Volunteers Week: meet Ahsan

My name is Ahsan (he/him)

I’m from Bangladesh. I have been living in Edinburgh since January 2023. It’s the first country I have been away from my home country. I fell in love with Edinburgh after I came here and love living here.

I’m doing a Master’s in Civil Engineering and Construction Management from Heriot Watt University which I will finish this year. Apart from studying, I enjoy traveling, meeting new people and volunteering work. I’m also very much interested into Hair and Beauty stuff and in future would like to work with this industry.

Why did you decide to volunteer for LGBT Health and Wellbeing?

I am a Gay man and most of my life, I had to stay closeted since it’s difficult to express yourself being a Gay in Bangladesh – it’s Illegal there and consider as a crime.

After coming here I have seen freedom and with time I’m trying to be confident about myself. But when I started to meet more people from the LGBT community here, I felt that they are not confident enough about themselves and having difficulty while networking. I wanted to do something for these people so they feel more connected, engaged and confident. When I got to know about LGBT Health and Wellbeing, I immediately knew from where to start and I have decided to volunteer and continue from there.

Describe your volunteer role:

I volunteer with the Edinburgh Community Programme on the Events Team. My role is to make sure guests coming to our events get all the services they expect. To make sure they receive a warm welcome and stay comfortable throughout the whole time.

What makes you the most proud of as a volunteer and what do you hope to achieve?

When I receive appreciation from the guests and other people for my work, it makes me feel very proud. Most of the people do appreciate my intention and the work I do. It really helps me to improve and do things better. Also, when I feel that guests from the community feel comfortable and they are happy coming here it makes me proud. Volunteering really helps me to be experienced and build a good network and connection.

If you could change something for our community tomorrow, what would it be?

I would like to arrange more big events so more people can participate, and to arrange events for long duration with more activities and facilities. Also, would like to do something for LGBT people who are from other countries and seek support.

What inspires you in your life?

Talking to some people who have lots of experiences and knowledge really interest me. Also, the personality of some people inspire me very much.