{"id":873,"date":"2010-04-16T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulgoodchild.net\/blog\/?p=873"},"modified":"2012-02-26T15:23:13","modified_gmt":"2012-02-26T15:23:13","slug":"how-goes-travelling-volunteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulgoodchild.me\/blog\/how-goes-travelling-volunteer\/","title":{"rendered":"How goes the travelling volunteer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Word count: ~2000;\u00a0 approx. reading time: 15 minutes.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A source of inspiration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s been over a week since the 2nd wedding ended, of 2, that I was to attend along the way in my travels.\u00a0 Much of the time since then has been spent with friends of the wedding and the wedding couple themselves.\u00a0 Otherwise, I have spent my time relaxing and recuperating, since the last month has been on-the-go partying, eating, and travelling with little or no time for much else.\u00a0 In the past 2 weeks I’ve completed 3 books and I’ve started a 4th which forms part of the basis of this post.<\/p>\n

So how has the volunteer with travelling concoction gone so far?\u00a0 Well I’ll tell you… not quite as expected.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Expectations<\/h2>\n

There is no doubt in my mind that the number one disappointment(s) in our lives is failure to meet\/fulfill expectations – either those of ourselves, or those of others.\u00a0 Even when we’re trying to manage our own, and we think we have them sufficiently lowered, often our expectations get a little bit mixed up in the ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ part of our brain and we get a little frustrated and upset along the way.<\/p>\n

Armed with this understanding, I approached the whole thing with an open mind and ready acceptance of anything that will happen.\u00a0 It’s an illusion we create for ourselves when we say that we are ready for, and\/or expect, the worst.\u00a0 If we expect the worst, which if we’ve defined it properly and in such a way that it’s crap(!), you’re not going to go ahead with it.\u00a0 You might be ready to accept the so-called worst and deal with it, but there’s no point in “expecting the worst”.\u00a0 Better to stay at home with a good book.<\/p>\n

So I wasn’t expecting the worst, just deluding myself into the thinking that if the worst happened, I’d be able to handle it.\u00a0 What I hadn’t done was try to work out beforehand how to handle it if it does indeed go pear-shaped.<\/p>\n

Let me be more specific…<\/p>\n

First off, the “worst” hasn’t happened yet.\u00a0 That’s a long way off, but one of the things I had not wanted<\/em> to happen was a complete inability to find volunteer work at no cost – $free<\/strong>.\u00a0 I don’t even mean those that don’t provide board and accommodation, I simply mean the inability to find work with an organisation that doesn’t want to charge you for privilege.\u00a0 Absurd you might think?\u00a0 I thought so too.\u00a0 I guessed, hoped, fervently prayed, made sacrificial goat offerings, in the hope that I would be able to easily find places with whom I can work\/assist wherever I “land”.\u00a0 Surely, in these lands of not-so-plenty there would be organisations crying out for an extra pair of hands, especially one that might be able to offer them professional IT support for $free.<\/p>\n

For example, while in Bali (at the time of writing) I contacted 5+ separate outfits, most of which didn’t reply, one that got back the same day with a positive response (in whose offices I am now typing), and one that (S.O.S.<\/a>) actually replied saying:<\/p>\n

\n

“I am afraid that we do not currently have any volunteer opportunities available, but we very much appreciate your interest in our organisation. We advertise volunteering opportunities through our website and eNewsletter, which you can sign up for on the front page of our website.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

All very polite and professional, but it still amazes me that an NGO\/charity organisation will turn down a free pair of hands, and that they “advertise” opportunities in sources that you can only reach once you sign up for a newsletter.<\/p>\n

‘So what?’, you might say, “Sign up for the newsletter and stop whining about it.”.\u00a0 Well it’s not the newsletter that is the problem, it’s the general difficulty and number of barriers that stand in the way of someone who is young, healthy, and experienced, in offering their time and knowledge to assist an organisation working for a good cause.<\/p>\n

The missing link<\/h2>\n

So what exactly am I missing?\u00a0 Well if you haven’t taken a close look around you lately, this is 2010 and we’re in the throws of a capitalist society\/economy – a world that is ultimately ruled by the international corporate wealthy class.\u00a0 The big companies, and their hotshots dictate domestic and foreign policy, and generally find every which way to squeeze your money from you.\u00a0 It’s par for the course at this stage, and when you’re working and living within the system, it seems perfectly normal for you to do a quick Google search and come up with nothing but paid<\/em> voluntourist holidays.\u00a0 ‘Please, go help the orangutans for 2 weeks of your yearly vacation, but we’d like to take a few thousand dollars from you for the privilege.’\u00a0 Don’t you just love that all-over-warm-and-fuzzy feeling you get when you do good things and help monkeys?\u00a0 You’re donating money, and<\/em> your time.\u00a0 High five!\u00a0 Go team!<\/p>\n

Okay, I’m starting to sound like a raving volunteer fanatic.\u00a0 I haven’t actually lost the plot yet (but I’m working on it!).\u00a0 What’s the missing link?\u00a0 Capitalism.\u00a0 Money talks and when something becomes popular, like say, volunteering in your spare (vacation\/holiday) time, why not make a bit of cash of the new consumers and act as an agent to help them.\u00a0 See, in principle I have absolutely nothing against that idea, and might even do the same at some point.\u00a0 The problem lies in degree<\/em>.\u00a0 At what cost do you provide these services, and how much do you “give back” to the organisations you’re supporting through this agent-type venture.\u00a0 That’s a nebulous question, and I don’t have any answers, and certainly nothing specific for the big “voluntour” operators out there.<\/p>\n

