Volunteers Abroad Resource Panel

Perhaps you are a new alum, looking for your first professional job and you're having trouble in this tight job market. Or perhaps you are an older alum looking for adventure, a change of pace, and the satisfaction service brings. Volunteering abroad may be for you!

Four intrepid alumnae -- Susan Budig SP '85, Marybeth Lorbiecki SP '81, Sue McCloskey SP '67, and Nancy Parlin SP '56 -- shared their varied experiences of volunteering abroad, which included short and long term ventures, from a week-long parish experience in Guatemala to ten days with Habitat for Humanity in Kenya to two weeks with Global Volunteers in various countries to a year-long solo venture in Europe to two to three year Peace Corps service stints in Pakistan and Thailand. All were adamant that such international volunteer experiences are important to do for many different reasons. Sue McCloskey advises everyone: "Make yourself open to the idea and then just follow through. Don't find reasons not to. You can always say, oh but this, and oh but that. Don't. Just go." The rest of the panel nodded. You'll never regret it.

The attendees brought experiences of their own, and the questions and conversations between the audience and panel and between members of the panel were as spirited as they were insightful.

Growing Experience It was unanimous that an international volunteer experience will leave you changed in many ways. Susan Budig recalled one of the more rewarding and lasting affects of her Peace Corps experience: "I remember after I was in Thailand for a little while I was riding on a bus and I saw a small pipeline running along the side of the road and it hit me, that this was the source of water. And suddenly, I realized how hard it must be not to take water for granted, and how much more difficult the people's lives are here because they cannot assume that all their basic needs will be met like I can. At that moment I think I moved from being me-centered in my thinking to other-centered." Cultural Differences and Adjustments in Expectations "You had to learn cultural differences and respect them," said Susan Budig, "like you never touch someone's head in Thailand and you keep your left hand behind your back. Even going to the bathroom is different. You had to learn how to use a standing toilet.' As part of the Peace Corps, Susan had received months of culture and country training and orientation, in which these things were taught to her. Global Volunteers and the Habitat for Habitat International project offered a day of cultural orientation, providing "dos" and "don'ts". With parish or small organization projects, you may be more on your own to research some cultural differences. Paying attention to the actions of others and learning a little of the language goes a long way to helping people accept you. They see that you are trying to meet them culturally. But unexpected differences usually crop up. "We had to face a different sense of time," said Marybeth. "We couldn't plan to be at the village within hours of landing in Guatemala City. We had to first drive halfway there and stop for the night because people don't travel at night in Guatemala. It isn't safe. And the roads are narrow and windy and take longer to travel on, especially when there is road construction. So you just need to assume you will get there when you get there, and that can be hard for some people to accept." "You think France is a lot like us so things should be really similar," admitted Sue McCloskey. "But then you run into little differences in attitudes and lifestyles that turn out to be big. You discover that you've brought along assumptions that the French people are just like us and do everything like us. But they don't. For instance, they have different size paper for their copy machines and printers. They close their offices from noon to 2:00 p.m. And they only have one copier at the school and it's in that office. So don't expect to get any work done through that office during that time!" She also mentioned the differences in expectations. At the school, there were 130 students and 10 textbooks that they shared. So she had to consider that when she gave a reading assignment, that it would take time to cycle the books through the 13 students per book. Safety "People get the impression that if you are going to a poor country, like India, " observed Nancy, "that it's violent and dangerous. But the highest murder and rape rates in the world are in the U.S." She was working in an orphanage in India on a Global Volunteers project when the 9/11 attacks happened. "The people there hosted a prayer service. Children knelt on the concrete floor for over an hour. Several volunteers never knelt