Generation Unlimited Volunteer and Advocate Thulani Reflects

 Boys and Girls Club Reflections. 

“The mere exposure effect led to volunteer growth by osmosis, our work and time at Boys and Girls Club led to our growth.”

By Thulani Khumalo; Treasurer. 

UNICEF UJ volunteer club has partnered with Boys and Girls Club at Vrededorp, in the year of 2023. The vision of UNICEF closely aligns with the vision and mission of Boys and Girls Club and this has made a perfect partnership for both clubs. Boys and Girls Club seeks to keep children safe during idle and unsupervised after school hours and it offers educational and motivational programs to create opportunities of growth for children. 

UNICEF as an international organization is for Every Child, it promotes the rights of every child everywhere. Our pilot activity at Boys and Girls Club was to teach the children about their rights and the role of UNICEF in protecting their rights, this was also to introduce the UJ volunteer club to the children and begin a partnership going forward. We have been participating in their homework program and offering help to the children concerning their homework and school assignments, every Friday. This homework program is called “Power Hour.” After the homework program, we also play any games the children like to play, including sports such as soccer and netball on some occasions. 

When you work with children you learn a lot about children, you learn all about the little things that make a big difference in their lives, you also learn the importance of protecting them and consistency is a virtue that children treasure. It is the stability they require in their lives; it is their safety. Being small in our numbers as UNICEF volunteers at UJ, and having the challenges we had from within, we were able to be consistent. Boys and Girls Club has been our first, and primary partner ever since the UNICEF UJ Club was re-registered after it was disrupted by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Our task this year was essentially to start over. To have one primary stakeholder meant that we could dedicate all of our time and volunteers to it. Consistency in this case meant that we were supposed to be present every Friday for 2-3 hours, and it also meant that the children had to see the same faces consistently. Despite the inconsistency of some volunteers, most volunteers managed to be consistent, which helped build a closer relationship between the children and the volunteers. 

This meant that when a consistent face was absent the children would miss it and ask questions about it, and when we showed up consistently the children would be very happy to see us. Conversations become easier with the children, and a big brother or big sister relationship begins to form. 

The Mere Exposure Effect in Social Psychology states that the more often we are exposed to a person the more our attraction to that person increases, the more we like that person. Our consistency led to a longer period of the mere exposure effect, and this effect impacted both the volunteers and the children. Volunteers felt connected to the children, and the children felt connected to us.

Each and every volunteer has specific children they like the most and have a natural connection with, and the children have specific volunteers they are at ease around, the most. Each child assigns themselves a brother or a sister according to their chemistry. Very often it becomes sad when it is time for us to leave Boys and Girls Club, goodbye remarks turn into long, clingy hugs from the children. Every week we have to promise that we will come back the following week, such an impact can only come from consistency. 

This has led to a developmental growth of our volunteers, the investment they have made in the children raises barriers for them to leave easily. Because UNICEF at UJ is a student club, continuity is not inherent. Volunteers who are in their last years of study, such as third years and post graduate students are forced to leave the club and such work, and the investment they have put in makes it difficult for them to say goodbye. 

Despite this factor, we still have volunteers who are still students and willing to volunteer for UNICEF another year, which means that we will still maintain consistency at Boys and Girls Club next year. Boys and Girls Club will enjoy privilege as our primary partner, in the face of our expansionary plans for 2024. Personally, I think it would be of great impact for the children of Boys and Girls to be exposed to UNICEF and its volunteers for many more years until they finish their matric and are no longer eligible to be at Boys and Girls Club, I think it should play a role in raising them. A stronger and longer lasting impact can only be achieved by consistency and continuity, and we are at work to maintain the continuity and stability of UNICEF at UJ volunteer club.