Thank you so much for all the work that you do!

What an exciting adventure my husband, Tim, and I had as members of the 92nd Global Volunteers team to Lima, Peru! We worked at the orphanage - PPA (Puericultorio Perez Aranibar)! It is a life-changing experience to leave the comfort of one's home in SE Minnesota and travel to another continent and experience a life so different from our own. Yet, even with all the cultural differences and the poverty, the same wonderful human spirit shines through.

Working with a Global Volunteers' team is so unique because the volunteers come from around the States (and with this team - even Canada!) to volunteer together to wage peace. We first get to know one another through a series of questions about team work and goal setting so that when we begin our work, we know one another better.

The work in Lima at PPA is so worthwhile because at the orphanage the children need the love that the Global Volunteers bring and the staff appreciates the help. Each team builds on what the former teams have done and sets the stage for the next team coming in.
Gratefully, Bonnie Rietz, Peru volunteer

(Marek Blaszczyk is Global Volunteers' long-standing host representative in Poland. See his interview on You Tube here)

We are proud to have had more than 2500 volunteers teach English in our country and each one leaves a small part of their heart in Poland!

Global Volunteers has worked in Poland since 1990. Next year we will celebrate our 20th anniversary in a close, fruitful partnership. Bud Philbrook came in 1989 and went to the Polish Parliament where he met members from our region – the Siedlce District. "Bring your volunteers to Siedlce," our representatives said and help in our small villages. In 1991 I found out about Global Volunteers and invited the volunteers to stay at Reymontowka.

The idea of teaching of conversational English came from Poland. 1989 was the time of changes in our country (we changed from communism to democracy) and Bud Philbrook asked a Parliament member how Global Volunteers could help. They said we have enough hands to work but we need to speak English. We wish to work more closely with the western European countries and the US. We need to speak English.

Bud Philbrook said we can’t promise to send teachers but we can send people who speak English. Since that time the program has grown and been very successful in Poland and in other countries. I know people who now are about 40 who started learning English about 20 years ago through Global Volunteers. The best students got good jobs and they are changing Poland.

Poland is a good country, a part of the European Union and NATO. Global Volunteers stay in a small farming village of about 100 people and now nearly everyone speaks English. The cleaning lady at Reymontowka who learned English now runs a business in London. That’s how the volunteers have changed the people. Many young people – we are an open country now – can work in other countries. The children who learn English get good jobs and they can travel around the world. I think last year the first person from Poland volunteered in India.

When volunteers first came to Poland they taught business and technology to unemployed people. Global Volunteers never told us that you have to do something this way or that way. This is very important to us. That’s why next year we will discuss how we can do more with Global Volunteers. We will introduce the organization to others through the 20th anniversary of Global Volunteers in Poland.

Global Volunteers is very famous around the Siedlce District (in eastern Poland) but Global Volunteers is not known all around Poland. We will use this chance to tell about it at a big conference in October and we will invite people from other countries to attend. In time, Polish people can and will volunteer in all parts of the world.

Remember, we still need volunteers in the Siedlce District because everybody doesn’t yet speak English. But, we are proud to have had more than 2500 volunteers teach English in our country and each one leaves a small part of their heart in Poland.

Why I Volunteer.....

“Challenge is not a curse or a punishment, but an opportunity to shine. If life were easy all the time, we would not deepen in love, compassion, and wisdom, or learn how to sink a pipeline into the well of true strength within us. Often we do not know how powerful we are until we are faced with a challenge that draws forth our greatness.” -Alan Cohen

People ask why I spend my annual vacation time volunteering abroad. The secret truth is that in helping people to build better lives through self-reliance, whether it’s teaching English/math/computer technology, loving orphans, or constructing playgrounds, one develops equally in return through the local community’s demonstration of genuine kindness, enduring strength, and motivated spirit despite their lack of materialistic conveniences and pleasures. Global Volunteers summarizes the benefit well in their Philosophy of Service: “By serving others, we honor the human dignity of those we serve while acknowledging our own dignity in the process.” I am forever grateful for the opportunities made available to me as a result of Global Volunteers’ twenty-five years of genuine and impactful service throughout the world.

Thank you, Dank u, Merci, Gracias, شكرت أنت, Grazie, Danke, Σας ευχαριστούμε

Katie

Hannah's Story

¡Hola! My name is Hannah Borowksy, and two summers ago, I went on a Global Volunteers trip to Ecuador with my family. I’m so thrilled to be able to tell my story here, to people who have never heard about my trip, because I’m pretty sure I’ve told every single story of my trip to every single person I know!

I’m not even really sure how I ended up in Ecuador on a Global Volunteers trip. I just knew I wanted to do something cool with my summer, and let me tell you, my goal was fulfilled! As my parents, younger sister, and I packed up and left our home in Minnetonka, we had no idea that our view of the world and our place in it was about to change.

We spent our time in Ecuador at a school for children. The kids were absolutely adorable and so thankful to have us there. During our first week, I helped out in a fourth grade classroom. The kids immediately bombarded me with questions. Did I have a car? What color? Was I married? When they studied math, I taught the students a new method for long multiplication. During their poetry unit, I translated a Shell Silverstein poem (with some help) into Spanish for them. Apparently translated poetry looses something because no one laughed! During the second week, I worked one-on-one with Kindergarten students teaching English. The kids were so sweet, but they were only 5 year old and let’s just say I gained invaluable insight into the importance of patience.

The tone of our trip was set immediately when we first met with the group and our amazing country manager. We were told that Ecuadorians are very open, and so the first question we were asked was about our relationship status – married, dating, single, or super single. From then on, our group clicked wonderfully. We kept a group journal that rotated between members every day and was read allowed each morning. We helped each other with Spanish verb conjugation; salsa danced at night, and explored Ecuador together on the weekend.

While my trip to Ecuador was undoubtedly incredible, to me, the amazing part is the long lasting affect the experience has had on my family and I. For example, during our trip we noticed that dental hygiene is a huge problem in Ecuador, and so for my sister’s Bat Mitzvah this past year, she asked people to donate toothbrushes and toothpaste for her to send to Ecuador. She’s collected over forty pounds of dental supplies. Also, as part of the trip we visited the homes of several students. It was heartbreaking to see the conditions in which these families lived, yet inspiring to see how optimistic they were. One family lived at the top of a mountain, and every day the mother carried her daughter, who suffered from cerebral palsy, down the mountain and to school, a trip that took two hours. It really made me think about how lucky I am, how grateful I should be, and how much we can do to help others.