Today, on International Volunteer Day, we only want to say two words: THANK YOU! A huge thank you to all our Volunteers at CADUS. It is only together that we can sustain this organisation, and you play an important part in shaping CADUS and giving it a face.

Volunteers in all areas

Volunteering at CADUS can be found in all areas, such as IT and administration, and of course in our Crisis Response Makerspace. Here, we plan, build and test everything that we would like to design or improve ourselves in the field of humanitarian aid.

Another large and important area of voluntary work at CADUS is the Medics Group. In a humanitarian organization with a focus on medical emergency aid, it is impossible to imagine life without it! As in all areas, there is one full-time person who coordinates everything. But a large part of the work is done by volunteer doctors and a pharmacist, who organize themselves in different working groups. CADUS Medics in Berlin are responsible for planning the missions, organizing training courses and further developing our Emergency Medical Team. People from many countries around the world have already joined us on missions.

In 2017 Anna-Lena was already in Iraq with CADUS. Since 2019 she is supporting the Medics Team with crewing paperwork and writing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Especially important: Crewing

An essential link between these globally distributed volunteers and the CADUS organization is the Crewing Team. All medical professionals who want to work with us apply here. Judith, a nurse, coordinates the crewing team as a volunteer and conducts many of the interviews with interested people. If a volunteer is accepted, the work for paramedics Anna-Lena and Samira begins: they make sure that the doctors submit all papers to us in the proper manner. So many papers we need to see! Sometimes it takes a lot of time and stress to make sure that everything is in place in time to be able to take the next steps in the preparation of the operation.

Samira came to us in 2018 through a meeting with CADUS on Lesbos. Initially she was involved in the Makerspace and is an integral part of the Crewing Team.

There are many different stories about how volunteers come to us. Judith actually came by our Makerspace three years ago just to help us sort through surgical material. She has stayed on, working with us in various medical areas, above all as head of crewing.

Judith coordinates the crewing, and is also active in many other areas at CADUS. And in addition to all her commitment she also manages – just like Anna-Lena – to study medicine.

About her work here she says:

“I think it is very important to be involved in volunteer work! In the last three years I have not only made friends but also learned a lot. I have gained insight into areas that were completely new to me, I bear responsibility and have also been confronted with all kinds of limitations, be it physical, psychological or political. But at the end of each project, it makes me proud to see how much we can achieve as a team and how many people we were able to help. I hope to continue this work for a long time to come.

 

Corona and voluntary work: a challenge

Our current mission on Lesbos and the positive feedback we received from the crews showed once again what a fantastic job the Crewing Team is doing. After all, the members of a team not only have to complement each other well in terms of their technical skills, but they also have to be a good fit in human terms. Estimating this in advance is no easy task, especially during a pandemic. Getting to know each other before the mission is often only possible via video conference.

COVID-19 demands a lot from all our volunteers. Besides the altruistic motivation to support humanitarian projects and thereby help people in need, a big factor for volunteer work is of course the encounter, mutual exchange and learning from each other. At the moment, however, only small, fixed project groups can work in our Makerspace, other meetings are also limited to the online format. All the more we would like to thank all our volunteers once again for supporting us in these difficult times.