Volunteering Can Make You a Happier Person

Painting toy car tires for a primary school in Longido, Tanzania.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, there are many known benefits to community service. Perhaps that warm ball of hope I was talking about before has some scientific explanation. It appears that volunteering can help you improve in multiple aspects of your life, mentally, physically and socially. According to an article on HelpGuide, community service can decrease stress, anger and anxiety and has been proven to make you a happier person.

In the summer of 2019, I was fortunate enough to spend two weeks in Tanzania volunteering at local schools and spending time with people in the Longido village. Out of all my volunteering experiences, these two weeks were unlike anything I had ever done before. While this experience challenged me in the sense that I had to adjust to a different way of life, I remember being so happy there that I didn’t want to come home.

I remember meeting Liz, the woman who founded the Gogi Abroad program, and the night she convinced me to come with her on her Tanzania trip. I remember her amazing and welcoming energy and how passionately she talked about each detail of the program. Liz had begun traveling around the world at a young age and had been meeting new people and taking others with her on her journey ever since. Even though I had just met this woman, I could tell she was the kind of person who had a lot of heart and I knew I wanted her to show me the world.

If it is true that community service makes you a happy person, then Liz is the best example. After years of traveling abroad and lending a helping hand to whoever she met, Liz was maybe one of the happiest and kindest people I had ever met and I’m sure it’s safe to say that her life of service had some impact on making her the woman she is.