Volunteerism in Spain

8 Sept 2011
Today was our last day of orientation in Madrid--which seems hard to believe. I've met some really neat people--most of whom I won't see again until our mid-year conference.
This morning we had a couple of session--one of which was about security and the other about volunteerism. The security session was a little daunting but necessary. Spain doesn't have a very high crime rate (in the Spanish sense; interestingly enough there are two separate words relating to crime. crimen refers to murder and delito more often refers to petty crime), but does have a lot of pickpocketing. In fact, you are probably safer in Spain than in some US cities!
The session on volunteerism turned out to be very interesting! Many of us in the US volunteer at one time or another. For instance, I've volunteered as a tutor at my sister's school as well as at my public library (to name a few). During the session, when asked how many of us had volunteered before, most (if not all) hands went up. This is a very common phenomenon in the US. We have a culture were lending a hand is expected and colleges look favorably on volunteer service. However, in Spain (AND much of Europe), only 16% of Spaniards say that they volunteer on a regular basis (and 24% of people in the European Union)! 
This is not because the Spanish people are not kind (in fact, they are very kind and always willing to help out a stranger) but rather a difference in culture. Where we would look for volunteers to help, Spaniards look for the government to intervene.
The city of Madrid has made a great push to change public opinion about volunteer. They have met with some success--the percentage of madrilenos (people who live in Madrid) who volunteer is greater than the 24% average for the EU!