Mutual Assistance Project - Visually impaired college students serve for the community elderly
The project, in turn, improved the professional skills and communication skills of the students, and facilitated the establishment of a peaceful and inclusive society for the persons with disabilities.
1. The project focused on two particular marginalized groups, persons with disabilities and elderly people, trying to establish a platform where the volunteers could help themselves during the process of helping others. While receiving care and support from the society, volunteers with disabilities could also use their expertise to repay the society, inspiring more people to engage in volunteerism.
2. The project provides opportunities for the communities to communicate with persons with disabilities and have a better understanding of their needs, which in turn could provide better assistance to the persons with disabilities.
3. Through popularizing the Chinese medicine of acupuncture and massage treatment, new approaches for communities and elderly care institutions emerged to better serve the elderly.
Since 2016, 42 volunteers have been engaged in this project and provided services to 20 communities more than 100 times with over 3,000 elderly people benefited by the project. To expand the impact, the team is working on setting up 2-3 new visually impaired volunteer groups outside of Beijing. During this process, they also gained experience in establishing mechanism to support the persons with disabilities to volunteer.
Contact:
Zhiqiang SONG
Team advisor, Project consultant
Venus Volunteer Service Team of Beijing Union University
+86 13161178348
