As one traverses through life, the copious challenges and experiences often help to shape mindsets and unearth hidden talents and interests.
For Neha Chand, her path as a volunteer was something she never envisioned —had it not been for that brave first step she took out of her comfort zone.
The 23-year-old was born in Labasa, but moved to Suva with her family as a child, and since then the Capital metropolis has been home.
The diverse make-up of the city has also been instrumental for her to cross paths with other like-minded young people with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to make a change.
Neha is a volunteer for Act It Network and is pursuing her volunteer project with gusto.
“This was my final year at University of the South Pacific (USP) and I did my Bachelor’s in Science majoring in maths and physics,” she said.
“For ACT, I actually joined this year and there was this program with USP about JENESYS.
“So we went to Japan and post that, I got to learn so much about sustainable development goals (SDGs) and from there on, my interest in SDGs started so I started volunteering with ACT and it’s going well.
“It’s such a joy to be able to help people around doing community work, clean-up campaigns and share poetry.
“It’s a great joy to listen to what people have to say about the concerns they have, so it’s very overwhelming at times to know that there is so much stuff happening around and just to be able to help a little bit is such a joy.”
She said even though she had joined recently, one of the challenges for her was to adjust fully to the role of a volunteer.
“I have always been a bit anti-social so talking to people, getting to open up about it is a challenge for me, but I am learning and I am going through and I hope it grows.
“So, with ACT, just basically trying to help as much as possible and just going forward with whatever we have, but personally I am looking for a job. My family is very supportive with whatever work I want to do and they’re always helping me around with paintings I have been doing.”
Neha also loves to dabble in the arts, and says this is because her father is an artist and the family she grew up in was artistic. Now, she hopes to inspire other young minds to follow their dreams.
“Just do what you feel like doing, there is nothing stopping you. We know we can do a lot if we put our mind to it so just do it.”
