Misbah is in the final year of her neuroscience MPhil. She's been volunteering with the VSU 's facepainting pool.
Where do you volunteer?
I am part of the group of facepainters who get called to different events, such as festivals and sponsored runs.
How often do you volunteer, and for long?
Depends on the ‘season’, more often in the summer but overall generally around 6 events a year and for two to six hours at a stretch. You are meant to do slots of 2 to 3 hours but I find it hard to say no!
What were your first impressions when you started volunteering?
I loved it. Volunteeing allows me, as a scientist, to get out the brushes and do a bit of painting. It also allows me to chat the children of all ages and all walks of life.
How do you feel about it now?
Still love it! It’s something I’d like to keep up after leaving UCL. Also in between my two courses at UCL, I went on a VSO exchange programme and had a kit donated by a theatre make-up company to use both here in the UK and overseas. It was a great hit! We raised lots of money to take overseas and it was a lovely novelty to the kids there.
What’s the best thing about volunteering?
Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces when you’ve transformed them.
And what’s the most challenging thing?
Children who keep moving around! Or ask for really difficult things to be drawn on their faces. Also it’s heart-breaking to have to turn people away, when you’ve already run half an hour past the end of the event.
How has volunteering changed you?
I don’t feel it has changed me as a person as such, I’ve always loved painting and working with people – especially children. So it has allowed me to do that. It’s also been great to see the effort people go to at sponsored events to raise money for causes they feel passionate about. It inspired me to do a couple of bike rides myself, something that I hope to keep up with a bike ride every year – next year will be year 3.
What difference do you feel you’ve made by volunteering?
It has helped the charities involved raise a little bit of additional funds and has helped improve the atmosphere of events. People can be very generous when they see their child running around looking like a tiger or spiderman. Sometimes adults get in on the act too and become something else for the day. Being there helps promote a fun atmosphere and you’ll always create smiles.
Would you recommend the project to anyone else? If so, why?
I would highly recommend it as being a flexible project so as a postgraduate in particular it is great. It means you can say ‘yes’ to dates you can do. They are also often fun days out and you have time to wander around and see what else is going on too! It is also an opportunity to meet and work with other volunteers and often events will ask for 2 or more facepainters.
For more info on the Facepainting Pool, email volunteering@ucl.ac.uk
