Do you ever fear that you travel to cities and solely act as a tourist? Do you ever want a break from the crowd carrying selfie sticks and squinting at maps in thorough detail? Me too. Luckily, I found a great way to catch a glimpse of authentic life in a foreign city - volunteering.
When I lived in Florence, Italy for four months during my semester overseas, I desired nothing more than to become a part of the community. Don't get me wrong, of course I wanted to climb to the top of the Duomo and pretend like I knew a thing or two about vintage red wines. And it's great to be a tourist and cross all the sights you want to see off your bucket list! But if you want to immerse yourself into a culture and contribute to the local community like I did, you should research volunteer opportunities that interest you. Read below for details on two very different experiences: my volunteer work in Italy and that of my friend, Quinn Murphy, who volunteered in Chile!
ITALY: Through my study abroad program SAI, I was easily able to find volunteer opportunities in the city that would change my semester experience while helping the local community. Before I knew it, I was dedicating one day a week in an elementary school on the outskirts of the city teaching kindergartners basic English lessons. Each week, two other volunteers and I would create a lesson, prepare visuals and interactive elements for the presentation, and print individual activities for them to work on. Throughout the duration of the semester, we covered weather, days of the week, counting to ten, shapes, colors, animals, clothing items, fruit, and much more.
While this may seem like a simple activity (sure, I was teaching kids the colors of the rainbow), it was far from seamless. Pause for a second. Think about walking into a room of young children and a teacher who do not understand nor speak the English language and have the responsibility of teaching them vocabulary and pronunciations. That's a challenging experience! Nonetheless, it was an absolute blessing to be able to share my knowledge and make an impact on others' lives in a positive manner. This experience taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of subjecting myself to vulnerability. English is a second language to those children and almost every word was unfamiliar to them. Yet, their little voices proudly roared the words, without worrying if they were pronouncing it correctly. Those children taught me that the only way to grow and learn something new is to dive right in and give it your all, without allowing the fear of being wrong hinder your progress. And the lovely teacher we worked with taught me that you are never too old for learning, regardless of the subject matter. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything and I am so grateful for the memories it brought me.
CHILE: Quinn studied in Santiago, Chile for a year through a program provider called IFSA. This program directly partnered with volunteer organizations for students to join if interested and explored opportunities outside its existing partnerships to find a program tailored to your passion. Quinn chose to volunteer for an organization known as the Organization of Training and Help to the Haitian Community, or OCACH, where she served as a chaperone for young kids for three months of her stay. Her main responsibilities included preparing crafts with the children, playing games with them, and accompanying them on field trips to popular sites in the city. In their spare time, Quinn said "they also loved a little pick-up soccer match!"
Among the many reasons why she enjoyed her time with OCACH, Quinn explained how valuable the opportunity to immerse herself further into the Chilean culture was. She was grateful for the ability to volunteer with local children because she learned more about the community through them while also enhancing her Spanish linguistics. Quinn further stated that engaging with the community differentiates your experience from a typical traveler's. Once she allowed herself to blend in, she gained a broader perspective on how big each one of our roles in society is. "I feel like as I was becoming further immersed in Chile, whether through volunteering, my classes, or my host families, I was also gaining a better understanding of my identity as an American," Quinn said. "It was interesting to hear about the United States through my Chilean peers...it made me realize how much the political and business decisions made in the US affect the rest of the world, and as a future business professional, I feel a greater responsibility to be conscious of the global impact of my decisions." The time she spent outside the perspective of a tourist taught Quinn that despite the distance, we are all connected and we need to work together to make this world a better place.
If you've read our experiences and are totally inspired (because who wouldn't be), but do not have the opportunity to study abroad, no worries! There are tons of organizations and programs that offer worldwide volunteer services. There are opportunities for everyone interested in engaging with the community and it is super simple to select which one is just for you! Don't know what you want to do? You can browse from a selection of projects such as construction, conservation, healthcare, and more and the organization will direct you to countries that need volunteers in those specializations. Have a specific country in mind, but aren't set on a specific project? You might choose a project based on location then! With many countries to choose from on multiple continents, you can select a preferred destination and choose a needed volunteer experience in that region. Although I cannot personally recommend any third party organizations, as I have never used any, I do recommend that you take a look for yourself by searching "international volunteer programs" on a search engine. If you have organizations that you would recommend to others, please leave them in the comments to help readers explore all possibilities to make a difference!
Happy searching and safe travels!
