Amin Ali

I'm Amin, I'm 21 and I was privileged that part of the Ticking our Boxes documentary was covering my experience of being a volunteer youth worker. I think volunteers should get more praise for their work rather than get more checks done since the work they do is for the benefit of other people. In my opinion volunteering makes the world a much friendlier and warmer place since usually these days we are more and more isolated from each other and I believe volunteering is the missing link as people give their time to help others for free. Volunteers get job satisfaction without the pay, how many people can say the same thing? My guess is not many, and if the law gets tightened volunteering might become a thing of the past and it will be a significant loss to our society as we all depend on them, even if the government thinks otherwise.

Saleha Ali

I joined Ticking our Boxes and helped on the shoots doing sound, then helped log all the footage from the shoots and debated and gave my opinion on lots of different issues around volunteering, including vetting volunteers. I think that volunteering is one of the most effective ways to foster better understanding and relations between people both within and outside of the local community, in an environment which is non-threatening.

Jay Bernard

Soon after Ticking our Boxes started in 2007 one of the young volunteers in the crew, Jay Bernard, wrote an article about the project for the magazine youthaction. Below is an extract from her article that sums up the project's origins:

I am currently working with a group on a film entitled Ticking our Boxes. We want to tackle head-on what youth volunteering is all about; what's good, what's bad, why the government is so interested in young people volunteering and if they have got it right. So, for example, we want to find out what young people think about being sold volunteering as "what we can get out of it", as opposed to getting involved in something we may feel passionate about. We also want to examine new laws which - through making background checks compulsory - place every adult who works with a child under suspicion. We want to understand if this will protect us or stop us making judgements about who to work with for ourselves.

Jake Burchell

I'm Jake Burchell, I'm 17 and I was a camera operator on a few shoots and was part of talking about what is good and bad about volunteering. Personally I think volunteering is great, it gives people a chance to have something to do and to help others, but I think the fact that the government is thinking of forcing it on young people is wrong as it should be an option, our choice.

Samuel Champion

I have been volunteering on the Ticking our Boxes project since Spring 2007 working on the pre-production research, camera operating for some shoots, as well as directing and interviewing. I struggle with vocalising my response to the issues surrounding volunteering. Crudely speaking, for me volunteering is simply a natural response to a situation you think could be improved; you give up your time to hopefully make something better. It is an empowering and natural human right which is used by people as and when they feel it is needed. The problem I have with the government's increased interest in volunteering and the voluntary sector is twofold. One, the emphasis is being taken off the cause and placed on the volunteer themselves, like it forms some kind of apprenticeship or training scheme (it is easy to see the government's aims as a way to tackle unemployment and the new NEETs of society rather than addressing any real social injustices) which somehow stands against the basic idea of volunteering. Of course there is an inherent developmental aspect in terms of skills for the volunteer (after all no act is ever truly altruistic) but the basic need for volunteering comes from the fact people have an issue they wish to stand up for, not to improve their CV. The second issue I have is with the future of enhanced disclosure currently provided by the CRB. I think the basic human rights of being innocent until proven guilty are being severely undermined whilst not necessarily providing any further protection for vulnerable people. Added to this I feel the inclusion of 'soft-information' on reports makes a mockery of our justice system. The system needs open and non-sensationalised discussion with those who use volunteers to create a useful and effective system which I feel the imminent approach will not provide.

Jose Eduardo Dominicci

My name is Eduardo and I am from Brazil. I volunteered on some of the Ticking our Boxes shoots as sound and camera operator. I think that volunteering is fantastic, because people become really human, doing something from the heart without any interest in getting money for it. I learnt a lot and at the same time helped others.

Kyle Duncan

I started volunteering with WORLDwrite in May 2006, mainly helping out with admin work in the office and also fixing computer problems. In 2007 I began using my web design skills as well, and have since built several websites for WORLDwrite's documentaries, including this one. I joined WORLDwrite because I am passionate about their ideas and projects; particularly some of the issues that are raised in Ticking our Boxes. I joined this crew from the outset and was involved in pre-production and scripting. Not too long ago I also wrote a short piece on the monitoring of sexual orientation in the voluntary sector for ToB, and was then filmed reading it to camera by other crew members so that it could be put up on this website. You can watch it here.

Junaid Faizullah

My name is Junaid Faizullah. I'm a student and have been volunteering at WORLDwrite for around 2 years now as a cameraman on several shoots. For Ticking our Boxes I provided some voiceover work. Volunteering has allowed me to contribute towards something that I'm passionate about, helping me to build character and embrace my ideas and points of view. I still find it hard to believe that some people are being prevented from volunteering, however it's a strong reality. People just like me are being denied the opportunity to work towards something they are passionate about, trying to make a difference. We should be helping those wishing to volunteer instead of building barriers to stop them from doing so.

Nathan Furlonge

Hi my name is Nathan Furlonge. I am a young talented Graphic Designer/Illustrator that believes that creative imagery is the new generation of communication and self expression. I am the designer of the DVD cover for Ticking our Boxes. My company name is Diverse Design and I am available for commission and collaborations. To get in contact with me, please send me an email to diverse_design@hotmail.com. I think volunteering is a good way of getting involved in something that you are interested in and/or believe in. Volunteering also builds self confidence and personality. Ticking our Boxes is a great film because it highlights the advantages and disadvantages of volunteering in certain sectors.

