Honolulu, HI — You’re in Hawaii, so many choices. Do you go to the beach and work on your tan? What about a luau or learning to surf? Or you could spend some time volunteering at The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF). That’s exactly what I did. Now in its 37th year, the festival features films and filmakers from all over the world, the majority of them with an Asian Pacific Islander focus.
“You’re probably used to bigger festivals in LA and San Francisco, ” a fellow volunteer asked me. “This is a great festival and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t, ” I replied. This isn’t the first time I volunteered at HIFF. In 2006 I volunteered on a visit to Hawaii. I met many amazing people, saw some great films and my experience of working at many large events in Los Angeles was much appreciated by the other volunteers and the HIFF staff.
I couldn’t wait to get back home and share the experiences that I had volunteering at HIFF with my friends on the mainland, but I was taken aback when one woman asked me, “Why would you do that (volunteer) for? Her idea of a Hawaiian vacation was sitting by the pool and sipping cocktails. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but travel means different things to different people. A few years ago, a friend of mine spent a month in India. When he got back, I asked him what was his favorite part of the trip. He said it was the time he spent volunteering to help at an orphanage. Another friend started a foundation to help build schools in Africa. What ever interests you from helping to save endangered wild life to building wells for people who don’t have access to clean water, you can probably find it by volunteering.
So how does my volunteer experience at HIFF this time compare to 2006? Since I’m only in town a few days, I only had a few hours to give, but it was still fun and I got to meet some great people. I feel sorry for the woman who questioned my volunteering at HIFF in 2006. She hasn’t traveled much and works in a tiny office cubicle. Sadly this is her view of the world. If I could tell her one thing about volunteering for HIFF it would be that for the small amount of time I gave to them, I got back much more in return.
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