My dear voluntary work,

first and foremost, I’m grateful. Grateful for the trust you placed in me, trying me out, getting to know my strengths and, above all, making me brave.

It all started automatically when I gave group lessons in my parish during school time and joined the Catholic rural youth movement there. Preparing leisure time and helping to shape the community with the children and young people, working for the environment and supporting young people. And all by yourself, you made me stronger.

Who is Dani?

• Daniela is 26 years old and studies political science
• Since 2017 she is a member of the board of the Mouvement International de la Jeunesse Agricole et Rurale Catholique Europa (MIJARC) and since 2016 part of the MIJARC World Coordination. MIJARC is the association of Catholic-Christian rural youth associations in 41 countries. (Source: www.kljb.org)
• She has been active in the Catholic Rural Youth Movement Germany (KLJB) at federal level since 2013
• She is also a member of the Federal Working Group on International Development

I have learned what it means to stand up for something, to raise my voice and that we are much more effective when we do it in chorus instead of alone. Polyphony makes a choir sound beautiful and so I experienced my youth association work. Only the different backgrounds, cultures and opinions make our work sound.

During my studies I learned the necessary tools. My volunteering has taught me how I use it!

After graduating from high school, I knew where I wanted to go because you helped me get to know my talents while school was mainly about performance. After being in Kenya in the course of our KLJB partnership and being allowed to look beyond my own nose, I knew that my heart belongs especially to international work.

Fear of challenges – looking into the face – simply trusting

In the next years I took over the leadership of the partnership with Kenya, was allowed to organize two visits with our Kenyan friends and travel to Kenya for three weeks with a team of 15 people. Sometimes it still seems crazy to me to receive such a responsibility at the age of 21. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t afraid, but outside the comfort zone are enormous opportunities for growth.

Now I am 26 and wonderful teams have given me security through skills that complement each other. The realization that I don’t have to be good at everything to be good and above all I have met people who burn for their work and who inspire me with it. Over the years I was able to try myself out in different teams and positions, was on our diocesan board in Mainz, worked in the Federal Working Group on International Development and was allowed to represent my association at UN climate conferences and at the Vatican.

But I am particularly grateful for my time on the board of our international umbrella organization, MIJARC…

You give me hope. Perspective and a home

Here I can see what the peace project Europe means and even beyond that what it means to be a citizen of the world. And above all you show me how difficult it can be, how different we are sometimes and how impossible it often seems to work together. How frustrating it is to be able to work at an international level only very slowly and not to be able to do justice to our two million rural youths in the association, who are doing such breathtaking work worldwide. You have shown me through all these conflicts what I want to stand up for and what it is worth fighting for.

Sometimes you give me great headaches, rob my mind and don’t give me a break – but above all you give me hope, perspective and a home.

Fotos: Daniela Ordowski

My knowledge of volunteering

I thank you because you give me a foundation of wonderful memories, failures that have made me stronger, unforgettable encounters and trust in myself. A deep trust that I am following a vocation and that on this path there are always people around me who inspire me to go on.

What are you thankful for? Can you imagine writing a love letter to your vocation or hobby?

Yours, Dani