damascusuniversity.edu.sy

In conjunction with the 8th of March national holiday, DU's Faculty of Agriculture organized a volunteer day aimed at beautifying the faculty's campus and the fields and gardens that encompass it. A large number of students and professors from the college's various departments participated in the event, in addition to the college's workers and staff. The volunteers were divided into different groups, with each group focusing its efforts on a certain task. Among the tasks undertaken by the volunteers was pruning the faculty's fruit and timber trees, in order to achieve a balance between their natural vegetative growth and their capacity to bear fruit, as well as for aesthetic reasons. The volunteers likewise pruned the campus' decorative flora using special interments and tools, and tilled the soil in order to plant new tree stands throughout the faculty's gardens and parks.

Damascus University President Doctor Wael Mualla addressed the volunteers, urging those students gathered to work with a sense of diligence and responsibility to their faculty, university, and nation. He also stressed the importance of volunteer work in building self confidence and developing skills and talents. Dr. Mualla also supported the idea that the faculty hold volunteer days on a regular basis, so as to harness the talents of the student body in a way that benefits both the faculty and the community at large.

Doctor Hamza Bilal, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, stated that "we have seized the opportunity on this, the 8th of March, to hold a volunteer day so that students and professors alike may provide an important service to the gardens, orchards, and fields which occupy a vast area within the faculty's campus; there  was a large backlog of work  to be done, and simply relying upon the faculty's overburdened employees would mean that  this work would take a very long time to complete, especially since the beginning of a new growing season is rapidly approaching. Thus, the students and staff saw the need to organize this volunteer day in order to catch up on the backlogged work". Dr. Bilal also noted that the faculty is current in the process of planning additional volunteer days to be held one weekend each month, in order to continue to meet the maintenance needs of the campus' gardens, fields, and orchards, and to stave off another work backlog in the future.

Hosni Jamal, the Dean of the Department of Horticology noted that organizing a volunteer day in which students and professors participate has been very helpful for the maintenance of the faculty's fields and farming plots, indicating that this event has also given students the opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in the classroom.

Nabil alBatal, one of the Department's professors, also stated that participating in events such as this is an opportunity for students to get hands on training. It also allows teachers to give guidance and advise to their students on a one on one basis and outside of the classroom setting. He mentioned that the students in the Faculty of Agriculture had made an important contribution in the beautification of Damascus' parks and gardens through volunteer campaigns, adding that spreading the culture of volunteerism among students and youths is an important societal issue.

Engineer Faeq Abdullah noted that there are numerous benefits to volunteer work, and he called upon the faculty's administration to schedule more volunteer days to finish the remaining backlog of work in the fields and gardens.

Yanal alAli, a fifth year student at the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Studies said: "Today we were able to significantly improve the condition of the trees in the faculty's gardens, and we need more days like this to complete all of the work that still remains to be done. We hope that in the future, we can establish an organized plan for volunteer work wherein students from all university faculties begin participating in their first year, thereby promoting the idea of volunteerism among Syria's youth.

Rawan alHussein, another of the students participating in the volunteer day, said that the culture of volunteerism is still absent within society, and that everyone must help spread this culture. She went on to point out that in just one day, the volunteers were able to improve the condition of the faculty's trees from an environmental perspective, despite the fact that there are still problems affecting some of the older trees. Thus, she stated that there is still more work to be done in order to preserve the health and physical appearance of these trees.

Sandra alHalabi stated: "Our participation in this volunteering event demonstrates the morals and values upon which we were raised. It shows that we are providing important services to our environment and community, in a loving and sincere way, without thinking of monetary benefits."

Osama Elias, Sahir Dalool, and Amal Mustafa  all expressed their commitment to the idea of volunteerism, as well as their desire to develop this culture within society as a whole, so that it takes its rightful place among the values of society, and especially with the younger generations. In this way, they will appreciate the importance of giving, and discover their individual talents, without expecting anything in return.