174 Volunteer

Nadya Okamoto is the founder and director of the youth run organization “Period” who provide and celebrate menstrual hygiene through advocacy, education and service. The organization has reached tens of thousands of people in over 25 states in the USA, as well as 15 other countries worldwide. Despite having such a large reach, their organization is mostly run by volunteers with over 7500 in the USA alone, so ShaoLan and Nadya discuss volunteering and Nadya learns how to say “volunteer” in Chinese. 

In Chinese, 志 means “will” or “determined” and 工 means “work” so together 志工 means “volunteer” (Taiwan). In Mainland China, a different word 志願者/志愿者 is used. Again 志 means “will” and 願/愿 means “hope” or “wish” so together 志願/志愿 means “volunteer” (Mainland China) and by adding 者 this turns “to volunteer” into “a volunteer” (Mainland China).