Join a Ground-Breaking Demonstration!

Working hand-in-hand with local people, you can build a better future for children living in poverty.

Our newest partner in development is in St. Lucia, West Indies. The reality is that while St. Lucia is popularly promoted as a sunny Caribbean tourist haven with few worries, St. Lucia’s children have much to be worried about. Due to insufficient child nutrition, infectious disease and significant poverty, their idyllic island has one of the lowest average IQs in the measured world. That’s why you’re needed there.

You can become part of one of the most important development efforts in Global Volunteers’ 28-year history. Central to our effort is offering comprehensive services in 12 areas – the “Essential Services” for a community’s development. In St. Lucia, West Indies, children struggle with the lowest IQs in the Western Hemisphere. Global Volunteers has launched an unprecedented program to assist our new host community of Anse la Reye, St. Lucia, to dramatically raise the IQ of their children by providing all 12 Essential Services …and thereby change the trajectory of the island’s future.

This is an exceptional “working vacation.” Take in the vast West Indies cultural and natural offerings – alluring ocean landscapes, exciting watersports, colorful craft markets, inviting local cusine, engaging music and dance -- and all the while, contribute to a ground-breaking project demonstrating the catalytic power of volunteers to improve health, nutrition and IQ. Read about the Essential Services—the foundation of this project. Our first teams to serve in Anse la Raye, St. Lucia are scheduled for January, March, September and November, 2012. Join us and leave your mark on world. And St. Lucia, in turn, will leave its mark on you. Call today (800-487-1074). Apply here.

The "Magic" of English

"The learning in a community is like casting a pebble into a pond. The 'small rings of gentle waves' extend further into a community than one might first realize. It is not just what is taught in two weeks that is important but it is the impact of a continuous series of teams of volunteers who keep returning to a community and working with the residents." Read more of Team Leader Milt Diehl's reflections on the Hungary Blog.

"Safety Trumps Everything" is our Motto!

At Global Volunteers' 2010 Annual Staff Training in St. Paul, Minnesota, country managers and volunteer team leaders were certified by the American Red Cross to administer CPR in emergencies. Because "safety trumps everything" is our motto in providing service opportunities worldwide, this training is required of all team leaders annually. You can feel certain you're well cared for on Global Volunteers teams!

Exceptional Staff Recognized and Thanked

Today's all staff meeting -- within our two-week training sessions in St. Paul, Minnesota -- was highlighted by naming three outstanding staff members for special recognition.

Regional Manager Dorota Wierzbicka(right in photo) was presented with Global Volunteers' first Staff Person of the Decade Award in appreciation for her long-term, consistent leadership in Global Volunteers' field operations. Volunteering on our Poland program when it first started in 1990, Dorota initially served as our team interpreter in Siedlce and was promoted to Poland Country Manager within two years. She was named Global Volunteers Staff Person of the Year in 2001 and 2004, and consistently receives the highest possible ratings on volunteer evaluations. In 2008, she became Regional Manager for European, South American and South Pacific programs, and has led teams in South Africa, Hungary and Tanzania in addition to Poland. In noting Dorota's contribution to our staff team, Global Volunteers Vice President for Operations Michelle Heerey said: "Dorota reminds me of that steady, quiet presence that you can always rely on, and makes certain all the bases are covered behind the scenes. At the same time, however, she can be a strong taskmaster and inspire people to do what they need to do!" We're grateful to Dorota for her two decades of loyal service to Global Volunteers worldwide!

Volunteer Manager Julie Costa (on right) received Global Volunteers' 2010 Staff Person of the Year Award for leadership in preparing new volunteer coordinators, support to the marketing and volunteer coordination team, consistently superior service to prospective and Encore volunteers, and loyalty to our mission of excellence in service. Julie joined the staff in 1994, and has twice received Staff Person of the Month awards. She's served on 18 Global Volunteers service programs!Global Volunteers' Vice President for Volunteer Coordination and Marketing Pat Forciea said: "Julie has been a great support to me and an inspiration to my staff. I always look to her for quality advice." Kudos, Julie, for 16 years of immeasurable contributions to Global Volunteers' staff.

