Three weeks ago, we posted a graphic that highlighted the top ten tips for volunteering abroad, after compiling advice from our United Planet Quest alumni. We’re back this week to elaborate on the third tip. If you are thinking about participating in a United Planet Quest or are about to embark on your volunteer experience, read on!
Tip #3: Let go of your expectations
International volunteering is sure to change your outlook on life – United Planet volunteers return from their service expeditions reevaluating their perspectives, questioning their worldview, and reconsidering their priorities in life. However, after hearing amazing stories about peers’ volunteer experiences, many potential volunteers build up specific expectations of what they want their trip to be like and what they want to get out of it personally.
Although it is good to mentally prepare yourself for your journey abroad, most United Planet volunteers recommend going into your Quest with as few expectations as possible. The more open you keep your mind, the more you will be able to learn and be changed by your volunteer experience. And if something does not go according to plan on your trip, you’ll be less likely to be disappointed, and more likely to embrace that mishap as a learning experience.
Often times, volunteers return from abroad feeling frustrated with how little they felt they did for the community. We agree, it can be difficult and painful to witness people struggling and know that your efforts may not radically change someone’s living conditions. However, the goal of a service trip, especially a short-term one, is not to turn an entire community around single-handedly. If you are feeling like your efforts can’t possibly be making a difference, remember United Planet’s motto, a quote by Ryunosuke Satoro: “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
Instead of thinking about your inability to affect an entire community, focus on the positive impact you are having on individual people. Are you volunteering in a medical clinic? Perhaps your friendliness and words of comfort to an anxious patient calmed their mind and gave them the strength to persevere through a frightening illness. Are you volunteering in a school for underprivileged children? Think about something you learned in school that has stuck with you for years, and teach it to them. If enough people make a small difference in a few lives, we can be sure that together, we are making great strides.
Above all, talk to people and share information about yourself, ask questions, and learn about different lifestyles! Promoting cross-cultural understanding has a huge impact for the future of the planet, even if you can’t see concrete changes right away.
It is also a good idea to keep an open mind about what your volunteer work might entail. The needs of the communities to which United Planet sends volunteers are constantly changing. So although your Quest will be focused around a specific area of interest, such as teaching or healthcare, be ready to help out with whatever tasks need to be accomplished while you are there. Remember, the most important thing about your volunteer trip is helping a community in need – be prepared to be flexible in meeting those needs.
Most importantly, keep your mind open to new ideas and your heart open to new people – your most cherished experiences may happen when you are least expecting them. Mallory Coletta, a United Planet alumnus who traveled to Tanzania on an education Quest, had this to say about her volunteer trip abroad: “Tanzania was everything I thought it would be and it wasn’t at the same time. The people are very poor, but they seem to be happier than the people here in Canada…how they deal with these issues and their philosophy on life was something I learned a lot from.”
You can find previous Volunteer Abroad Tips here:
Tip #1: Research the Language
Tip #2: Research the Culture
Tune back in next week for our next Volunteer Abroad Tip, and visit our website if you are interested in volunteering abroad!
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
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.
