Learn more about Elissa Allen, Director of International Programs at United Planet. In our interview we asked questions about her first Quest to Ecuador with United Planet and the Louisiana State University (LSU) Service Break, her work planning and managing Quests and about the future.
Elissa has served United Planet since September 2017, leading the Travel Abroad as well as Virtual Quests, Exchange Visitor Internships & Incoming Volunteer Programs. She credits her work with United Planet for her extensive cross-cultural experience, as well as from living in Ghana, volunteering abroad in various global roles, and traveling extensively.
Caitlyn/Hanna: Where is your dream travel destination? Tell us about your participation in LSU’s service break in Ecuador through United Planet. Do you have any highlights or standout memories? What did you learn while volunteering?
Elissa: I have always wanted to travel to Portugal and somehow still haven’t made it yet. It actually may have been the first international destination that caught my attention. The Spanish language has been entwined in my education since kindergarten and by the time I entered university almost 20 years later, still studying Spanish, and I saw that I could volunteer abroad in Ecuador with United Planet. I knew I needed to apply. I told the faculty advisors when interviewing to join the group that I wanted to be in their positions some day–helping students make this opportunity a reality.
Traveling to Ecuador was my first time abroad, outside of a family trip to Mexico that I was too young to fully remember and appreciate. My group spent months preparing—which I would later learn was a program preparation structure created by United Planet. We researched history, politics, cost of living and so much more before traveling. We planned educational lessons and packed for maintenance and labor activities. Everything fell into place upon arrival. I remember visiting and viewing the most immaculate and glorious cathedrals and churches during our city tour and relating what we had studied to what we were witnessing and experiencing firsthand.
Though the excursions, to Mitad del Mundo (where we balanced an egg on a nail) and to Mindo (zip lining mariposa style), were without a doubt memorable; the memories of our service work and community connections live rent free in my mind. At a daycare in Quito I was left struck, that as open minded as I thought I was, I hadn’t considered all the similarities between myself and those I’d be supporting and working alongside. It was fun to teach and play but the rewarding feeling of working hard came after my group cleaned and painted what would be new classroom space and cleared an overwhelmed garden of debris. Later we would travel between volcanoes to Otavalo and share a similar experience.
C/H: What stuck out to you about United Planet to return as an intern following your service program? Why is the mission to create a global community important to you? What’s your favorite thing about working at United Planet?
E: United Planet’s purpose is about using service learning to build relationships that are long lasting and address social challenges that affect the globe. Within the United Planet programs we challenge volunteers to make changes in their life choices (so, understanding that you might need to alter your decisions or make more conscious decisions) in ways that are going to benefit a community and bring you closer to an end goal that revolves around the betterment of humanity and subsequently social change (which focuses on the rights of individuals opposed to their needs). It’s always been important to me to understand the community you are a part of, including the disparities within it. If we don’t address the disparities in education, access, health care etc. there will always be people living in poverty, without basic necessities, and lacking human rights. Working with United Planet (and volunteering with United Planet) allows you to see those gaps, create and contribute to solutions, adapt, subdue judgment, have conversations, empathize… who wouldn’t want more of that and to be a part of this kind of work!?
C/H: What are you most looking forward to?
E: I am most looking forward to focusing back on why it all started for me. “…helping students make this opportunity a reality.” Not everyone realizes there’s a whole wide world outside their back door. Just as importantly, there are those who know and strain to engage but they don’t have access to funds, support or whatever means can allow them this privilege. I’m looking forward to connecting more with these prospective travelers being able to provide more innovative programs and funding for travel because everyone who wants to and knows they can should go abroad and serve.
Author/Interviewer(s): Caitlyn Bean, Hanna Kulik
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
United Planet is an international non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. We connect people who want to make a difference in communities across the world through overseas volunteer travel programs, global virtual internships & volunteering, and project-based virtual exchange programs. With opportunities in more than 40 countries, you will learn, teach, work, engage and immerse yourself in a culture outside your comfort zone. For many, volunteering abroad is the most fulfilling experience of their lives!
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