at all or didn't last five minutes. It was an extremely powerful prayer service and gesture of solidarity and good will." Marybeth noted that the reverse can be true as well, that a country may be more dangerous than the United States and there may be some safety precautions to find out and observe, such as not driving at night. "In Guatemala, the government has changed often over the years, and there was a time when the government was the enemy of the poor people," said Marybeth. "There are a lot of freelancers with guns and uniforms, so it's important to go with a guide on the roads who knows things. Even now there is a great deal of bribery in the government, and you can never tell if someone in uniform is telling the truth or using a uniform to get some extra money. However, in the village, it felt quite safe." "The dirtiest modern bathrooms were at the hospitals. The best ones were at chain gas stations that had an armed guard at the bathroom door. Many stores hire their own armed guards." Also, the lack of running water can troublesome at times healthwise. We brought along small bottles of Purell and used them!" Susan McCloskey noted that she had been pickpocketed in France, but she blamed herself more than anyone. "I had been there a while and became pretty smug and lazy, and it happened on the bus. You just have to be smart when you travel." Nancy assured people they didn't need to worry greatly about this. "Look carefully at the organization you affiliate yourself with. They will not put you in a dangerous situation. If things get dicey, they will take you out." While in Thailand, Susan Budig was hit by a bus and critically injured. "I had to be flown home for medical care. I would have lost my leg if I had stayed. The bandages they put on me had some leaves and sticks in them and infection was setting in." But did that make her regret her trip. Absolutely not! She still encouraged everyone to do international volunteering, and go with a reputable group that will do what needs to be done when an accident happens. Different Types of Projects Nancy had the most abundant and wide-ranging experiences. In the Global Volunteers (GV) venture in Monteverde, Costa Rica, they were in a cloud-forest community that had decided to build their economic livelihood on eco-tourism rather than slash and burn agriculture. The money from the eco-tourism fees paid for the Technical School that taught ornithology and botany and other ecological courses that would help the local people study and conserve the forest reserves they had. In this situation, Nancy helped build computer tables and chairs. She also taught English as a second language, which she felt less competent about. But she says that most places that expect you to do this give you packets of information on exactly what to do and how to do it. In the India GV project, she held babies in an orphanage and assisted in teaching 6th grade geography and social science. Nancy liked how the Global Volunteers project gathered people from around the world of different ages on a single team, and there was a week of work and then a day to relax in a tourist activity. She also loved her Habitat for Humanity stint in Kenya because they worked alongside the village family that was going to own the home and other local people. "There is something very tangible about being part of a local project." Living Conditions The roughest living that Nancy has encountered was her two weeks in Kenya, where they were stationed in a former Peace Corps living station that had a chicken coop on one side and the bedrooms on the other. "We were on a concrete floor in sleeping bags on air mattresses. At night if it rained, we'd get wet and then in the morning, we'd hang our bags out to dry. we had one bore-hole latrine that took special skill to use, even more challenging than an Eastern toilet. And we had cold running water and we brought solar water bags for a shower." She advised people to just ask ahead of time what kinds of living accommodations are to be expected. Choose a project that fits what you can live with and then come prepared. "The people on that trip were amazing. You had to pay $3,000 dollars just to get there, so you tended to have people who had enough money and position to take the time and means to do this, and they tended to be high achievers, which made them very interesting. We had a married couple, but they asked to be put into separate work units so they'd get to know other people. We had a young CBS reporter who was one of the first to cross into Afghanistan to report on the war. We had a Johnson and Johnson executive." Together they walked miles and hauled rock. "It was my most physically difficult trip and it was FABULOUS!"

