BootsnAll's Travel Community

Hi everyone!

Okay, so volunteering overseas is great, but what do you think is the best thing about it?

All the options except #1 Helping Others - is about what you want - and not really about volunteerism.

You could easily do options #2-5 while working overseas (and hopefully, even a bit of #1!).

quote:

Originally posted by TedKarma:
All the options except #1 Helping Others - is about what you want - and not really about volunteerism.

You could easily do options #2-5 while working overseas (and hopefully, even a bit of #1!).

well put, ted. (if you make me compliment another post of yours then...well i'll get over it. )

it is really important that a volunteer is there to actually make a difference. gotta keep your eye on the ball, so to speak. i have been very fortunate to be involved with a charity (www.childsdream.org) where everyone was very mission focused. that can be difficult to find.

I agree that "helping others" is certainly important in volunteering, but I think there are many "shades" of people who volunteer. At one end is the idealistic save-the-world type and at the other is the person who volunteers solely to help themself. I think the best kind of volunteer is someone in the middle.

Save-the-world types may be disillusioned easily, may only want to be invovled "on the front lines", and may expect the people they are helping to express regular gratitute to the generous Westerners (or whatever). Really, the greatest contribution many of us can make to helping others can often be made from home (or after returning home) via writing/fundraising/networking or yes, even a monetary donation to the right organization.

Clearly, someone who volunteers only to get free room and board is not the ideal volutneer either.

I think many organizations find that the best volunteers really are people who are clear/honest about their motivation for doing so, and that motivation may be a mixture of helping others and broadening their own horizons being exposed to a place, culture or people they wouldn't meet in the same depth travelling through as they can volunteering.

quote:

I think many organizations find that the best volunteers really are people who are clear/honest about their motivation for doing so, and that motivation may be a mixture of helping others and broadening their own horizons being exposed to a place, culture or people they wouldn't meet in the same depth travelling through as they can volunteering.

Perhaps we can call that "Adventure Volunteerism"

I would agree that a mix of motivations would be important. With no self-interest at hand - a volunteer might be more likely to bail out at the first real sign of discomfort (cultural or physical).

quote:

Perhaps we can call that "Adventure Volunteerism"

I like that Ted. I'd have to nominate volunteer organizations like WWOOF and HelpExchange for exactly that description. The goals of both programs seems to be all 5 reasons given in the original post. Personally I'll be doing some HelpEx on my upcoming trip and all 5 reasons are legit to me. I'm hoping to both slow my trip down as well as extend it a little by "adventure volunteering" one week out of five. I'm not pretending that my contribution will be on par with longterm, fully dedicated and committed volunteering with Mother Theresa's orphans or some other higher cause, but if it serves both mine and the host's needs it is all good.

quote:

Originally posted by KateL57:

Save-the-world types may be disillusioned easily, may only want to be invovled "on the front lines", and may expect the people they are helping to express regular gratitute to the generous Westerners (or whatever). Really, the greatest contribution many of us can make to helping others can often be made from home (or after returning home) via writing/fundraising/networking or yes, even a monetary donation to the right organization.

well said, i totally agree. Not only are these people often totally unrealistic about the challenges involved in volunteering (and their own usefulness) they are also often annoyingly self-righteous..... definitely a pet peeve of mine!

The volunteering I personally have done has been with so many different goals and aims in mind I'd have a hard time picking just one. Gaining work experience for my CV, learning better Spanish, understanding more about working in international development, and making potentially useful career contacts were all important to me, and I dont think there is anything wrong with that - on the whole, I have always wanted to work in intl development, and the volunteer work I have done has made me far more capable of actually serving people who need it in my current job (no longer volunteering). I truly believe that the work I do now benefits people - but I have no qualms saying it also benefits myself, in multiple ways!!

I have to say that the BEST thing about my volunteer experience (two years in Africa) - isn't on the poll list.

It was challenging myself to difficult conditions - and learning I could deal with just about anything and still succeed.