Once every other week all the way up until the Big Volunteer Week, we will highlight the values of Serve the City (Humility, Compassion, Respect, Courage, Love, Hope). Each value will be represented by different people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, professions and ages. Today we present our last story, a story of Courage:
Confronting seemingly endless social issues in the town that one lives and works in is not an easy thing to do. It takes courage to not only see the problems and the suffering around you, but to set out trying to help and trying to change things.
Katie Murphy, a volunteer originally from Belfast, Ireland, has shown real strength and courage in her experiences with Serve the City. She’s been present for refugees being evicted from a squat, she’s taking kids to the hospital, and she’s unblinkingly faced the hardships experienced in a home for refugees.
Though only 28 years old, when asked if she’s ever scared about confronting these issues, she replies, “You can’t say no when you get a phone call like that. Also, you get attached to people and you worry about them. Before the [squat] eviction there were rumours for a week and people had not slept and they were terrified and they didn’t know what was going to happen. You can’t just stand by and watch them like that.”
She does admit that the first refugee place she first volunteered with “was shocking the first time I went in; I was really shocked. The place was really dirty; there was blood on the walls, there was rubbish everywhere, it was not pretty. And the people who live in those places have the natural element of suspicion, because life hasn’t been too kind to them. So that was a bit of a challenge at first.”
It’s all worth it for her, though. She works in the European Parliament and enjoys being able to do this practical work in addition to being involved on the academic side. “I work in the European Parliament,” she explains, “with a lot of legislation everyday, but with this you actually get to see the fruits of your labor, you get to see kids math skills improving, and people trusting you and opening up their homes to you, or a reunion between a mother and a son who haven’t seen each other in four years. It is worth it. Yes, it’s challenging, but most things that are worth it are.”
In addition to building a relationship with the people at the squat, she also loves being able to build these deep relationships with the other volunteers. She says, “in those situations you build up stronger friendships with people, because you see and you go through a lot more than if you were just working in an office together. But it’s also nice to meet people from different backgrounds and different experiences.”
She also mentions that Serve the City really has an important role in these people’s lives because of its consistency. “We went every week and they really started to rely on us. People from the commune or the board of education came to check in on them, but there’s no one who really went every week and got to know them.”
She says her experience with Serve the City, leading volunteers, has been really good for her, and when asked if she had any closing thoughts to add she simply replied, “I think it speaks for itself.”
Join us for the Big Volunteer Week to meet Katie and other amazing people!
