Name: Nada Hafez
Volunteer since: November 2019
Roles: Human resources and translation assistance
About Nada: Hi everyone! My name is Nada Hafez. I am from Egypt and I am lucky to have the opportunity to join ReForest London as part of Rotary Youth Exchange Program (New Generations). I studied English Literature and Translation at Alexandria University. Then, I decided to shift my career and I studied Human Resources Management in 2017. Being passionate about discovering nature and other culture, ReForest London is a perfect placement for me.
Why Nada volunteers with ReForest London: I got involved with ReForest London in November 2019 after finishing my studies of Human Resources Management in Egypt. I find it is a good opportunity to apply what I have studied. At the same time, I explore different culture and perspective. I am also lucky that my placement, Reforest London, has a perfect location surrounded by forests. Besides, the surrounded environment has relaxing and calming effect. I learned more about Human Resources tasks such as recruiting, screening resumes, selecting the best candidates, developing policies. Moreover, I translated some texts from English to Arabic. I also learned about the trees and landscaping. I learned more about people who are interested in shaping a sustainable future. I love what the organization stands for. My experience at Reforest London is so beneficial to my career. It was a good choice to know more about people from different cultures. I am also proud to be part of this organization in which you can share your ideas and opinions.
Name: Ely Lemon-Nurse
Volunteer since: September 2019
Roles: High school co-op student assisting with the Schools program and in the office
About Ely: Hello my name is Ely Lemon-Nurse. I am I am a 16 year old grade 11 student at South Colligate Institute Secondary School. I am doing a Co-operative education course at my high school that allows me to go to a workplace that accommodates what I would like to do for a future career. I come every day for about 3-4 hours for the entire semester, and for my workplace I chose ReForest London. My time here is almost up and it has been amazing to spend a lot of my afternoons here volunteering, planting trees, helping around the office, cooperating in hikes, anything I could help out with. It is an amazing environment to work in, considering everybody here has an interest in the outdoors and trying to make London greener and more beautiful with more trees.
Why he likes volunteering with ReForest London: I love being outside and either studying the outdoors, playing games, interacting with animals, anything to do with the environment I love. Ever since I was a child I would go camping, hiking, fishing, and canoeing with my family regularly throughout the summers. Assisting Reforest London’s staff has been an amazing experience. I’ve learned so many things while being here like how to plant trees, help maintain the trees like watering them, help with aftercare events around London and also help out indoors around the office.
My favorite thing that I have learned for my time being here was definitely planting trees. To me, planting trees is a fun experience and before ReForest London I’ve never learned how to plant a tree so it was a great thing to learn. Another favorite thing I loved to do here was to see so many amazing people every day working and wanting to keep our city green and full of trees.
Being here at ReForest London has been an amazing experience and I’m glad I could help put the “ReForest” in ReForest London. Hopefully I could come back soon and visit or even volunteer in one of the planting events in the summer time!