“Helping other people is for me the most meaningful thing a person can engage in”
16. June 2021The students at the Institute of Pedagogical Sciences are helping to cope with the current difficult situation of the staff and children in children’s care homes and primary schools in Zlín, Vizovice, Liptal, Uherské Hradiště, Uherský Ostroh, Kroměříž, Valašské Meziříčí, Zašová or even Strážnice. Radka Šrolová, a 2nd year student of Social Pedagogy, is one of them, and we are interviewing her.
Hello, dear Radka. You are studying Social Pedagogy at the Institute of Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities. What made you choose this field of study? After graduating from high school, I chose to study Social Pedagogy because for a long time I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do next in life, and helping other people seemed like the most meaningful thing a person could do. Therefore, since the beginning of my studies, I have tried to help others while gaining new experiences. You are very active in volunteering. Where did you work in the past? For example, through the Adra organization at the Home for the Peaceful Aged Naděje, I was visiting a very nice elderly lady. But when the pandemic came, no more visits were possible, so my volunteer activities began to take on a different direction. So, in the spring I signed up for the Scout Crisis Centre, where volunteers from the Scouts and students help seniors with shopping or delivering drapes and other things seniors need. Where did you work in the past? In autumn, when the second wave began, we students were approached by Dr. Martincová, who arranges internships for our field. Her words encouraged – not only me – to contact the Zlín Region and offer to help. That’s how I came to work at the Lukov Home for the Elderly. Here, together with other students, we worked as paid volunteers in twelve-hour shifts, mainly taking care of hygiene, serving meals or positioning, although my most favourite activity was talking to clients, which can be very enriching. The clients of the home were very much affected by the consequences of social isolation, so they appreciated every moment when they could talk, hold someone’s hand, exchange a few smiles, but also share their tears. In addition to all this, you also helped at the UTB Crisis Call Centre, is that right? Yes, sometime around that time I was also helping out at the crisis call centre of the Regional Hygiene Station, which was established at our university. However, the shifts there started to be gradually cancelled, so when the doctor asked for help again, this time in the children’s homes, I didn’t hesitate. In December, my volunteer contract at the home for the elderly expired, so since January I have been helping out only at the children’s home, where I am currently working.
What exactly is the scope of your volunteer work in this home? Specifically, I visit one family group at the Liptál Children’s Home, where I supervise the children during online lessons and help them with their homework, which is a lot. Such a visit usually takes three hours of my time with the children, with another two hours spent travelling back and forth. When helping with the online teaching, it is in the morning, but for example in December, when the children returned to school for some time, I also commuted in the afternoon, and besides helping with the homework, we played games together with the assistant and the children or made pictures. I spend most of my time at home with one little girl who is currently in fourth grade and with whom we sometimes have a good laugh. Although she is not a lover of learning, she handles school with ease and sometimes even explains the material to me. So basically, I have a tutor. Volunteering is very time consuming. Is it possible to combine it all with your studies? Since the deputy director leaves all the scheduling of the visits to me, I have no problem participating in distance learning, rather, on the contrary, helping out at home enriches me with new experiences related to my field of study. Radka, we are very pleased to have such engaged and active students. Thank you for your volunteer work and good luck for your future work. I thank the faculty. I would not have gained any of such experience if it were not for the initiative of the school and the teachers, who were and still are in some cases a great inspiration for me personally.