Being a volunteer is everything, it is connection

Por: Patricia Olivares

As part of International Volunteer Day, we thank every person, institution, company and all who makes our work in high-marginalized communities in Mexico possible. Today we join the UNs #TogetherActNow campaign to make the invisible visible, to showcase the solidarity and compassion that drive the world through volunteering.

Luis Enrique Lizárrage Ojinaga, Customer Support Manager at Cisco Systems Mexico, has been working at this company for 9 years and has been involved with Amextra A.C. for over 5 years as a point of contact and communication bridge between Amextra and Cisco, contributing ideas and driving collaborative initiatives to support high-marginalized communities through corporate volunteerism.

“Volunteering gives you the enrichment of life experience, the value of what you have or what you do not have, many times you say I have this and that, but it is not always to add uo, also what do you do not have, for Example: I don’t have a disease, I don’t live in a certain place; You appreciate in a certain way the enviorment where you live, the family or the education you had. Also, you realize that the physical or the material is not important, and you notice this in each activity. It opens your eyes, I think that I have changed a lot with volunteering.” 

Luis began volunteering at Cisco through his first experience with people who have visual disabilities. He was then able to propose Amextra for incorporation and validation within the company. Once it was approved, he begans this partnership that has been strengthened each year  with various activities and actions, generation after generation.

One of the volunteer experiences at Amextra that marked Luiz Lizárraga’s life was the one he lived after the September 19, 2017 earthquake in Tetelea del Volcán, Morelos. Where 70% of the population was left homeless due to the serve collapses that occurred in the region. Luis promoted the participation of his Cisco colleagues to help architects and builders with the reconstruction of houses of families with manual labor, as stones were removed, the mountains were pruned and ditches were made.

“In Tetela del Volcán, they not only lost a room, but their home, their family and everything it represents. So, you value what you have and you realize the privileges you have .”

When Luis was halping in the reconstruction of houses, one of the families that had lost everything, gave him food as a thank you for his volunteer work and this act meant a lot to him because he saw it as “a circle, a synergy, a community, maybe not very close, but in the end a global community, a connection.”

“It is gratifying to help, but think it is an obligation. We have always been told that we are individuals, but we are not really, we depend on others more than we think, because we are a community. Everything is connected in a certain way and it is an obligation to help others. Helping and giving a little of what we have, and not what we have left over, because if you give what you have left over it doesn’t make sense, because it is left over. You have to really feel it so it has value.”

Another activity that he enjoys doing every year is the delivery of toys on the Three Kings Day In the communities of Tultitlán and Lomas de San Isidro, in the State of Mexico because they bring gifts, share rosca, hot chocolate and have a get together with the girls and boys in the area. Also, he joins in cleaning and maintenance activities at community centers, math classes and training at the Agroecological Center Pej´pem in Palenque where he has learned about beekeeping and the importance of bees, among others.

“What motivates me is helping others or trying to help other, above all I agree with the philosophy of Amextra with the saying ´teach me to fish and do not give me the fish´. For me, it is very important not to make people dependent on help or a dontation, but to make them self-sufficient, although reaching that point can be difficult and it can take a long time, but getting there, can keep the chain of helping others or their community”

At Cisco, there are many opportunities to help and that make their employees more motivated to work there, because they can contribute to various causes, from different activities according to the tastes or preferences of each person. One of the ways in which this company motivates its employees, is by giving them 10 non-working days (in addition to vacation) to participate in volunteer projects with civil society organizations.

Also, when an employee makes a donation to an organization, Cisco doblues it or for every hour that a collaborator does volunteer work, Cisco donates 10 dollars. “So, besides doing the job, you also receive knowledge, the gratification of helping, meeting people or places and life experiences. It is a give and take of help, and besides all this, if you have a donation for the organization, what´s better.”

Finally, for Luis Lizárraga “being a volunteer is everything, it is connection, because we are part of everything. And thanks to Amextra for all you do, keep up the good work, and keep doing it as well as I know you do. That effort is to be applauded.”