Volunteerism
Here are some extract from a article I read recently.
More than 13 million of these join the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, delivering services to vulnerable people with no expectation of financial or material gain. When an emergency strikes, they perform first aid, rescue people from collapsed buildings, drive ambulances, brave flood waters, deliver letters to prisoners, conduct vaccination campaigns and provide comfort to those in need. Volunteers boost community resilience and extend the reach of governments.
The nature of emergency response work means that some volunteers risk their lives.
It is more difficult to measure the social value of volunteers, but governments should be aware that people working side by side and delivering services to the vulnerable create a sense of community empowerment and solidarity that money cannot buy.
Under the Geneva Conventions, governments recognize Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies as “auxiliaries to the public authorities in the humanitarian field”. Volunteers are crucial to this auxiliary status, and must be accounted for in all disaster contingency planning. Prior to an emergency, there should be coordinated strategies and regular dialogue among all levels of government, the local Red Cross or Red Crescent National Society, and other disaster-related and volunteering organizations. These partners should build relationships in advance, so that trust is established and any gaps or overlaps can be addressed. Volunteers must have proper equipment, clothing and training in order to do their jobs safely and effectively.
Even when a response is well managed, emergencies are traumatic experiences. Being a volunteer does not make a person immune.
“We must remember, volunteering is a choice one makes in sacrifice of doing something else,” states Dr Mukesh Kapila, Under Secretary General at the IFRC.
Volunteers give their time and talent, expecting little in return. They must be encouraged and promoted, or this goodwill could disappear. Recognition does not have to be monetary – it can be a gesture, a speech at a public gathering, free public transport, new uniforms or scholarships to public universities. “If we are working for humanity, the authorities should protect us socially and economically if they can,” says one Red Crescent volunteer in Pakistan. “We are not a liability. We are assets of a society, because we are giving our best for them.”
According to the IFRC’s definition, a volunteer is someone who works for a more humane and peaceful world by delivering services directly to vulnerable people and seeking to prevent and reduce vulnerability and exclusion. Volunteering is carried out by people acting of their own free will – not through any external social, economic or political pressure – with no desire for material or financial gain.
Generally, this papers discuss about the what should government look into the problem of within volunteerism around the world, especially in Red Cross/Red Crescent. It always happen that the volunteers complaint they can’t get anything in their work and causing lost for them all the time.
Well, is somehow how you look into it. Voluntary, mean u do it by yourself. If you claim to get something back from it, you are not a true volunteer.
But yet, as the article said, it’s good to give out something to the volunteer. A small token may be a big significant for them and family.
The need of law to be implement to protect the right of volunteers is something have to be done urgently. Protect those who risks their lives, helping others; while they can actually just ignore it and proceed to their routine life.
Be a true volunteer, and do it without hoping for any return. Trust me, the god will arrange something good for you. 
Peace
Source: Volunteering in Emergencies
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