a LONG day of volunteering (giving directions, handing out headsets and voting pads, generally standing up for a long time..!) I’d arranged* to go out to the cinema.

It was “Next” about a guy who can see up to 2 minutes into the future. Kind of implausible but once you’ve got over the unlikeliness of it, its gripping.

I wasn’t all that sure I’d have enough energy to stay awake for a film, but it was a good night. A great bunch of people and a fun film.

*OK when I say “I’d arranged”, can’t take credit for organising it… I’d started the idea of going to the cinema but somehow managed to slopey-shoulder the responsibility of making sure it all happened onto AM, who did a sterling job. I think it is definitely a GOOD THING for different people to take turns at being the social convenor. Partly its just nice to be a passenger sometimes and let someone else drive, but also it means you get a different sort of random selection of people along. And random selections of people are a GOOD THING too!

One of the reasons I’m doing this random volunteering is that in my current job, I’m feeling a bit bored. I’m not being faced with many new challenges, and not meeting many new people. And I LOVE meeting new people and thrive on challenge.

Today’s volunteering sessions were hard work and involved a lot of standing around, and occasional harassment:

• “if you advertise tablecloths then you must PROVIDE tablecloths!” (Eh? Tablecloths?!?)
• “I don’t care if the room is full, I have to go in!”
• I’m here for conference A but they won’t let me into conference B!

All this has made me aware of the good things about my current job:

- I get paid to be there!

- I have a seat

- I can get coffee anytime I want

- as a general rule, nobody makes bewildering and unexpected demands of me!

- No requirement to wear a cheap white t-shirt with “STAFF” printed on the back

I’m doing some volunteering this week, at an event for volunteers and NGOs. That makes me volunteer to the volunteers!

First task was to meet delegates at the airport, and what an enjoyable task that was. Many of the delegates had been travelling for 24 hours and were very tired, but still managed to be friendly. I met people from ALL over, from the US, the Philippines, the Cook Islands, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Chile, Uruguay, the Gambia.

Felt embarassed at my lack of knowledge about some of these places, but am now motivated to find out more, and really enjoyed meeting so many lovely people, who could still make the effort to be lovely after a long and tiring day.