Tourists can volunteer for a day under Mark’s new plan

Mark McCormack has set up a new website called youvolunteer.me. The Mullingar native began developing the site some months ago with the sole purpose of encouraging tourists to use a day or two of their holidays when abroad to volunteer with a local charity.

His wife Shivani is Sri Lanka and the weekend before the Sri Lanka bomb attacks at Easter this year, Mark met Sr Anastasia from the Sisters of Mercy in Colombo.

Anastasia runs a charity called Daya Mina which has a number of centres around Colombo and Sri Lanka.

“On April 13, the Saturday before the senseless Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka, I had the pleasure of spending an hour talking with S Anastasia in Colombo,” Mark said.

“Anastasia, a member of the Sisters of Charity, has close ties to Ireland, having spent five years studying psychology in UCD and many times visiting the Sisters of Charity in Delvin,” he said.

Anastasia agreed for her five centres to be a part of the volunteering website.

“Anastasia has spent time in Mullingar and with the Sisters of Charity in Delvin with whom she has developed strong links. She is now a regular visitor to Westmeath.

“Now that I have the Daya Mina centres on board, the next step is to encourage tourists who are visiting Sri Lanka to offer up a day of their holidays to these centres – ‘ethical travelling’ if you will,” said Mark.

“Sri Lanka is an amazing country where I spend a lot of time and it will need as much positive publicity as it can to get back on its feet after these awful attacks.

“Sister Anastasia does amazing work over there with dayaminascjmservices.org.

“She mentioned she enjoyed visiting Mullingar and that she now visits Ireland on regular occasions. I met Anastasia through my wife’s auntie, who works in one of her five Daya Mina centres around Sri Lanka.

“The purpose of my visit was to gain agreement from Anastasia to allow me source volunteers for her centres as part of a not-for-profit website I set up youvolunteer.me.”

The concept is simple, says Mark – to connect holiday makers and travellers who want a volunteering experience with small to medium sized charities. Most volunteering abroad involves programmes costing from €150 to €1,500 and are on a minimum of a week basis.

“The agreement I have in place with the five centres in Sri Lanka is that volunteers can come for a day if they like and help out where they can, as an extra pair of hands.

“If they feel like making a donation, that’s totally up to them, but this is first and foremost giving their time and raising awareness for the work the Sisters of Charity do, in particular helping children and elderly with special needs and giving to the communities they operate in.”

Mark also has two charities signed up in London to participate in his pilot phase and by summer, he hopes to have connections running in Africa, with orphanages in Uganda and Malawi as well as charities in Tanzania.

“The impact of the attacks in Sri Lanka is devastating. Lonely Planet had the country as its top destination to visit in 2019 and the government had recently waived visa fees on a number of countries to further stimulate tourism.

“Lots of people connected with Sri Lanka will have a story to tell. My wife’s uncle personally knew two of the people killed in the Shangri-La blast. But as the stories of the bombings came out, I thought back to the amazing times I’ve been lucky enough to have in that country, including our wedding in Colombo in 2013.

“The incredible work the Sisters of Charity are doing on the ground and the beautiful sights and people that the country has... I hope that before long Sri Lanka gets back on its feet.

“If my website points just one person in the direction of the charities there, for me it will have been a success developing it. ‘Daya Mina’ translates to ‘Jewel of Love’. Given the welcome and beauty Sri Lanka, it seems fitting to finish on that meaning.”