November's Staff Person of the Month is Jake Philbrook, Global Volunteers' Technology Manager. In presenting this award to Jake, Global Volunteers' Vice President for Finance and Administration Bonnie Christensen said: "In the years I've worked with Jake, I've appreciated his work, but it was only when he began working directly for me that I came to understand what a true professional he is in his field." Jake was specifically noted for his diligence in the recent upgrade in our database. He previously was named Staff Person of the Month in April, 2006.

Thanks for your cool head, Jake!

We're very proud of our bright and dedicated staff, and recognize that as our volunteers are Global Volunteers' "heart and hands," our staff are the feet that keep us firmly planted in possibilities.

Annual Staff Training Begins in St. Paul

"Welcome to snowy Minnesota!" Global Volunteers CEO Bud Philbrook welcomed back 11 of our country managers to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they joined USA staff at our annual staff training, beginning today.

After a morning review of our 27-year history of service worldwide, the conversation evolved into a lively discussion about responding to our host partners' service requests during uncertain economic times. Global Volunteers has survived and thrived since its founding in 1984, despite varying impacts at the corporate and local levels, Philbrook said. "We have always prioritized the needs of our host communities," he stressed. "Yet, our ability to provide assistance to the children we serve is directly related to the number of volunteers we mobilize." With volunteer numbers down during the past two recession years, our resources have likewise diminished, he said. As the economy improves, our challenge is to regain our share of the available volunteer resource to support our partners' vision.

Country Managers expressed their concern about the impact of decreased volunteer numbers in their communities. They share a global wish for a rapid economic recovery to restore our service partnerships to full capacity. We welcome you on our service programs this winter and encourage you to contact us about our needs worldwide.

As the gate to SEAM Children's Home opened, I watched as ebullient children ran up to us, eager to meet the new team of three. Stephen, our team leader and host, introduced us to the children.

The children had seen countless Global Volunteers pass through the gates of the home; even so, they ran to us, beaming with smiles. I pulled out my camera and watched as the children's attention rapidly shifted toward the device. They began to rattle off sentences in the local language of Tamil, an unfamiliar one to me.

I was 14 and spending a month of my summer before sophomore year in India. The previous day, my dad and I had left the comforts of my grandparents' home in Bangalore, India, for a father-daughter bonding experience we had never had before. My dad had wanted me to realize that not everyone is alike with respect to economic background.

I spent the weekdays in two locations. In the mornings I worked at Assisi Illam, a day care and orphanage, teaching the alphabet and basic numbers to children between the ages of two and five. Fortunately, the language barrier between the nuns in charge of the school and me did not prove much of a problem, although hand gestures came in handy most of the time.

The afternoons, on the other hand, greatly tested my confidence as I was assigned to teach English grammar to four nuns-in-training. Ironically, the women addressed me as "maam" even though they were five to six years older than me. Although daunting at first, I gradually began to enjoy the role of a teacher as I organized lesson plans for my students every night.

As a result of my experience in Chennai, I had the desire to revisit the following summer. Yet less than two months later, the demands of high school again became my topmost priority and center of focus. I remember my dad occasionally bringing up the country of Ecuador as the idea of summer vacation loomed overhead. Neither of us had been to South America before and my dad's final decision for us to volunteer there proved to be a second remarkable experience.

Our experience in Ecuador, also with Global Volunteers, was quite different from that in India as our team consisted of 14 eclectic people. Spending two weeks in a day care center for young children, I rediscovered my passion for working with children. Like the kids in India, children came from impoverished families. I was also given a chance to experience Spanish culture at its best and immediately fell in love with the music, traditions and food.

My most vivid memory is of Emilio, a three-year-old boy who rarely took the time to smile or even talk. After two weeks of joking and playing around with him, I noticed that he began to let out a few giggles towards the end of the two weeks.

