The volunteers of the GO! hospital programme take the healing power of playing and laughter to the kids who are forced to fight with their illness within the walls of a hospital ward.
What does it mean after all to be a hospital volunteer is told by Kriszta, one of our first GO! volunteers:
It’s like going into a cold and dark room and then making a kid realize that it is warm there and he/she is stronger than anyone else. Leaving as much strength, warmth and fairy tales that can last for several days.
Being the first person on that day who is not asking about the kid’s health state, but is asking which game he/she wants to play with.
Being the one who shows a game that they can play together with her/his mom later on.
Being an adult, pulling yourself together and not worrying.
Seeing only the beautiful things: to only deal with the kid’s favourite games, music, memories and topics. Nothing else is important now. And if you have these wonderful things, your task is to make them all available to them.
I always know that I’m safe and sound
It’s hard to say that it’s demanding since the kids are in a much harder situation. But it’s not easy for us either. That’s why I’m so grateful to the GO! coordinators who have so carefully and accurately prepared and trained me.
At the beginning of each occasion, we have a warm-up session to get ready. If I get discouraged in the meantime, they always give you time, space, and help at the end of the programme and give assistance to understand what’s happened. No matter how successful the meetings have been with the kids, I know the coordinators will be there in the end and they will listen to me. We smile together at the children’s reactions, kindness, and we can understand it together if one of the kids was less enthusiastic.
I always know that I’m safe.
“Thank you for being with me!”
Volunteering is considered to be a cathartic event at all times. But it’s not.
Sometimes, we have to leave a kid alone because he’s tired, as he has a thousand times harder days as we do. There are occasions which are not special/ extraordinary at all. In such cases, it is very difficult to get rid of self-pity and to look more closely at what has happened to the child in that situation. Every time I realise that we are all giving to each other.
And it may not be so clear all the time, but the child’s response is always there. It’s in a forgotten phone call, in a deep thought told to you, in a waving, in a supporting role [not main character] given to you, this is how they say “thank you”.
And all we have to do is to be sensitive enough to hear this. Unfortunately, people are used to outstanding appreciation, so when it comes, we can give a straightforward reaction with a “your welcome”.
During the GO! hospital outreach programme, I’ve learned to hear a soft “thank you for being here with me” only when we shared our experience after the sessions. This is very important, because these revelations take us back again and again to the kids. As it’s amazing to see how a little patient forgets about the infusion cable, it is so great to get immersed into a game that you don’t want to leave, and it’s great to see a bored teenager getting into a fantasy game.
The most important message I take with me before each visit is that – just when I start to get excited about what if I can’t be funny, open, or energizing enough- the slightest joke is a joke, the slightest gesture, or a playful idea is so invigorating for a child who is lying in a white room for weeks and is in fears. All I have to do is to give my attention to her/him, and to give her/him a great time.
And if I take good care of all of these, the place will be a bit warmer after I leave.