Volunteering impact on individuals.

     "My experience at Best Buddies was unlike any experiences anywhere else in life." This is what my colleague Nasser told me when he highlighted his volunteering experience in best buddies. The Best Buddies club is aiming to promote a social interaction between students without and with mental disabilities. He joined this voluntary group according to his own wish to make a change in the lives of individuals of mental disabilities.

      The Best Buddies is a non- utilitarian organization, which consist of secondary group with temporary relationships that can be developed into a strong long lasting one. He was a peer buddy that matched to one of the disabled students who shared him similar interests. They spent the academic year getting to know one another through contacting each other once a week by telephone, email, or exchanging notes. The pair’s buddies also have to make plans to get together twice a moth. Nasser's best part was where they had a barbecue in the playground area next to the dorms in Education City (EC) for all the best buddies chapters in EC.

     Best Buddies means to Nasser a lot, because he gains a status with an international organization. He also was involved in activities that benefit the community and society. Now, he encourages other Qataris to be involved in charitable and selfless causes as a way of giving back to the country. Even if it's a formal organization, it's also give the opportunity to gain informal relationships between the buddy pairs. The greatest benefit of joining this movement of social interaction with people with intellectual disabilities is to win a gift of friendship!