At some stage in the lives of many adults the balancing cross-beat of career and routine is no longer safety as well as security but a gold-gilded cage. A small, nagging voice begins to keep on in the time of in-between or a long way home: Is this all that there is? And this is not an ingratitude question, but a human one deep inside, a longing, a need to feel part of something greater than itself. It is a vocation to get out of the beaten track and into a life of experience, and use that experience and knowledge of many years of life not only to further self but to promote the well being of a world as a whole. This is the origin behind a move to gain the decision by an adult to volunteer in a foreign country. It is a willing, premeditated shift that one makes out of the known into an unfamiliar, out of a longing to realize a difference between a comfortable life and a meaningful one. It is a recognition of the fact that sometimes the best adventure in finding oneself is not necessarily up a career scale, but away out into the commonplace world of humanity.
A gap year spent volunteering abroad is an entirely different ethos than the youthful trip in search of self and adventure that most people are on, the two really do not compare. Finding yourself means much less but knowing the following skills you already have and, wishing to share them, trying to find the most influential method of doing it. It is a shift of consuming to giving, of being a tourist who looks at a culture, to being a visitor, to be a momentary joiner of a community, to being a participant of its life, its hardships and its celebration moments. This is a more passionate commitment and a more complex and difficult skill in terms of negotiating the emotional and moral lay of the land and there is an acknowledgment that you are going in as a learner above all as an aider and abettor. That is not to go in and rescue them with solutions, but to donate time, energy, and skill in advocating sustainable, locally led projects. It is a collaboration, a two-way street and you might impart a skill but will most certainly gain much more in exchange around resilience, community and the form of human connection as a whole.
Like any landmine, it is important to clear the ethical minefield which can come along when you go international volunteering before venturing into the stirring opportunities. At intervals the industry has been correctly accused of creating an internal logic of so called voluntourism where the end experience is created to please the volunteer more than deliver real, lasting benefits to the hosting community. This usually comes along in ill-thought projects, lack of participation of locals and promoting detrimental stereotypes. What is most serious, any potential adult volunteer must face this fact straight and adhere to a course of responsible and ethical conduct. This is met by a critical self-analysis so as to deconstruct remaining elements of a “savior complex.” You will not be coming to a place to SAVE people; you are coming to help people to help themselves in their own way. This implies trying to find organizations that are strongly intersected with the community that they deal with, that employ local personnel on higher management levels, and that have the clear and transparent way to utilize the program fees to fund the projects.
Another major ethical warning sign that should be remembered is the problem of orphanage volunteering. A mass of evidence has found that residential care placement, even at short-term, can be of the most harmful effect to children in terms of attachment disorders and in the worst possibly forming an industry where children are actually held in poor conditions to scam donors. Responsible volunteering is more about family and community preservation and involve the performance of actions and tasks that aim at keeping children to their loved ones and not forcing them in institutions. Likewise, the ethical involvement applies to your on-the-ground-actions. This implies seeking consent when taking pictures of individuals, especially the children. It implies dressing and acting with respect to local practices. And above all, it is being willing to listen a heck of a lot more than talking, to go into any situation as one who is to learn and not as one who is to teach. The aim is not to be the glorified hero in a temporary process but a force of lasting change.
This determination to deeper experience also involves the dealing with the severe practical barriers found specific to life as an adult. Quitting a job, a house, and a system of personal commitments is much more complicated that getting a backpack right after university. It can be a negotiation with an employer of a break in career or sabbatical, which discussion needs a precise presentation of how the talents acquired abroad such as cross-cultural communication, problem-solving, resilience will become valuable once back home. It also entails financial planning, building a stable budget considering not only the expenditure on the programs and transportation, but also about the continued responsibility at home, be it a mortgage, a rent or a student debit. To the family person, it may include hard talks and unfavorable plans. Such logistical problems cannot be dismissed as minor ones but also constitute part of the process. Beating them is the initial way to prove the determination and ingenuity one will need on location, transforming abstract dream of volunteering to a solid and well-thought-out reality.
