Kurapkaitienė, Neringa

Savanorystė, įsismelkusi į daugelį sričių ir veiklos, didėjančiu savanorių įsitraukimu gyvina kasdienę veiklą, ją artina prie bet kokios amžiaus, ekonominės ar socialinės grupės ir užtikrina įvairiapusį veiklos įgyvendinimą. Į socioedukacinę veiklą savanoriai gali ir turi įsijungti, viena vertus, praturtindami veiklą lygiaverčiu santykiu, kita vertus, nuolat kurdami atsiskleidimo galimybes per įvairiau- sių santykių figūraciją (angl. figuration; Ellias, 2000). Skyrius suskirstytas į penkis poskyrius, kuriuose galima rasti darbo su savanoriais pagrindinius žingsnius, būtiną organizacinę laikyseną ir metodines rekomendacijas pasitelkiant savanorius socioedukacinėje veikloje.

Phenomenon of the Volunteering reveals itself through dedicated time for volunteering, duration of volunteering commitment, area where volunteering is implemented and through age group of the volunteers. The object of the study is volunteering experience of young adults. Interpretative Phenomenological Analyses is research methodology. According to the phenomenological approach, research itself is not focusing on any foreseen objectives, oriented to the volunteers’ experience. In this article is presented part of the research, giving deeper view on one of the super-ordinates theme, with the aim: to present responsibility for your own life experience of young adults in long term and fulltime volunteering, while volunteered is held in social help area. In the study participated 6 research participants, 3 young men and 3 young women, 20–30 years old. To collect the data of the research were used semi-structured interviews. Conclusions of the study presented in this article shows 1) that through volunteering experience research participants perceived power and duty of own life’s quality. They got awareness about their own life – they can and they must be responsible of own life. 2) This power of responsibility is hidden in themselves and change of own life depends on the decisions made by them while volunteering. Prior experience of responsibility is opening decision possibilities and freedom possibilities in any change of life.

Volunteering is always implemented through the time a person spends on volunteering, the duration of the commitment, the area in which they volunteer, and the age group of the volunteers. This research considers the long term and full-time volunteering of young adults in the field of social help. The object of this research is the volunteering experiences of young adults. The research question is: How do young adults experience volunteering in the field of social assistance? This article discusses only one finding of the study – the transformational experience of the acceptance of the Other in the field of social help. The design of the study was based on Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al., 2009). The study was conducted according to the methodology of interpretive phenomenological analysis in order to analyze the significance and meaning of the volunteering experiences of young adults. One of the most promising aspects of the research participants’ experience was the transformative experience of encountering the Other person, which became relevant to all research participants and needs to be presented separately. The experiences of the volunteers revealed not only their responsibility for the receivers of help, but also the relationship of dependence with those whom volunteers helped. The openness of the volunteers to the vulnerable, help-requiring Other become a deep and long-term educational process of selfacceptance and self-becoming for the volunteers themselves. For volunteers, the otherness of the Other was the key to the acceptance of their own otherness. Volunteering creates an asymmetrical relationship, where the volunteer has more perceived power by providing help and the help-receiver is perceived as belonging away from the volunteer. In the process of volunteering, however, it is impossible to stay in these positions of perceived power, because the volunteer needs to learn how to coexist from the help-receiver. The help-receiver therefore becomes a teacher for the volunteer. This changing relationship with the Other taught volunteers to accept the weaknesses, disabilities, and failings of the Other, and at the same time to accept those within themselves. The volunteers started to see themselves as “not as nice as I thought of myself before”, which gave them a more realistic and acceptable self-view. By accepting themselves and their mistakes, volunteers were emboldened to live and act with their weaknesses and imperfections.