Emma Grant

I have volunteered with WORLDwrite for a couple of years now, and have been lucky enough to dip into many different projects that the charity runs. The main thing about volunteering is that you choose to give your time towards something that you believe is worthy of it. Quite obviously, by making it compulsory it ceases to be voluntary. There are many great benefits to individuals who volunteer their time, but when the whole process becomes about the individual benefits the whole point becomes lost. Voluntary groups survive on common belief and passions, not many individuals seeking to better themselves. This is detrimental to voluntary organisations, and creates a sense of individualism, rather than the collective that is necessary to make voluntary organisations what they are. I enjoy WORLDwrite's work as much as I enjoy working with WORLDwrite.

Dixie Hawtin

I got to try many roles in the filming of Ticking our Boxes including interviewing, filming and editing. I think volunteering is a really great way to expand your horizons, learn new things and meet new people who you wouldn't necessarily meet otherwise.

Chris Jones

I was part of the filming and got the chance to learn and use the camera and sound equipment. I think volunteering is a valuable way of getting new ideas and I don't think it matters too much if it's half about making yourself feel good, as long as you are being helpful to the cause.

Abigail Kaul-Jones

Hey guys my name is Abi and you probably recognise me from the video, if you don't I was the one presenting it, I've been working at WORLDwrite now for a few months and a lot of the issues I have come across here have been right in front of me but the way our world goes about disguising them keeps them blind to the unknowing eye.

If we all just took a step back and take the time to look closer we'd realise that the support provided for us (the volunteer) through paperwork is not for our own good but for the people surveying us. Do they really need all that paperwork?

If there wasn't all of this paperwork a lot more people would be inclined to volunteer, but nowadays it seems like the amount of paperwork we have to suffer with means there is less time to help the people that could be benefiting from volunteering.

Volunteering is an amazing experience because you will always have the knowledge that you are helping another human being in need. Maybe one day we can help our fellow man without pressure.

Angela Kolongo

I'm Angela, currently temping. In this project I mainly worked on the post-production of the film but was also filmed. Volunteering to me is doing something you enjoy without feeling pressured or pushed to do it. I think that the fact that the government want to make it compulsory for young people to volunteer is wrong because that would change the meaning of volunteering. Volunteering has helped me gain skills and experience which I have used to get work and it has also made me work with people who are passionate about the same things as I am.

Millicent Kumeni

I am Millicent Kumeni and I am from Ghana. I have been volunteering with WORLDwrite for years and I first came to the UK and toured many schools telling people about my country and what we want. At first I thought it was a bit funny making a film about volunteering as it is such a normal thing to do but I realised that there are things that stop people helping each other out, and the government are even thinking of making volunteering compulsory for young people, which seems odd to say the least.

Evelyn O'Hanlon

I would say I have been a researcher on Ticking our Boxes and this has given me the chance to improve my research skills in a more professional setting (as opposed to as a student). In terms of the research itself, as well as hopefully being useful to WORLDwrite, I feel I have learnt a lot about immigration and got personal satisfaction in understanding the history of immigration and therefore the tools to argue from an informed point of view. Volunteering has been a great way of gaining skills and experience for the future and also in personal discipline, since there was no forced obligations and it was up to me to put in the time.

Sadhavi Sharma

I have been a volunteer at WORLDwrite for the last four years, since I was a student in London. I have been a part of several WORLDwrite film projects, including the Ghana series and Corruptababble. I helped primarily with research on the subject matter of the films, developing content, editing and post-production work on the website content. I had to go back to India last year as my visa ran out but I still volunteer for WORLDwrite via the internet mostly. I am now a sub-editor at Hindustan Times, a national English daily in India, so hopefully I can break into the world of journalism. When I first came to WORLDwrite I was not asked any questions about where I was from and what I did. I learned what the organisation stood for and was sufficiently motivated to volunteer. I think people are driven to volunteer because of their own sense of agency, and often because of a belief in a common goal or a genuine desire to help. I think that is the best thing about volunteering - an accountability to self and a sense of purpose derived from being part of a common programme. It is that subjective spirit that brings people together and drives them just the same. An attempt to formalise and manage volunteering with state intervention saps that spirit. As a volunteered I found it incredibly frustrating that an organisation brimming with ideas and overflowing with excited, enthusiastic, young volunteers had to invest time and energy in bureaucratic procedures like form filling and background checks, rather than simply generating and taking forward ideas and activities that defined the purpose of the organisation in the first place - an absolute squander of potential. I immensely gained from volunteering by meeting likeminded people inspired by common ideas and aims and by acquiring greater skills - filmmaking, writing, editing - in the process.

Nadine Sissoko

I want to help people. To me it is important to share your skills and experience you have to other people, so my friend advised me to do volunteering work, that's why I decided to volunteer at WORLDwrite. I've learned a lot because when I came here I didn't know much about computers, and I don't have a computer in my house, but when I came here I now have access to a computer and I'm learning a lot on computers. I've met a lot of people, had fun, made friends, I enjoy it.

Natalie Theobald

I was involved in Ticking our Boxes in the pre-production, initially as the director and then on some of the shoots as camera operator. Volunteering is a way to involve yourself in things you may never have the opportunity to do otherwise. You meet all different characters, learn new skills and have a darn good time doing something that interests you. It has opened up loads of doors for me and allowed me to carry on with other things without the formality and pressures that you would get in a job.

Balint Tusor

My name is Balint and I am from Hungary. I edited the film and helped others learn on the job. Volunteering has helped me because when I came to the UK my English wasn't very good, even now I struggle with it. But I want to get paid work as an editor so volunteering allows me to edit whilst learning English. I also like the fact I am editing on films that are making a difference as I wouldn't want to volunteer on something that didn't mean anything to me.

Lorraine Watson

For me volunteering would be a waste of time if it wasn't doing something that was helping other people. It's challenged my ideas about global equality because I've had to basically put it into practice by volunteering here. Basically, I'm helping WORLDwrite and WORLDwrite are helping me to achieve a common goal of global equality.