After saying my final goodbyes to Emilio and the rest of the children, Edith, our team leader, told me a heart breaking story about Emilio. Edith said his shyness was a result of a car crash his parents were involved in. His mother had rarely spoken to or smiled since his father had died in the crash. Upon hearing this, I felt so much better about my time spent with Emilio as it proved to be rewarding for both of us.

Many people think of volunteering abroad as a life-changing experience. In my case, I realize that I have returned to my regular life. Yet there is no doubt that my two experiences abroad gave me personal insight that has made me more aware of my lifestyle as a blessed one. As a result, I discovered my passion for teaching and enjoyment of Latin American and Indian cultures.

I realized that across the world we all hold common goals. Between the novices and the Ecuadorian children, I understood that though we differ in economic background, we all strive for a good lifestyle and education. Volunteering opened my eyes to this, and I hope to continue helping others while opening my eyes to the reality we miss each day at home in Palo Alto.
- Sonali Sastry, grateful Global Volunteer

It's a Small World...of Volunteering

Now as I'm on my way with Global Volunteers to serve on a team in the Cook Islands, I remember when I was first inspired by Global Volunteers with a 2004 newspaper photo featuring a local woman, Kristina Flanagan, in Romania with twin babies sitting on her lap and her lovely story. It was definately something I wanted to do one day. I kept that story in my mind, and when I retired in 2008 I took the opportunity to go to Romania. I'm not related to Kristina (although we share the same last name) and I never met her, but I did communicate briefly with her by e-mail shortly before I left for Romania on my first Global Volunteers service program. While serving in Barlad, I also communicated by e-mail with Kristina's daughter who served with her mother in Romania when she was age 16. She shared some of her exciting experiences with me regarding her team and her work at Tutova clinic taking care of babies and toddlers.

I spent the majority of my time at the clinic in the infant room. There were seven babies (six girls and one boy) and the average age was seven months. Celine was forever smiling in spite of her congenital hip defect and our "little gymnast" Alina, who was very active, had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Our team of sixteen volunteers really bonded and we traveled together on the weekends to Transylvania to see Dracula's Castle and to Moldova to visit the painted monasteries. The time I spent in Romania was one of the best experiences of my life!

Last year, I had the great pleasure of serving at Caritas in Poland, and now I'm on my way to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands! I look forward to spending time with the elders at their day program, working with adults who are developmentally disabled or tutoring children in reading and writing. Please follow my blog entries beginning in Mid-March at: http://cookislandsteamjournal.blogspot.com/

- Grateful Global Volunteer Ellen Flanagan

Happy International Day of Peace!

Peruvian "Scholar" Expresses Thanks

Dear Friends from Global Volunteers:

I am Yimm E. B. I'm 16 years of age and finished high school. I would like to send warm greetings and special thanks to you for giving me this opportunity in order to continue with my high level education and in that way I will be able to become as a good person. I am thankful because if not for you, I wouldn’t’ be able to continue studying because my family and I do not have enough resources but with your help I can help my family and I can help to motivate other kids like me to study and do not give up because there is always someone with good heart that will support them. Thanks for your help and to be so good in order to help me. I promise to have good grades and not let you down.

To see profiles of other Global Volunteers Peruvian scholars, please follow this link.

Reaching Out in Uncertain Times

Now more than ever, our host partners are looking to Global Volunteers for the kind of help we have been providing for 25 years. Our volunteers bring the face of kindness and compassion in person, through their hands-on service to organizations worldwide who have invited Global Volunteers into their communities. Yes, these are uncertain times, but we can be certain -- in our uncertainty -- that the people we help know us by our name, they know us by the hope we have left behind, and know us by the Global Volunteers who keep on coming, no matter what. Their children and babies know us by loving arms that hold them, voices that sing to them, eyes that smile at them and hands that applaud the littlest things they have learned today, because of a Global Volunteer.

