This is the promise of our volunteers: In every corner of the stadium, you can see me Every where around you, you can find me At every exciting moment, I stay with you On every city street, I serve you Every time you hold a dream, my efforts are there.
Lin Jiao (first left, front row), the writer of the story poses with her fellows at the triathlon venue of the "Good Luck Beijing" Olympic test event in Beijing. [courtesy of Lin Jiao] |
As volunteers for next year’s 2008 Beijing Olympics, we strive to do our best everyday. But you don’t know who we are.
We’re in the parks, hospitals, airports and other places and you don’t recognize us.
I have a good friend who is 66-year-old and she’s trying her best to do something for the Olympics. But in fact, she’s done a lot already. She even started preparing for the Olympics five years ago.
During that time, she got certification to be a foreign language tourist guide and learnt a lot of English about sports and daily communication. When she was young, she was majored in English and now she is still using it. She often went to the Summer Palace to be a tourist guide for the foreign visitors.
When she told me about this experience, she laughed, saying, “When I asked foreigners if they needed a tourist guide, some of them thought I was a beggar and ran away.”
Last week, she told me she was teaching taxi drivers to speak English, and she had to spend four hours taking bus every day to do this. What’s worse is that she’s not qualified to be an Olympic volunteer, but I believe she has done far more than us.
As volunteers we are always ready for each meaningful and exciting event in the city.
Two months ago, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Triathlon World Cup. Things were not as easy as it appeared. Before the event began, we volunteers had to get everything ready, from the arena, the lanes, cleaning, picking up dinner and water, and even registering the athletes in the hotel.
It was not the weather conditions or the heavy workload, but the repetition of each task that made the volunteering job difficult. We repeatedly did things over and over.
Everyday for two weeks, I got up at four o’clock in the morning when my roommates were sound asleep, along with the other volunteers. On the way to the destination, I discovered that all the other volunteers fell asleep in the bus too. We had to take advantage of the one hour on bus to sleep, because we had a long day ahead of us.
My job was to arrange everything about the athletes’ training. That meant that the days before the competition were very busy. I had to stay in the hotel in case that someone needed help and I didn’t have any chance to watch the competition -- even though it was held only 200 meters away.
Volunteers are everywhere in my life. They are at the Beijing Sport University, thanks to the Olympic Games. One wonderful thing is that I have made many friends through my volunteer work, and we can share our experiences when we meet up.
One was chosen to volunteer during the Olympics opening ceremonies, one will record the information of all the athletes into the computer, and another has interpreted for the International Olympic Committee officials. We feel tired sometimes, but we never complain. The biggest happiness doesn’t come from what you get, but what you contribute.
The words,“The volunteer’s smile is the best name card of Beijing” may have been said too many times to create any more excitement. But I’m sure as you look around, you will discover volunteers everywhere, whose existence is more than just a name card.