After establishing these considerations, the fun of traveling through the numerous scenery of the options available will come into real life. Adult volunteering offers such a rich variety of placements that are top to bottom opportunities that suit all possible skills sets and interests. Individuals who have an inclination toward nature will find that conservation and environmental projects provide an opportunity to be on the front line in preservation of the world and its wonderful biodiversity. This might be taking care of injured sloths, monkeys, and birds in the middle of Costa Rican rainforest at the wildlife rehabilitation center with the idea of returning them to the wild one day. It may entail working with a marine research group in Thailand or Belize with the aim of learning to scuba dive, as well as taking on the task of coral reef monitoring and recovery. There are also opportunities in terrestrial conservation, e.g. the role on anti-poaching patrols and habitat surveys in a game reserve in South Africa, or reforestation and sustainable agriculture activities in the Amazon. It is a kind of work which is usually physical but the great reward is that you play the direct role in the preservation of the delicate eco systems and vulnerable species.
To the individuals whose interests are more oriented to people than to plants and animals, community improvement schemes provide an avenue so as to favor human empowerment. These projects are tremendously diverse and aim at the maintenance of the social and economic parts of a community. You may end up with a women mutually-supporting cooperative in Guatemala or India, helping them with skills edification, the knowledge of financial skills, or advertise local artisans. This is an influential step to promote gender equality and make women economically independent. Types of other projects may be centered on infrastructure but the selection of such projects is very important. The ones that are most ethical include collaborating with local constructors to build schools or community centers or a clean water system, this is a process of sharing and learning and not a process of unskilled foreigners stealing the jobs of the local workers. These are not aid-based projects but they have to benefit increasing capacity and self-sufficiency so that the great picture should still be there even after the volunteers have moved on.
This is another domain where the older individuals can make a considerable contribution, which can be long-term as well. Although teaching English is an archetypical volunteer position, the ethical, contemporary version entails the assistance, but not replacement of the local teachers. This may imply systematically serving in the role of a classroom assistant, assisting in conversational practice, and co-writing learning materials in cooperation with a local teacher. Other skills aside of language, there is too much that professionally-experienced adults can contribute. An IT specialist may take it upon him or herself to establish a computer center in a community facility and train digital literacy. An individual who had business or financial education to his/her credit might train the would-be entrepreneurs in a micro-finance scheme and teach them to prepare business plans and financial management. This kind of volunteering is a real win-win opportunity whereby you use the particular expertise you have developed in life to offer the skilled support to where it is needed most within a high impact capacity.
Being based on the health speciality, all medical or even specifically public health background students get an opportunity to aid in the health of underserved populations through healthcare placements. It is one of the spheres, in which the qualification and the ethically correct behavior are of the paramount significance. There are opportunities to place qualified doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel in the rural clinics and community hospitals where they will be of great assistance to the local personnel. However, it is critical to be within the limits of the professional expertise and rules of the visiting country, as well as know you are not a leader, but a helper. Individuals who lack the official medical training still have the chances to find the measures in the sphere of the social health. This may be helping in the health education programs, working on sanitation and hygiene programs in the school or working on the nutrition awareness initiatives. These programs are aimed at preventive care and health education, which are the key elements of a healthy population.
Last but not least, animal lovers also find a direct route of looking after creatures in need through animal welfare projects. Unlike wildlife conservation, they are programs that are usually interested either in domestic animals or captive wildlife. One thing you might do with your time is volunteering in a dog and cat rescue shelter in a Greek island or in Romania with the purpose of feeding, socializing, and taking care of stray animals. This is emotionally satisfying and it is one of the few ways in which underfunded local organizations can be supported. Alternative opportunities are at animal sanctuaries where animals retrieved in the tourism industry like in Thailand or bear sanctuaries in Southeast Asia. In the selection of such a project, careful research should be conducted so that it should be an actual sanctuary with the main priority of looking after the welfare of the animals not allowing them to be used as a tourist priority through riding or performances etc. In this work you have an opportunity to express your compassion by serving vulnerable animals directly and practically through your hands.
What is inspirational is to find a project which you could be aligned with in terms of your values whether they are in conservation or elsewhere in healthcare. The other equally important, practical, the aspect of passing through the process of getting there is not left behind. This starts by locating the appropriate organization and vetting it to ensure there is near-perfection. The options out there in the world of the volunteer differ widely with both huge international placement agencies and small but specialized non-profits to operate on a direct grassroots level that you can approach yourself. A big agency such as IVHQ, GoEco, or GVI provides an efficient procedure, all the assistance, and a vast array of options that may be a relief to a first-time volunteer. The exchange can be a greater program fee and more standardized experience. The niche, smaller non-profits can provide a more intense and specific placement and perhaps more of your own planning is necessary. An NGO with a grassroots project may be the most genuine and inexpensive voluntary experience, though it implies intensive research, first-hand communication with the organization, and a high level of independence.
