Voluntary work and participation Involvement of young people in a community social project in Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes the involvement and motivations of a group of young students as social volunteering, in a community center, in a highly marginalized rural and indigenous town. The voluntary social action of young people is significantly interrelated with the formation of citizenship, which contributes to the construction of social peace. The volunteers based its actions on solidarity, empathy, altruism, conscience and political responsibility to face multiple social situations of injustices. The research experience used the perspective of communication and social change, with an emphasis on participatory communication, which implies a methodology based on dialogue between the youth of the community and the volunteers themselves. That look after consensus and agreements regarding the activities to be carried out. The activity were mainly educational, such as workshops, work days and guided cultural tours in the area. Among the most important motivations expressed by the volunteers are information and cognitive learning; personal development; the opportunity to know new people, the development of communication skills. They enjoy also the interactions with peers and to build a teamwork, as well as the encounter with the other and with the self. In a way of conclusions, highlighting the diversity of practices and motivations to carry out in this involvement of voluntary actions, the participation in the social community project had fostered the development of a sense of integration, solidarity, empathy, altruism and personal growth, which places these young people far of the stigmas and labels that the adult-centric world places on them due to their youthful condition.