Susan Budig SP '85 Susan began volunteering in grade school, tutoring others in the 5th grade. After college, she served in Thailand in the Peace Corps. Later she was involved in a short term experience with Global Volunteers in Jamaica. In the Peace Corps, Susan worked as a kind of agricultural extension agent, teaching farming methods. Marybeth Lorbiecki SP '81 In the 1980s, Marybeth had wanted to serve in Central America in the Peace Corps after college but her parents feared that she would get killed. So in January 2009, nearly 30 years later, she finally had a chance to go to Guatemala – with her parish for a week to their Sister Parish in a resettlement village in the mountains about 5 1/2 hours north of Guatemala City. As a writer on a medical mission team of six, she didn't know what she would be doing. She ended up being useful as a simple hard-core cleaning and organizing worker in the bare-bones parish clinic while the volunteer team's doctor and nurse saw patients. She also checked people's eyesight with charts, handed out glasses and prescriptions, translated some Spanish, taught English as a second language to high schoolers, and took notes on interviews with parish leaders. There was always more than enough to do. The nun in charge of the mission would suggest things that needed to be done and the volunteer team would figure out amongst themselves how to do it, taking time for breaks along the way. (The parish team model turned out to be similar to the one used in the "Vision Teams" of Common Hope, a nonprofit organization based in the Twin Cities that serves Guatemalan communities. See description below.) Sue McCloskey SP '67 Teaching at the business school at the University of St. Thomas, Sue decided she wanted to try something different, so she signed up to teach business at a school in Dijon, France. There she had to find an apartment and live among the locals. It was a kind of quasi-volunteer experience, since she was paid, but not liberally, and she had to use her earnings to find herself housing and the necessities of life. This experience got Sue started, and she ended up also volunteering with the Red Cross during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She found that experience a little less satisfying, as she was assigned to a project that was not well organized. "I liked being able to stay in France and not be a tourist. I had to become part of the community and learn how to survive, like figuring out how to do your laundry, how to find your way... Nancy Parlin SP '56 A sociology major, Nancy served in Pakistan in the Peace Corps for two years and then another year as a member of the staff, from 1962-1965. She also worked on two stints with Global Volunteers, one in India and one in a mountain village in Costa Rica with Global Volunteers. In addition, she did a Habitat for Humanity trip to Kenya and worked as a two-week volunteer on an archeological dig in Israel. That's not too mention that she, too, volunteered domestically with the Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief. She says that the Peace Corps was really a good experience for when she was young. "But now I am more tied to my land and my dogs and nieces and nephews. I don't want to pick up and go for as long." But she emphasizes that there are retired people in the Peace Corps and she obviously still likes volunteering. The work is rewarding as are the people she meets along the way. Nancy has been part of various kinds of projects: she has helped set up a clinic, hospital and nursery, held babies in an orphanage, taught English as a second language, and hauled stones for a house. "With the internet, people can come from all over for a volunteer project and they can be of different ages. With the Global Volunteers project in Costa Rica, there were 14 people: half were 50 and over, the other half were college students. The group process of making decisions with that varied group was one of the most valuable parts of the experience."

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERING TIPS: Explore the varied kinds and lengths of trips and the places you would like to go. Some common programs to investigate for global projects are: Peace Corps, Global Volunteers, Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Network of Volunteer Service, and the International Red Cross. Consider also scientific volunteer groups – as there are some to count whales or work on archeological digs, etc. There are also smaller more regionally-based projects through parishes and local groups, such as Common Hope (connecting Minnesotans with Guatemalan villages). Costs, project length, backgrounds needed, and organizational structures vary. Talk to people who have been in the specific program before. Find out about the living arrangements and local customs. Assess costs. Some programs, such as Peace Corps, pay for your transportation, training, room and board, and have benefits such as deferral of school loans. Others require you to pay all or a portion of the costs -- this is so that the project can offer the best benefit for the people being served without draining the organization's or local worker's funds. You want your volunteer experience to be a net gain for the community. Remember that everything for a volunteer experience is tax deductible, including the clothing or equipment needed. Visit a health clinic a few months in advance to ask about the shots needed for that particular area and for any health advisories.Check the state department’s web sites on foreign travel. Find out about the weather norms and fluctuations ahead of time and suggestions about what to pack. Though you want to pack light, you also want to be prepared. In some places, you might need both sandals and rubber boots! In most places, you may want to throw in a non-wrinkle, easy wrap-around skirt for those times/places where women mostly wear them. For something closer to home but still a cultural adventure, consider AmeriCorps or a domestic disaster relief effort, such as with the Red Cross or Catholic Charities Relief Services.