Am I’m a little cynical? Perhaps.\u00a0 But a little cynicism is healthy in appropriate doses, and assists in defence against absurdity.<\/p>\n

Cue: Inspiration<\/h2>\n

I just began reading [AMAZON_AFF asin=”0143038257″ text=”Three Cups of Tea”] upon strenuous recommendation from a friend.\u00a0 It took me long enough to get my hands on the book and now that I have, I’m glad it took so long and I’m glad it arrived at this point in time.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated at the inability to find volunteer work in Bali.\u00a0 One organisation held promise, and I emailed, then a few days later followed-up with a call to them and was assured someone would either get back to my email or call me.\u00a0 Nothing happened.<\/p>\n

I talked with many Balinese about what I wanted and usually the first 5~10 minutes were spent explaining the ‘volunteer’ concept: me work, but no get money.\u00a0 A great many confused faces I have seen when I broke it down like that, but that’s usually the point when they understood most clearly what I was looking for.<\/p>\n

After much searching, I still wasn’t getting anywhere until a friend emailed me this<\/a> link. Oooh nice, I thought.\u00a0 So off I went in search and after contacting another few that I thought were appropriate, only 1<\/a> replied to me (same day) and that was 2 days ago.\u00a0 I’m now in their offices writing up this article.<\/p>\n

But this didn’t help the feeling of foreboding that was growing.\u00a0 How would I find opportunities everywhere else I went to?\u00a0 I had also started some preliminary research for the Philippines (which I guessed might be my next destination), but it also proved elusive.<\/p>\n

Back to the story… I was reading the book this morning and had just finished chapter 3 and I taken completely by surprise at how suddenly emotional I had become.\u00a0 Tears were streaming down my face.\u00a0 And I wasn’t in a dimly lit corner of my room, but in full view in a very busy and popular cafe.\u00a0 Er…WTF?\u00a0 So what was going on?\u00a0 The chapter ended with this:<\/p>\n

“I will build you a school,” Mortenson said. “I promise.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now granted, that alone seems very benign and I’m sure you also weren’t moved to tears, but it was the few pages that preceded this, over-viewing briefly the basic struggle with education that children from this particular village (and many more) were having.\u00a0 And?\u00a0 Well, here I was, sitting in a cafe in Bali, unable to find anywhere I could volunteer with that remotely fits my model, drinking a (admittedly delicious and it was my 2nd) latte because I had little-else better to be doing.\u00a0 I knew there were causes out there for which I could be working if only I could get connected to\/with them somehow.\u00a0 I didn’t quit my job to drink lattes in cafes in Bali.\u00a0 I did it to travel and work… to give my time and money to causes that are far bigger than I am.\u00a0 The frustration was just getting a bit too much it seemed and this book was highlighting to me what I wasn’t<\/em> doing.<\/p>\n

The power of focus<\/h2>\n

Here is a man, Greg Mortenson, who builds schools in the mountains in Pakistan (well I assume this is what he’s done as I haven’t read past Chapter 3, but this book isn’t a suspense-thriller novel) and I can’t find basic work for nothing.\u00a0 Sod that!\u00a0 So I left with the resolve to do some more research and approach it slightly differently to how I have been.\u00a0 This afternoon I have found perhaps 7 or 8 sizeable websites, some very<\/em> promising indeed that will likely assist me in locating work where I go.\u00a0 Or perhaps more specifically, the places that I go will be dictated more by the work that I find.\u00a0 And that’s one of the big paradigm-shifts, if you’ll excuse this over-worked term, of today.\u00a0 Rather than go specifically where I would like to go, instead get the work first and then follow it.\u00a0 Pretty basic you might think, but not really.\u00a0 Adaptation is closer.<\/p>\n

Also, rather than search endlessly for sites belonging to organisations, search for people who do the same as me – search for volunteers, find communities of people who do this already since I doubt I’m exactly trailblazing.\u00a0 If such communities don’t already exist, or aren’t mature to be of much use, create my own.\u00a0 And that was one of the pennies that dropped this morning… if the solution to my problem doesn’t exist in the form of existing communities, create my own!\u00a0 My idea is to create a forum where people like myself, who are travelling and in need of this information can come together to share their experience and knowledge of projects and organisations that require and provide for the “entry-level” volunteer.\u00a0 By entry level I mean simply those volunteers who think it’s abnormal to have to pay exorbitant fees to an agent for the privilege.\u00a0 Don’t misunderstand, I have no problem paying my way – accommodation\/board and some administrative fees – while volunteering (though I would prefer not to obviously),\u00a0 but silly agent-fees are not an option.<\/p>\n

Reading that book today gave me the focus that I needed to get stuff done.\u00a0 I was beginning to lose faith in the system and the ideas upon which I had begun this journey in the first place.\u00a0 If a man can build a school, I can at least find work and maybe even provide the public tools for others to do the same.\u00a0 Time will tell…<\/p>\n

Please feel free to add your comments, and even better, share this post with other people you know using the links provided below.\u00a0You may also find related and similar posts in the \u2018Related Posts\u2019 section, also found below. Thank you!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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