- Patty Carlson, volunteer coordinator for Global Volunteers

Volunteer Grateful for Service Opportunities

Dear Global Volunteers,
I so appreciate your updates, for I am a devoted volunteer and supporter of Global Volunteers! My late husband and I first went with a team to Rota, Spain in 1998 - then had planned to go Italy but had to cancel because of health problems for him. He died in June, 2007 and I felt I needed to be away for that first Christmas. That is how I went to Chennai, India - with a remarkable team - there were 8 of us. We still keep in close contact and one team member visited me in July. She is returning to Chennai in January 2009 and will be there for the baptism of the baby son of our team leaders, Stephen and Sheeba - so I am crocheting a shawl for her to take - that perhaps can be used at the christening. It is a project of love!

I have signed up to go to Hanoi in May of 2009. Like many - I have a limited income and budget very carefully, but this is a neccessity. Vietnam has special meaning for me as my husband and I volunteered at our neighborhood high school - a class taught by a friend who works with students coming in from different parts of the world - with limited English. I share your concern about the present economy - and also feel the programs of Global Volunteers are more important than ever. So I'm cutting corners on expenses in every way possible to look ahead to my next service program - maybe Christmas 2009.
- Aleatha Scholer, devoted volunteer

South Africa as a "Lesson Plan"

My Global Volunteers Service Program in South Africa was a surprise 50th birthday gift to me by my family and friends. They knew that service to others is something that I value and that for many years I also had yearned to travel to Africa.
Six years ago, I embarked on the journey of returning to college while raising four incredible children. It was during this time I discovered a deep desire to learn more about Africa, a place and history of which I previously had known very little. The opportunity to delve more deeply into the intellectual study of Africa, its people, history, diverse cultures, religions, economic challenges, etc. presented itself and I became an African Studies minor while majoring in Religious Studies at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. The one piece missing from my studies had been the experience of actually going to the continent. My senior thesis had been on South African feminist theology from a post apartheid indigenous perspective so when I received the Global Volunteers gift I at once knew that South Africa would be my first choice of where I wanted to go. Lucky for me, the organization was preparing to send their first team to Malungeni -- a rural village in South Africa. I signed up immediately and anticipated with great joy the July 2008 departure.

Many of my friends asked me what I hoped to accomplish by taking this trip. I replied that my desire was to learn what I was meant to learn from this whole experience. While this might sound a bit New Age it was intended to mean that I wanted to stay open to the people I would meet, places I would visit, and work I would be asked to do. Volunteering has been the primary way I have experienced being within a community during my life. From my earliest memories I can recall accompanying my parents as we helped in our schools, church, neighborhood, and larger community. To go to Africa was only expanding my scope of where my volunteer experience could take me

As the first team to go to Malungeni, I knew there would be some unique opportunities to help form initial relationships and discover a bit more about this place and its people than later teams might encounter. I found this an exciting prospect. What I discovered from my initial encounter with Michele Gran, our team leader, was that she had our backs covered during the entire experience. I have worked in many volunteer settings in the past, some with international components to them, but I have never before experienced the consistency of vision and commitment to both the volunteer and the host community in the way that that Global Volunteers does. Michele never once promised something that she could not deliver, either to us as volunteers or to the community that had asked us to come work with them. This provided the volunteers as well as the community with sense of safety all the while being embraced by a high degree of true integrity.

The community of Malungeni extended one of the most hospitable and gracious welcomes I have ever experienced. The entire village from the elders, their chief, to the teenagers and young children embraced us and quickly formed friendships that made our time one of great joy and real hope. Many meaningful projects were begun by the community and our team during our two week trip. I can confidently say that future teams will find this community to be one where good things will happen.

The part of the Global Volunteers experience that I was pleasantly surprised by was how our team quickly bonded and formed friendships that I know will extend far into the future. The ten of us were from all parts of North America with an age range from the late teens to the seventies but we found so much common ground that friendships were easily formed and the team quickly found ways to use everyone’s unique gifts and talents. I will never forget the laughter that my roommate and I often fell asleep to. While although I was far away from my family I had found wonderful people to share this journey with. The work and team time made the whole experience one that I will hold in my heart forever.

