Volunteer Spotlight: Kim Supajrawatananon
In this edition of our series highlighting the work of volunteers around the area we meet Kim, a volunteer English teacher at MILK, a social enterprise on Victoria Road that was set-up to support and empower refugee and migrant women.
Kim inside MILK Cafe
As told to Devon McCole | Photos by Iain McLellan
I was at home watching the news and was just angry all the time because I would see all these stories about refugees and things that the government is doing to people coming to the country. I thought ‘this is just awful’ and I needed to do something about it.
So I started searching for charities in the Southside and came across MILK cafe. I used to pass it all of the time, and got in contact to see if they needed anyone to volunteer. One of the co-founders, Gabby, mentioned they always need people at the conversation cafe, which runs every Friday from 10am to 12pm, so I went for it.
I’m a stay-at-home mum and that was another reason for volunteering. It’s a way for me to get out into the world and start thinking about things beyond my house and my children. I used to be an English teacher for adults. I also used to work for a project teaching employability English to international nurses. I even used to work in a language school in the city centre for a bit. But I always wanted to do something a bit more helpful or a bit more social.
Outside of work, I enjoy all the usual boring stuff like reading, watching films, listening to music, or going to the cinema and occasional gigs with my pals. It’s just so hard to enjoy when you’re sitting at home, watching the news and you feel really powerless.
If I can go out and do something positive and help even one person then that goes a long way. It also helps me feel less angry about the state of the country. So a big part of volunteering is about protecting my own mental health.
Read more: Volunteer Spotlight - Kin Kitchen
I definitely think sometimes you go into volunteering because you want to help other people but actually I find that the way the conversation cafe works is that it’s so much more of a cultural exchange – what you actually get is a sense of community.
You get loads of regulars that come in and they’re teaching you so much and it feels really open. There’s something about that that’s really nourishing and refreshing and there’s just something about it that feels very Glasgow. There’s this practical attitude to the way MILK cafe and the conversation cafe operates, it’s very much like rolling up your sleeves and saying ‘okay, you need help in this way, well here’s what we can do that can help you.’
But at the same time, both sides are helping each other to learn something new and it’s just nice to feel accepted. I get called big sister now by one of the women. It’s just a really warm and welcoming community where everyone shares in something beautiful.
I would definitely recommend volunteering at MILK for so many reasons. By listening to other people and learning their stories, you end up having these really interesting conversations. You take so much from it and I hope that’s true from both sides. We share ideas and tit bits from each other's lives. It’s always a good mix of folk every Friday – people don’t really sit with the same people each week either so it’s not awkward. You get to speak to different people every week and that is really fun.