While growing up as a young man especially during my teenage years, if there was one word, I got very conversant with, it was volunteerism.

Volunteerism is a concept that would never go old in societies where people are honoured for the level of sacrifice of their time most especially, they make in the interest of offering any form of service to their various communities.

The concept of volunteering for your community is one concept that most advanced and developed nations of the world, do not ever joke with unlike in our third world nations, where we are plagued with a form of social menace which has eroded our society of so much values. This menace plaguing our society is called the “Big man syndrome”.

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The “Big Man Syndrome” explains absolutely why the emphasis on this part of the world is all about the primitive accumulation of wealth which is often used as a tool of oppression and intimidation against the citizens.

These things happen this way because until you become rich at all cost, you may never be taken serious in our present society. As a Big Man in most African society, it is an anathema to be seen doing any form of community service yourself.

“Big man syndrome” is the reason, young people who should be invested in honing their craft, serving their various communities selflessly and committing themselves to the process of growth are now routinely preoccupied with all sorts of engagements aimed at getting rich quick at all cost.

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Once the wealth is acquired at all cost, these individuals become invincible in their own eyes and as such they view any form of community service as activities that are meant for those who have not yet made money.

While in most progressive communities in the Western societies, community services are led by the powerful and the rich in such communities. These high-end elites make so much fuss about the quality of time they dedicate to serve their communities which in turns inspires the younger ones to take a cue from them.

Most times, I sit by myself and wish that most of our churches in Nigeria, Western Africa would channel the energy and resources they use to advocate for new denominational converts, to choose some burning issues in their host communities and volunteer for.

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June 14^th every year is World Blood Donor’s Day, and it is aimed at creating awareness for blood donation by voluntary donors and encouraging eligible donors to donate some pints of their blood to save lives of people they may never know.

While some patriotic people donate their own blood at no cost to their recipients, a larger population of blood donors who come around during voluntary blood drive exercises are always all about how much they are going to be paid, if they are to donate their blood.

There is an overwhelming need why we need to institutionalise the culture of volunteerism in South Eastern Nigerian States, so that other parts of the country can learn from us.

The psychological effect of offering up yourself for the service of your community cannot be expressed.

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Nigerians should normalize seeking the community service credentials of the men and women that want to hold public offices in our community.

Community service score cards should even be part of the yardsticks we should look out for in choosing those who lead us during general elections.

We must make sure that our kids imbibe the spirit of community service from their very tender ages as that would be the only way to raise adults who would be disposed to serve when given public offices and not the overpriced thieves, we have all over the public service spaces in the nation.

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As for me, beyond donating my blood to any patient who would need a blood group B+ pint, I have also stated clearly that as part of my voluntary service to Southeastern Nigeria, that I would fiercely advocate for a better quality of service to health insurance clients and a broader coverage of this service for citizens.

Okeh, Onyekachi 2024.

Being a Nigerian, I understand most perfectly how a man can move from a 100 in terms of wealth to a zero within a very short span of time, owing to an ailment which out-of-pocket expenditure for medical care, would have drained such individuals financially.

Having looked at what is obtainable in other nations with progressive minded leaders, there is no excuse why we must not actively provide quality health insurance services for our citizens.

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Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA) is deliberate from most indices available to all, to offer great services with quality to their clients under the leadership of Dr. Simeon Onyemaechi.

You can call me at all times to share any form of frustration you experience on your line of seeking care from ASHIA, so that we can assist you resolve it promptly as a client.

This is a service I have committed myself to doing in the years ahead. Feel free to let us know any other South Eastern State with an active health insurance scheme, we would be glad to work with them, PRO BONO as long as we can see the dedication of the leadership of such agencies to excellence and quality service delivery to its clients.

Okeh, Onyekachi Chukwuemeka 2024.

As you are about to conclude your reading of this article, please I would want to ask you, what are you volunteering for in the Southeast?

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What are you doing voluntarily at no cost to the society to make the South Eastern / your own region a more thriving place?

You can decide on your own to be a fitness coach to rural kids, you can choose to groom kids on personal hygiene with a goal of cutting down drastically on the population of youths who grow up with body and mouth odour, which often results in battered or non-existent self-confidence amongst these teenagers when they become adults.

there is also the option of choosing to assist younger rural based girls to live their best life by providing mentorship for them in areas of interest with the aim of modelling a path of excellence for them.

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Volunteer for your rural community in the area of raising skilled orators from a tender age, who would use the power of oratory to transform their society and also earn in the future is a worthy course.

There is the option of being a “Plant a tree advocate” for your community just like a young man called Mr. Azubuine Chinonso, who is the Chairman of the elitist Association of Radiographers, Abuja Chapter.

You can choose to use a particular sport or game with which to transform the lives of kids in your community just as Mr.Tunde Onakoya has used the game of chess to transform the lives of kids in some slums in Lagos.

Choosing to advocate for girls who were raped or had teenage pregnancies, which might have led to the absolute loss of confidence in themselves is also a worthy course.

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As funny as this may sound, you can choose to advocate for good governance in the South East. This is also a form of community service that would be of great value to our society.

Looking at the poor quality of our Nigerian Professional Football league, you can choose to volunteer to advocate for a massive improvement in the quality of officiating and welfare of these players in the local league.

As a youth skilled in graphics and handling social media platforms, you can choose to volunteer to handle social media accounts for agencies like Anambra State Health Insurance Agency or their likes, with the aim of improving the quality-of-service delivery to their clients.

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The list of how you can volunteer for your community is endless and it is my wish that you assemble a set of like-minded people with the aim of being of great service to your community.

Just choose an area you can connect with and deploy your service energy to those areas in your community.

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Parents must make it a duty also to expose their kids to volunteering opportunities just as Mr. Peter Obi is on record to have always done with his son.

The South Eastern States must map out established protocols with which to recognise and reward community volunteers who are going the extra mile to make their society a better place than they met it.

This recognition should be devoid of political manipulations and based solely on merit.