We played basketball and we played a lot of soccer. We did art projects together and we sometimes just watched cartoons. Basically we enjoyed a lot of laughter and social bonding. They learned as much about me as I did about them, and we created our own little community right there. I acted as a civic-minded professional with the children, because I understood my role and responsibility as their mentor. Before I started volunteering I acted as a concerned citizen, but this work transformed my self-image. I had never realized what social service was until I started working with the refugees. The work seemed so natural that I knew I could translate anything I did professionally into social service.

In an individualistic society, community service is an anomaly. We have a hard time understanding why someone would want to work for free to help others, when they could spend that...
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