The community school was my primary work site. I assisted the grade 4 through 9 Social Science teacher. It was exciting to be teaching their curriculum of social science from a human rights perspective. I found the teacher and students to be engaged learners with the classroom being a place of respect. The kids were great students and have high hopes for their futures. I learned a great deal from them and have a new respect for how difficult it can be to live and educate children within a remote village when technology and access can at times seem very far away.

As I reflect upon the two short weeks we spent with the community. I find myself wanting to return. I found a strength and character in the people of Malungeni that I admire. The women are working so diligently to bring change and opportunity to their village. They have the same concerns and hopes for their children as my friends and I have here at home. The miles might separate us but our hearts hold the same desires for healthy, educated children who will have good opportunities for their success filled futures.

My college studies enabled me to understand some of the history of the enormous continent and more specifically South Africa while my Global Volunteers service gave me the opportunity to begin relationships which moved beyond the pages of books and into our big world where we are called to be global citizens. Waging peace is such a noble goal, one that Global Volunteers embraces, but it is only through the forming of human relationships that we can discover who each other really is. I am grateful for the gift my family and friends gave me to travel and serve in Malungeni and look forward to serving with Global Volunteers again in the future.

Update from the Cook Islands

This year's program started with a full team of 16 eager volunteers ready to head off into their service program on the first day of school. In the Cook Islands, sometimes schools take a little longer than schools in other countries to get started, so we had to redirect our energetic volunteers to other projects until the classes were ready for them!

Some of that energy was transferred into repainting the Cook Islands Library and Museum’s office. What a job! The office had not been painted since 1968 so – you can imagine! What with the heat, humidity and the ‘wild life’ of the tropics there were a few interesting cultural experiences had by the fabulous five who took on the challenge. Jean Mason the curator of the library says she is so thrilled with the end result; it is now a pleasant place to work.

We have also undertaken an exciting venture– the Virtues Project; a school-based program in partnership with Takitumu School. Its goal is the promotion of peace throughout the world...How appropriate a partner for Global Volunteers! Takitumu School is also one of the schools where we have supported a literacy program for many years, and is assisted by Global Volunteers’ Classroom Sponsorship Program.

In the Virtues Project, the school decided on three ‘virtues’ (excellence, unity and humility) that they would like to focus on. A large mural was designed by a volunteer from Vaka 96 to depict these ideas. Painting was all go with four volunteer helpers, and within a week or two the mural was ready for an unveiling. A special ceremony was held at the school with the media turning up for the occasion. If you look closely you will see a “96” on the vaka (canoe) just to ensure that everyone knows which team of Global Volunteers supported this project!

Of course, literacy remains the focus of the Cook Islands program. Volunteers have continued to support a number of primary and secondary schools with their reading programmes. One school is hoping that we will be able to expand into some numeracy (mathematics) support in the future, once they have designed exactly what support they need.

An upcoming project is assistance with the upgrading of our hospital. There is so much work to be done up there. The first stage is to make the children’s ward a place to get better! Plans include a new roof, walls to be ripped out, painting, wiring and plumbing repairs, an office for the charge nurses and installation of ceiling fans. Is anyone willing to come and help? The ANZ bank staff has fundraised to get this started – we just need some ready, willing and able volunteers and we are full steam ahead.
Of course, teams have had loads of fun together in their free time. Mama Here taught some volunteers to make beautiful ei’s. And of course we’ve learned all sorts of things about coconuts! It is amazing just what you can do with a coconut. We have learned to dance (well sort of anyway!), speak a few words of Maori and of course snorkeled, smelled beautiful flowers, and met beautiful people.

Thank you (Meitaki maata), to each and every person who has come, or intends to come, to the Cook Islands for their adventure in service. You are needed, and we have plenty of work for you to do if you decide to come again. I look forward to it. For those of you who are unable to return this year, please help out through the child sponsorship program. We appreciate all you do!

