www.sabinemaennel.net

Complementary currency project

I got involved in a complementary currency project through an internet contact. I developed a module to print out adresses, offers and wants for them. It was then integrated in a Drupal installation package to set up local currency systems for communities.

What I liked ...

was being part of a nice team, that was outside the business world of flashy websites. I also liked building a Drupal module and getting some guidance on how to do it. I am still convinced that complementary currencies are a good thing and should be encouraged to take off.

Why I finally dropped out  ...

There were two reasons, one of them was that it seemed hard for me to gain the necessary trust to get to be a productive member of the team not just some remote internet-contact, that was known through an email only. I guess at one point I could have succeded to gain that trust (after building that module, probably), but just a that point I was done with voluntary projects in the first place, maybe my drop out was also due to some private stress I had at that time (who knows, what the exact reasons always are for your steps in life ...?).

I changed my atttitude towards voluntary work

I still help out at a lot of places, but I have definetely done too much voluntary work in the past. I kind of try to stick to my new rules now: First I do not want to do things voluntarily when people did not explicitely aksed for them. Second I do ot want my main job not being paid, except when I am persuing my own business and even then I will try to make things work out financially.