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Volunteer at House of Compassion

As a volunteer, you will occasionally take on a task or join a working group, according to your own available time:

  • organisation of the welcome
  • organisation of activities
  • helping to publicise our activities
  • taking care of the communication
  • making translations
  • furnishing and maintenance…

Sounds like something for you? Then get in touch for a first acquaintance. Below you will find some testimonials of volunteers of House of Compassion.

Vrienden zonder grenzen- broodjes om uit te delen

Sadjo – Contact with visitors is amazing!

Sadjo Domingas has been a welcoming volunteer with House of Compassion since 2019. She is a mother of two children, one aged 5 years and one 6 months and comes from Guinea. Without official documents, she got to know HoC.
“At House of Compassion, I work at the welcome twice a month. My job is to explain the history of the church, exhibitions, etc. to visitors. I do this in French.
I love the contact with the visitors. I get the chance to meet a lot of people and to be social. House of Compassion has opened a lot of doors for me. You get to know different cultures. You hear the stories of a lot of different people, … That helps to make you feel not alone anymore.”

Machteld – A great feeling of community and learning a lot


Machteld has been a volunteer with House of Compassion since 2020. She got to know our organisation through an article in Bruzz when she had recently moved to Brussels and was looking to connect with her new neighbourhood and city. “In Bruzz I read how House of Compassion wants to give a voice to the voiceless and that particularly appealed to me.”
Today Machteld coordinates the art group of House of Compassion. That is the group of volunteers that prepares the exhibitions of House of Compassion. She is also working on the renewal of our permanent exhibition on slavery. “I find it extremely interesting to learn how to build an exhibition and to study slavery in the past and today.” On top of that Machteld found a very nice community feeling at House of Compassion: “During activities we help each other and clean up everything together, for example. That gives me a very secure feeling.”

Frank – Make a link with the Beguines

Frank, turns 60 this year and has been a volunteer with House of Compassion since 2020. He has been living in Brussels for 3 years now and comes from Bruges. He got to know HoC through the priest Daniel Alliet who runs the shelter where he now lives, for undocumented migrants. He became interested in volunteering at House of Compassion because it seemed the perfect way to talk about faith with other people. Frank is part of the welcoming group and also helps to organise Sunday celebrations in the church. Showing people around the church, explaining the history of the church and making a link with the Beguines is what Frank does as a welcoming volunteer.

“I try to let the encounters take place from my own faith, from my inner core. I try to anchor myself first so that the Holy Spirit can do his work. I believe that God is active in encounters. When we have a conversation in a church, I will first turn inwards before I start speaking. I hope that the people I meet will also speak from within. This is what most fascinates me in the work of welcoming.”

A Bible verse close to Frank’s heart is: ‘Knock on my door and I will open the door for you.’ Going into prayer in this way and trying to get in touch with our innermost being is, for Frank, a way of knocking on God’s door.