2020 December Job Talk and Volunteer Job Fair!

 Thursday, 19 May was a very special day for us at Volunteer The Hague: After two long years of pandemic restrictions, a sense of normalcy has finally returned to our lives, and in part to celebrate this, we were thrilled to finally be able to hold an in-person event again as part of our continued mission to serve our local expat and international community! The event was held at The Hague Humanity Hub's fantastic events space, which was a perfect venue for our attendees to mix and mingle with other local internationals, as well as with representatives from nearly 30 local NGOs and service organizations in attendance! These organizations serve a wide range of interests, including organizations devoted to the enforcement of human rights, refugee and migrant support, arts and culture promotion, animal care, multiculturalism, and elderly and child care. (A full list of the organizations in attendance may be found at the end of this article.) And with over 100 attendees joining us, the event was a huge success! Our attendees spent their time during the three-hour event checking out the various tables set up by the representatives of the organizations in attendance. The reps spoke about their organizations' missions, current activities, and the benefits they offer their volunteers, and our attendees were able to ask questions and exchange contact information. It was a thrill to see everyone's enthusiasm for getting involved and bettering the local community. It was also great to see so many fantastic connections being made between attendees as well, and we hope this was the beginning of new friendships and support systems for each other! We also had several speakers as part of our program. Gerko Viseé from The Hague International Centre gave an insightful and informative talk about the current state of the local job market, while VTH's very own project manager, Tetyana Benzoural, spoke about the benefits that volunteering can offer in terms of career goals and personal fulfillment. And to start off the event, we had PEP Director Fenna Noordermeer on hand to speak about PEP, VTH's mission within PEP, and how everyone has a valuable and unique role to play in volunteering activities in The Hague. Finally, VTH volunteers Gabriel and Reem were on hand to have a short conversation with Tetyana about their experience volunteering at various organizations in The Hague. The key takeaways from this: Volunteering is a great way to meet new friends and professional connections, beef up your current job skills, and gain brand new job skills for those looking to change careers. And according to them, volunteering has also been a great way for them to get to know The Hague itself - the types of organizations that operate in the city, community goals, and even local culture and language! We want to send our heartfelt thanks to Gerko for offering his insight and advice to support our community; to volunteers Gabriel and Reem for answering questions on stage; and to all of the attendees and organizations in attendance for making this a fun event where new friends and connections could be made. And a special thank you goes to the fantastic event volunteers who stepped up to help make this event a success! We very much look forward to offering more in-person events in the future! Organizations in Attendance: ACCESS - A foundation that relies on its English-speaking international and Dutch volunteers who enjoy helping others adjust to life in the Netherlands. AFS Nederland - an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization that provides cross-cultural learning opportunities to impart knowledge, skills and understanding for a better and more peaceful world. Arm Of Love International - A non-profit dedicated to Making Change Possible and Sustainable for all by educating, protecting, and supporting children and other disadvantaged groups in developing countries. Centre for African Justice, Peace and Human Rights - a foundation devoted to promoting justice, peace and human rights through education, awareness, campaign, training, outreach (Legal / Medical) and capacity building in Africa. CoderDojo Den Haag - a free, open and local programming club for young people. Het Koorenhuis - a creative and cultural hotspot located in the center of The Hague in a monumental building with a rich history dating back to the 17th century. Mammarosa The Hague - a non-profit that supports women who are being treated for breast cancer and gives information about early detection in the Netherlands. Middin - a foundation dedicated to helping people with brain damage while helping them with their daily needs. NL Cares - a volunteer pooling organization focussing on flexible volunteer work through social events, online volunteer agenda en corporate impact programs. Ocan - a 36 years old foundation committed to improving the position and advocacy of the Caribbean Dutch and related groups. Popradar Den Haag - the former Haags Pop Centrum, is an organization that provides a lively and diverse pop scene in The Hague. Positive News Foundation - a young foundation that connects uplifting news articles with people looking for positive news. Present Den Haag - a non-profit specialized in collaboration with all the professional welfare and mental healthcare organizations of The Hague and surroundings. Reach & Teach - a foundation that aims to assist the integration of newcomers (status holders, asylum seekers, and migrants) in The Hague region by offering Dutch and English classes, buddy systems, and social events. Saúde da Floresta - a foundation dedicated to helping the indigenous Amazone people of Brasil. The Hague International Centre a point of contact for international staff of organizations and companies in The Hague region. The Hungry Mind - a volunteer-run community centre for internationally-minded people. Together International - a foundation with the mission to design and implement solidarity projects addressing the socio-economic situation that emerged from the Covid-19 international humanitarian crisis. Vereniging Humanitas Home-Start - a project that offers support, practical help and friendship to parents by trained volunteers with parenting experience. Vier het Leven - a foundation that helps to realize life-changing events for the elderly. Vitalis - a foundation that matches a young person in need to an adult volunteer, to form a caring interaction that will promote the positive development of the young person. VTV Thuismaatjes - an organization that supports people with disabilities to participate in daily life activities, such as walks, sports, going to the movies and having positive social contact with others. Wijkz - a welfare organization for the residents of the Hague, to inform them about activities, voluntary jobs, support in the neighborhood and give practical help where needed. Wool for Warmth - a non-profit dedicated to collecting wool and organizing knitting groups that knit for the homeless. WWF - active in more than 100 countries and on 6 continents, this foundation does everything it can to protect and restore nature.

