Staff Spotlight: Bella Buchmann

Bella wanted to be the first female Chancellor of Germany when she was 12. Angela Merkel came first.

Then, Bella wanted to be the first female Formula-1 driver who is as successful as Michael Schumacher. Let's say driving simply isn't her strength.

Whilst Bella moved on from her childhood dreams, the notion of being a change maker and doing something with impact never left her. She went to live with a host family in Australia at age 16, and wouldn't return to live in Germany until a decade later.

Since then she has finished her schooling in Australia, completed a Bachelor in Edinburgh, Scotland, mastered a Master in London, volunteered in Kenya, and worked with volunteer groups in Brazil and India.

Now she is back to support her passion - social enterprise - through responsible volunteer placements in India.

When I travel, I love connecting with the local people. That's how you truly experience the spirit of a country. I remember a site visit we did in India, Tamil Nadu. We worked with a women's group who produced spirulina to make a livelihood and provide nutrition to children in the surrounding schools. Whilst I was waiting for the volunteers to finish up their meeting, one of the women took me by the hand and led me to her house.

She didn't speak a word of English, and I have to admit that my Tamil is rather rusty. She showed me her house, her animals and her plot. Afterwards, she placed me on the only chair inside the house and warmed up some milk. And there we sat, for a good 20 minutes, sipping hot milk, watching TV together.

Somehow we connected, without words. She smiled at me and gave me a massive hug when we went back to the group.

Her warm welcome and hospitality really touched me, and I realized that this is why I do what I do. Because you connect with people, and you impact their lives in a positive way, no matter how small that impact is.

Massively. Working in a start-up is a truly challenging, yet rewarding experience. You get to take charge of projects and test out your ideas without having to go through hierarchies. At the same time, you take responsibility for the success of your projects. This work has really pushed me to learn and grow.

The other aspect that really strikes me is the fine line that a social enterprise is walking on. You always have to find the balance between being a business and concentrating on sales and marketing and the volunteer experience. However, it is crucial to not forget your core values and impact you want to make -- and serving the local change makers who we partner with. And that's what I really admire about Skilled Impact. I think we are managing to really hit that balance.

Our programs are all about sharing skills and learning together. So my favorite story must be of a TEFL-qualified volunteer who completed an English Teaching placement in rural India. For three months, he stayed at the boy's school and taught English classes.

In his final reflection, he spoke about how this experience has helped him overcome his fear of public speaking. When we spoke to the boys, all of his pupils pointed out that they really appreciate how his teaching style would make them feel safe and confident in their own abilities. They now speak up actively in class, and don't mind presenting in front of groups.

Just hearing about how the volunteer and the beneficiaries grew and learn together to overcome the same fear was amazing!

I am passionate about social entrepreneurship, so the Social Entrepreneurship Internship must be my favorite.

But we have more placements coming out that focus on supporting social entrepreneurs. Out of them, I'd love to complete the product design internship. I love interior design and I sew some of my own clothes. So working with local artisans and using their craftsmanship to design contemporary products would be such an inspiration - and fun! Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary skills required, so I guess I will leave this placement for a skilled volunteer to take up.

From my perspective, it is our values and the way we prescribe ourselves to them that makes Skilled Impact truly special. With us, you can't simply put a volunteer experience in a basket and purchase it.

We are dedicated to finding the best volunteer with the right skills to support a local change-maker/organization expand their work and impact. So we vet volunteers and partners and make sure that both of them have a rewarding experience. I haven't seen another volunteer organization that has prescribed itself to responsible and impactful volunteering as we do.

I think there are two things that make us successful:

• We stick with our values. We say we are a responsible volunteer organization, so we are being a responsible volunteer organization. Even if it loses us sales. Each and every one of our team members is passionate about making volunteering sustainable and impactful, and I think it shows up in our work and with the volunteers.
• We treat our local partner as equals and give them most of the decision power. All our placements are responding to an organizational need that a partner has expressed to us. Together we work out the job description to make sure that the role is complementary to the team, rather than replacing local staff. They can decide on the necessary skills, and on the time frame. We are therefore responding to a local need expressed by the community, rather than creating placements to get volunteers to come out even though no support is needed.