In whichever kind of organization, vetting is important. And do not be shy to ask hard questions. So just where does my program money go? Request a break down. How long have you been in relationship with the host community and do locals work in leadership positions? Will you refer me to former volunteers so that I can question them about their experience? Go online to read the reviews in different sources. A reliable organization is sincere, does not mind being asked questions and shows a clear and provable record of making a positive, lasting difference. After selecting an organization and getting approved into a program, which might take place through some application forms and interviews, background checks, preparation will follow. This is a time of concentrated tasks such as fund raising to meet your personal expenses, consulting with a travel physician on what vaccinations and health precaution to take, taking out necessary visa particular to the country you are visiting and trying to tackle yourself in cultural research about the place you are going to stay in. Although it is rather simple, memorizing at least some basic greetings and phrases in the local language would be a great show of respect on your part that will be rooted deeply when you arrive.
An important dimension of this preparation is the financial one. It is necessary to make a detailed budget. This should not just be the tuition fee of the program but it should also cover the airfare of one flying across the continent, a good enough travel and medical insurance package, visa application fees and also the cost of any equipment that one might need during the program. You must also allow cost to be incurred in the country, including daily travelling and food not covered by the program and any travel you desire to carry out at the weekend or after being placed. To many adults, this means a special time of saving but the financial outlay is an investment in an experience that will pay off in personal growth throughout your life. Even packing should have another mindset. It is not a leisure. The wardrobe you wear must be comfortable, robust and above all, it must be culturally sound. It is supposed to be professionally oriented towards the job you will be performing and sensitive of local customs of decency. Rather than bringing things to donate, e.g. candy, old clothes etc., you can ask your host organization what exactly their community needs, e.g. school supplies, first-aid etc. this is so that your generosity may be of real service to you.
It is just that the spreadsheets, the visa forms, the packing lists are the appetiser. It is in the experience, and in this deep process of home-coming, that the real change occurs. You should be important to lower your expectations. The quality of the life you live can be very primitive compared to what you are used to. Challenges that you never may have envisaged will confront you. It will bring frustration, lack of comfort, and high emotion. The job can be exhausting, also physically and emotionally. This is not a holiday at a resort; this is a real life and all its intricacies. The secret move: flexibility, resiliency and humor. You have to be ready to not be so rigid in you own expectation and instead get accustomed to the pace and mode of carrying out things in the area. You will not only get to know how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, which is a skill that is priceless in every area of life.
The homecoming journey can usually be the most un-imaginably difficult moment of the whole process. The reverse culture shock is quite a definite thing. A few weeks (or few months) later, having lived a life characterized by a sense of purpose and simplicity, getting back to the consumer-based (or consumer-crazed), fast-paced culture of the home culture can be utterly shocking. Your set of priorities will have changed. These are trivial as compared to problems that you have been exposed to by your friends and family members. It is sometimes hard to explain the strength of your experience to individuals, who did not live it, hence feeling isolated. There are situations where you feel uneven due to the lack of patience, being critical towards your own culture or being very nostalgic about the community you left.
Doing this readjustment may take time, and it is paramount to be patient and kind towards yourself. Plan how you can incorporate the lesson that you have learnt in your life at home. It can be something as tangible as changing your lifestyle and becoming more minimalist or as revolutionary as changing your career to a profession that would make you feel closer to your new ideals. Remain in touch with the company which you were associated with and be an influencer of their cause. Talk about your experience with others, not as one who has a better story to tell because you did something great but rather you had a humble experience of how the experience has taught you. This gives you the ability to value your experience and carry on doing this positively. Serving as a volunteer in a foreign country as an adult will not be a temporary break in your real life; it is a soul-stirring, life-changing episode, and makes it new. It is walking out of your own myth into some other one which is much greater and which makes your heart break and then fills it again with the sense of the world and who you are in it. It is a testimony towards the fact that no one is too late to change, to contribute, and to respond to the call of a more purposeful living.