 This past Thursday, VTH once again held our popular Mix & Match Networking Event & Volunteer Job Fair - our first event after the summer holidays! This was a bit of a special "hybrid" event for us, as it was the first time since the start of the pandemic that the VTH team was back in the office together. It was so wonderful to run an event from PEP headquarters and be around one another again! And practically, running the event from a centralized location (as opposed to our own kitchen tables) was very convenient for us. In addition to the VTH team, we were joined virtually by representatives from 12 local non-profits and NGOs (whose names and descriptions can be found at the end of this post), as well as over 160 attendees! For two hours, our attendees mixed and mingled with each other and with the organizational representatives in Zoom breakout rooms - and from what we saw, many positive and fruitful connections were made! To start off the event, our fantastic speaker (and longtime friend of VTH) Vassia Sarantopoulou of the mental health support organization AntiLoneliness was on hand to give a short presentation on how to cope with constant change in our lives. Considering everything that's happened in the world over the last 18 months, this is both a timely and necessary topic. We will definitely hold more networking events and workshops in the future, so please stay tuned for more announcements. But for those of you unable to attend this event last Thursday, here is a quick summary of the important points from Vassia's presentation. We hope you'll find them as helpful to your own personal journeys as we have! Strategies for Coping with Life Changes Vassia started off her presentation by walking us through the different types of changes we experience in life: transitions and losses, of course, but also changes that we ourselves initiate, such as new habits. It's these types of changes that Vassia focused on during her presentation - self-initiated change for the better. Strangely, our brains have a bias against change because they prefer patterns and stability; they even resist positive changes! But this resistance is normal; uncertainty is registered in our brain as an error - as danger - because any change is a type of loss. But being prepared and framing change in terms of a win instead of a loss are key skills to learn in order to cope. According to psychology theory, there are stages of self-change: Pre-contemplation - where a person begins to think about change but has a bias towards resisting the change Contemplation - where a person begins to see the value of the upcoming change Preparation - finding the "why" of the change, preparing one's environment, and preparing one's mindsent Action - initiating the change itself Maintenance - keeping up the desired change going forward Maintenance is the toughest stage, but Vassia introduced strategies such as journaling, regular (re-)evaluation, and self-forgiveness as methods to keep up this maintenance. And, of course, rewarding oneself in order to keep up your motivation to sustain beneficial changes. Finally, Vassia made the very important point that consistent small changes are just as (and perhaps more) important than making huge changes in one's life. These changes tend to be easier to implement and have the potential to have the greatest rewards over time. We want to thank Vassia for attending our event and offering her insight and support to our community. We can't wait to hear from her again at a future event! Organizations in Attendance: Expatriate Archive Centre – A local historical organization whose mission is to preserve documents and materials related to local expat history. Stek - Den Haag Wereldhuis/The Hague World House – An information and advisory centre, with the aim of empowering undocumented migrants to make well-informed decisions. NL Cares – A volunteer pooling organization focussing on flexible volunteer work through social events, online volunteer agenda en corporate impact programs. Museon – A culture and science museum in The Hague for children and adults. Kessler Stichting – A homeless care organization serving The Hague and the surrounding region. Ga Den Haag – A group of four foundations focused on tours and group packages with enthusiastic volunteers showing the best from The Hague. WoonZorgcentra Haaglanden (WZH) – A care organization dedicated to providing guidance in the case of dementia, physical disorders and NAH. Chikara Cambodia – A foundation that combines education and enviromental projects in Cambodia. Muzee Scheveningen – A history and culture museum of the fishermans village Scheveningen. Stichting tot behoud van de Historische Buitenplaats Ockenburgh – An organization that originated from a citizens' initiative, in which about 100 volunteers are actively divided over different groups and projects. Reach&Teach - A non-profit organization that offers free Dutch and English language courses, as well as provides workshops and events to help facilitate the integration process of newcomers within Dutch society. Centre for African Justice Peace and Human Rights - A foundation that engages in promoting justice, peace and human rights through education, awareness, campaign, training, outreach(Legal/Medical) and capacity building in Africa. Stichting Aquarius – A foundation aiming to move the 6th Internationale Jeugd Film Festival (Int. Youth Film Festival) from Rotterdam to The Hague.

