City Guides

Summary Ruth, Youth Volunteer Advisor for the vinvolved Central London introduced Joshua Buyukyilmaz to City Guides, a mobile event and tourist information service which helps out at high profile events throughout Westminster, and he hasn't looked back. Joshua has enjoyed helping out at 'The Taste of Spain' and on 'St Patricks Day.'

“You can have a ‘great crack’, Irish for good time by volunteering,” says Joshua Buyukyilmaz who has become an experienced volunteer while studying Retail at Camden Jobtrain. He has participated in a number of City Guides Events and has also spent six months at Oxfam in Highgate village, where he discovered that “charity really hurts, because you have to lift boxes!”

 

Joshua acted as a guide on St Patrick’s Day.

 “It was awesome, people were positive. If people were lost I would tell them where they could go. I am glad I did it. You meet interesting people but if you are helping someone and it doesn’t go well, you don’t worry. The next person you meet may be the nicest person you met all day.”

“That day was long and tiring but it was fun.” Though Joshua couldn’t help wondering why the Irish accents faded towards the end of the day.

Since volunteering, Joshua has become more confident in dealing with the public. Now he knows how to deal with people, including the occasional ‘snob’.

Joshua will be studying filmmaking in September. “I want to be a film maker, big budget Hollywood stuff. I don’t like independent hippy stuff. “

Joshua would recommend volunteering to others because “at the end of the day you get a bit of a positive feeling.” He suggests giving it a go. “People should at least try it once. If people are looking for a job and can’t find one they could also try volunteering. Either look for it yourself or have someone help you find a placement.

If you fancy being a City Guide take a look at future up coming events.