The phenomenon of volunteering reveals itself through the time a person spends for volunteering, through the duration of the volunteering, the area in which volunteering occurs, and the age group of the volunteers. Object of the study – volunteering experiences of young adults. The issue of the research is how young adults experience volunteering in the social help field. The research is phenomenological and not focusing on any foreseen objectives, oriented to the experience of the volunteers. According to phenomenological approach, research methodology was Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. In this article, part of the research is presented, giving deeper view on one of the super-ordinates theme, with the aim: to present change of control relation into the trust relationship with the Other in long term and full-time volunteering. In the study participated 6 research participants, 3 young men and 3 young women, 20 to 30 years old. To collect data of the research we used semi-structured interviews. Conclusions of the study, presented in this article, reveal: 1) The volunteers' experience of volunteering shows that the relationship of control in trying to fit the lives of met people into a personal imagination – what life should be like – changes through confrontation, surprise and even shock to discover authentic relationship of trust based no longer on appreciation but on intimacy and communion; 2) Hidden abilities of volunteers, new opportunities and self-disclosure are possible when a close relationship of trust is created; 3) Abandoning preconceptions about the Other and volunteering, the study participants changed the relationship of control to a relationship of trust. On that base, they began to volunteer in their environment without waiting for permission, instructions or other actions to legalize volunteering. As the relationship changed, as control shifted to a trust-based relationship with those around them, volunteers, realizing the experience, discovered the significance of volunteering, empowered by trust, and personal freedom and creativity; 4) The relativity of the study participants in volunteering was experienced dialogically, seeing the person and associating themselves with the person, and thus experiencing a constant interplay as ignorance, uncertainty, but at the same time as devotion and trust.

Savanorystė reiškiasi per asmens savanoriškai veiklai skiriamą laiką, įsipareigojimo trukmę, sritį, kurioje savanoriaujama ir savanorių amžiaus grupę. Tyrimo objektas – jaunų suaugusiųjų savanorystės patirtys. Tyrimo klausimas – kaip jauni suaugusieji patiria savanorystę socialinės pagalbos srityje? Šiame straipsnyje aptariamas tik vienas tyrimo radinys - jaunų suaugusiųjų atskiriantis ir auginantis sunkumo patyrimas per ilgalaikę ir intensyvią savanorystę, kai savanoriaujama socialinės pagalbos teikimo srityje. Tyrimo dizainas grindžiamas interpretacine fenomenolgine analize (Smith ir kt., 2009). Tyrimas atliktas pagal Interpretacinės fenomenologinės analizės metodologiją siekiant išanalizuoto jaunų suaugusiųjų savanorystės patirties reikšmę ir prasmę, kurią jai suteikia patys tyrimo dalyviai. Savanorystė yra kintantis ir daugiabriaunis reiškinys, atsiskleidžiantis nerimo, baimės, nusivylimo, bejėgiškumo, ribotumo patyrimą, kai savanoriaujama ilgai ir skiriant savanorystei laiko kasdien. Vienas iš ryškių tyrimo dalyvių patyrimo aspektų - atskiriančios ir auginančios sunkumo patirtys, kurių išgyvenimo stiprumas palietė visus tyrimo dalyvius. Savanoriaujant išgyvenamos atskiriančios ir auginančios sunkumo patirtys tyrimo dalyvius trikdė ir neleido gyventi iki savanorystės buvusiu ritmu ir vadovautis turėtais įpročiais. Neapibrėžtumo ir bejėgiškumo išgyvenimas savanoriaujant tyrimo dalyvius priartino prie pagalbą gaunančių asmenų ir jų kančios suasmeninimo. Atskiriantis sunkumo savanoriaujant patyrimas tyrimo dalyvius tarsi išstūmė iš norimos ir įprastos patirties į nenorimą ir įtampą keliančią patirtį, ir augino išgyvenant tapatumą su savanoryste. At(si)skyrimo patyrimas savanoriaujant tyrimo dalyviams atvėrė egzistencijos perklausimo ir egzistencijos įsivertinimo naujai prasmę. At(si)skyrimo patyrime jauni suaugusieji perėjo iš idealizuoto savanorystės įsivaizdavimo į savanorystės tikrovę su mirtimi, ligomis, skurdu, konfliktais ir kitomis ribinėmis pagalbą gaunančių žmonių patirtimis, tapusiomis asmeniniais savanorių patyrimais. Absurdo ir beprasmybės patyrimas tyrimo dalyviams suteikė galimybę naujai atrasti savanorystės ir asmeninės egzistencijos prasmę arba savanorystei suteikti Sizifo kančios prasmę.