On 11 May 2021, we held our first Mix & Match Networking Event & Volunteer Job Fair of 2021 after quite a long hiatus! The hiatus was necessary while we spent the first few months of this year designing our new website. But running events for our fantastic expat community is one of our favorite activities, and we really missed it! And we were excited to see that there's still a great demand for these events, as we were joined by 220 attendees in our Zoom networking space, along with representatives from 18 participating local organizations! To start off the event, Volunteer The Hague's very own Project Manager Tetyana Benzeroual gave a short presentation titled, "How Volunteering Can Benefit You Professionally," where she spoke about how to merge your volunteering interests with your professional goals, and leverage any volunteering experience in order to advance your current career or gain new skills in order to find new employment or a new career. After Tetyana's presentation, each participating organization was given an opportunity to do a short pitch, where they spoke about their organization's mission, goals, current volunteering opportunities, and the types of skills they are looking for in potential volunteers. For two hours after the pitches, attendees had the chance to network and exchange information and ideas - as well as contact info - in each organization's virtual booth. Thanks to Zoom's ability to host breakout rooms in addition to the main virtual networking space, participants were able to speak with each organization's representative so that they could speak one-on-one, ask questions, and exchange information easily and directly. And we were so happy to see our ex-pat attendees chatting with one another and exchanging contact info as well! We love that these networking events not only help expand people's professional networks but also their social networks as well! Below you will find a list of the organizations that registered for the event, as well as a brief description of each and their contact info. Please take a look and if you want more information about their mission or current opportunities, feel free to contact the organizations directly! We want to sincerely thank all those who were able to attend this event! Now that we've gotten back into the swing of things with our events, we'll be hosting more in the near future, so make sure to keep an eye out for our newsletters and event announcements. We very much hope to see you at a future event! Organizations in Attendance: Bewoners Platform Wateringse Veld – A non-profit that offers participation in neighborhood safety, traffic, connections with neighbors, networks and much more. Biblionef - A not-profit that gives new and culturally diverse children's books to teachers and children, schools and community, and libraries worldwide so that every child can discover the joy of reading. Centre for African Justice, Peace and Human Rights – A foundation that conducts legal outreach, provides education, creates awareness, offers training, organizes campaigns, and hosts events to create a better Africa under the concepts of Justice, Peace and Human Rights in Africa. Delft MaMa - A foundation that reaches out to the local international community and offers a helping hand to parents. Expatriate Archive Centre - A local historical organization whose mission is to preserve documents and materials related to local expat history. Gezond Natuur Wandelen - Offers walking with mostly elderly in nature. NICC – A foundation that manages a wide range of material on international cooperation and is committed to making experiences with international cooperation and sustainable development more transparent and insightful. niKetan - Provides high-quality care and education to children with complex disabilities in Bangladesh. NL Cares - A volunteer pooling organization focussing on flexible volunteer work through social events, online volunteer agenda en corporate impact programs. Present Den Haag - A volunteer pooling organization, connecting volunteers with organizations who need them. Stichting Union Cultural - A local community garden bringing people of all ages together to make The Hague more green. Stek Den Haag - De Paardenberg - A community place in the middle of a multicultural neighborhood that organizes a large number of activities, such as, yoga, painting lessons, cycling lessons, meals, sewing lessons, and knitting & embroidery lessons. Stichting Businessclub The Hague Royals - The Hague's very own basketball club. Reach & Teach - A foundation that aims to assist the integration of newcomers (status holders, asylum seekers, and migrants) in The Hague region by offering Dutch and English classes, buddy systems, and social events. Terra Foundation – An initiative devoted to sustainable land management in developing countries. The Hague Road Runners (HRR) - The largest running club in the Hague area with approximately 800 members which organizes weekly training sessions, training weekends, group trips to runs in Holland and abroad and of course, social events. The Umbrella of Hope Foundation – A non-profit that works with minorities and vulnerable people in The Hague and Uganda. Zebra Welzijn – A foundation that supports inhabits in the Hague to participate in society and offers various volunteer activities.