Under these programmes, volunteers show their social concern by working with institutions that cater for orphans, the physically handicapped, and the mentally retarded. As such institutions, campers engage in cleaning the surroundings, washing the inmates and their clothing, feeding them and developing teaching aids. They also meticulously participate in recreational activities with the inmates. Another area for social concern for volunteers is literacy. Under the theme ‘literacy for development’, volunteers whilst at a camp seek to increase the rate of literacy among rural folks, VOLU believes that literacy means much more than simply to be able to read and write. For VOLU, those who are ‘literate’ must be able to read the world, that is to say they must be able to read their own reality as well as the world.
Hence, those who can read and write can simple become illiterates if they cannot understand and act upon the world in which they live. The idea is to make literacy meaningful and functional. Literacy must create some kind of awareness among the people to make them act upon and transform their reality. Some education is given to the rural folks on their rights and responsibilities as well on good governance.
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