RESOURCE LINKS: Peace Corps: Volunteers serve in over 70 countries around the world. "By providing technical assistance to countries that request it, the Peace Corps shares America's most precious resource -- its people and their skills." Volunteers commit to 27 months of service with 3 months of in-country training for language, cross cultural, technical, and health and safety skills. The application process is competitive. There are no fees or age limits. The average age of a volunteer is 27, one of the oldest recent volunteers was over 80. Volunteers have their health and dental care and transportation taken care of and are provided a living allowance for the country, possible school loan deferment or partial cancellation, graduate school opportunities, plus a readjustment allowance and career services upon return to the United States. www.peacecorps.gov Global Volunteers: "Travel that Feeds the Soul". Project duration ranges from one to six weeks, with options of 24 weeks in extended service. No specialized skills are needed. General project types: Teach Conversational English, Care for Vulnerable Children, Assist on Community Labor Projects; Provide Health Care Assistance. The fees involved directly benefit the host communities and are necessary to make the service a benefit rather than a drain on the local project. Travel is required to the project, then the project fees cover the expenses involved. www.globalvolunteers.org Habitat for Humanity International: Habitat for Humanity has affiliates in over 70 countries for its global volunteers program, where people work on a local team in a distant place and different culture. Volunteers work cross culturally on the team. Volunteers pay for the costs of in-country transportation and living through the program, with fees varying with the length of the stay, location, and necessary costs entailed. Short and longer term projects are available. Volunteers pay transportation costs to reach the designation country. Every GV trip is different, and each team member can expect to gain a unique set of experiences and memories. Itineraries are balanced with plenty of work, rest and free time. Each GV team member will do much more than help build houses – they will become part of the local community, participate in cultural activities and realize just how rewarding a service-learning trip can be. Volunteers form a once-in-a-lifetime team as they travel, live, work and eat together. www.habitat.org/gv Catholic Network of Volunteer Service (CNVS): Member programs have volunteer positions in over 100 countries in the world as well as in all fifty states. Projects are in every type of setting, large and small cities, suburbs and rural areas. Opportunities range from a week to a summer to a half year. Arrangements vary according to sponsoring organization. All member organizations offer room and board and health coverage, and most have the option of school loan deferral. This group serves as a networking organization to connect volunteers with the right kind of service projects, so there are many ways to serve for the type of situation that fits you through the RESPONSE directory. www.cnvs.org Common Hope: This St. Paul based nonprofit organization works with children and families in Guatemala, allowing donors the chance to sponsor a child/family in a Guatemalan community. The organization invites volunteers to join a Vision Team project trip. Vision Teams must have a volunteer leader to work with the Common Hope staff to design and oversee the trip. Trips last from 8 to 10 days, with the costs of $1,000 to $1,200, which include in country transportation, room and board, and a day of rest at an inviting cultural spot, such as Antiqua. Volunteers need to handle their own air transportation to Guatemala. www.commonhope.org Americorps: National and Community Service. The program has full or part-time service projects domestically for 10 to 12 month stints. AmeriCorps is a network of three programs—AmeriCorps *State, and National AmeriCorps *VISTA, and AmeriCorps *National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). Each year AmeriCorps supports the engagement of nearly 75,000 Americans in service to meet critical needs in education, the environment, public safety, homeland security, and other areas. Since 1994, nearly 500,000 AmeriCorps members have served with thousands of nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and faith-based organizations nationwide - from small community groups to nationally known organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross, and Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Members tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, clean parks and streams, and recruit, train, and manage community volunteers. In return for their service, members receive an AmeriCorps Education Award of up to $4,725 to pay for college or graduate school or to pay back qualified student loans. During their service, members receive health coverage, training, and student loan deferment. About half the members also receive a modest annual living allowance. Members who serve part time receive a partial AmeriCorps Education Award. www.americorps.gov

If you are considering a career or job transition, have been laid off or are looking to get back into the job market, the Alumnae/i Association sponsored a panel discussion to offer advice and encouragement. Career Columnist and Consultant Amy Lindgren SP '83 led the discussion with Nicole Boardman Harrison SP '97, MA ED '03, who shared strategies on her recent successful job transition. For the story and their advice, click here.