Kia manuia, Debi Futter-Puati
Cook Islands Country Manager

Chinese Teachers Say "Thanks"

Dear friends, Global Volunteers and my fellow teachers:

Another team has ended and we must say good bye. First of all, I’d like to say that I’m very lucky to get the chance to represent my fellow teachers to express our heartfelt gratitude to Global Volunteers, our honored guests. We’ve got a thousand thanks to you. But for the time’s sake, I can name only some of them. Thanks for your hard work! Thanks for your dedications! Thanks for your perseverance in work though not feeling well. Thanks for your help to us! Thanks for your well-prepared classes and speeches both to us and to the senior school students! And thanks for the wonderful time you brought us! Actually, we all feel very sorry that the time passes so quickly and we have to say goodbye to each other. How we wish time could go back so that we might learn more from you.

During our time with you, we have benefited a lot from exchanging ideas on the bilateral cultures, customs, educations and some other interesting topics. You even brought in idioms, jokes, games and songs to the class that really made us feel interested and relaxed, and what’s more, made us more like a family than a class. Most important of all, we also shared our opinions on how to motivate our students to work hard at English and on many different kinds of classroom activities and games. These in all drives us to think "outside the box" of how to learn a language and how to teach a language.

Meanwhile, I hope that, in the past three weeks, we have all done our part and have helped you know more about China. China is a fast developing country and Haikou is a nice city. I hope Global Volunteers have enjoyed their trip here and we welcome future volunteers to Haikou again. We are looking forward to meeting you again and you are always welcomed here. Let us be forever friends.

Finally, I’d like to, on behalf of my fellow teachers, send our best wishes to Global Volunteers:
May you have enough happiness to keep you sweet;
enough hope to keep you happy;
enough success to keep you eager;
enough friends to give you comfort;
enough wealth to meet your needs;
enough enthusiasm to look forward;
enough faith to banish depression;
enough determination to make each day better than yesterday!

Respectfully, "Connie"
Farewell Party of Global Volunteers Team 157 Hainan Island, China

The Value of Volunteerism

A simple accident of birth has given me a life which has included all the opportunities available to male Caucasions in the U.S. to improve our station in life, to enjoy good health, obtain good education and acquire a satisfactory standard of living during our working years.

In my lifetime, I've witnessed the world progressing from a collection of cultures, each going along at its own pace, to a troubled world communtiy which will eventually have to accept the fact that we're one people sharing the abundance of this planet called Earth. Not in my lifetime, but surely a reality which can be achieved. It's because of these beliefs that I feel I should attempt to give back or share with others which was given to me by this simple accident of birth.

I've served in over 10 countries with Global Volunteers. Some of these were somewhat affluent, but most were considered disadvantaged when compared to the U.S. I've realized great personal satisfaction by serving others and seeing measurable progress toward the host country's goals. I sincerely hope that my small efforts will lend themselves to the realization of world peace and progress for the betterment of all.

- Bill Gibbs, frequent volunteer from Oregon

Our Nature of Peace and Conflict

“What makes us moral?” Jeffrey Kluger asks in TIME magazine. His article examines the dark savagery as well as the morality and empathy written in humans’ genes. Our service here at Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in the mountains of County Wicklow, Ireland provokes our personal and individual reflection on human nature. Kluger writes:

“If the entire human species were a single individual, that person a long time ago would have been declared mad. The insanity would not lie in the anger and darkness of the human mind – though it can be a black and ranging place indeed. And it certainly wouldn’t lie in the transcendent goodness of that mind – one so sublime, we fold it into a larger ‘soul’. The madness would lie instead in the fact that both of those qualities, the savage and the splendid, can exist in one creature, one person, often in one instant.”

This profound conclusion is suggested here at Glencree as we listen to staff presentations and contemplate the current political and social developments within the country. In light of our own country’s recent past, and especially as we monitor the current presidential campaign from afar, we wonder where, indeed, is the “hallowed middle ground” that reason so often seeks?

Last evening, a Glencree Haitian long-term volunteer requested my help with her university class project. “What is the difference between attitude and ideology?” Marjorie asked. In my halting reply, I mused on the brilliant irony of me - a white American woman tutoring a black Haitian woman - on such a weighty subject in the Republic of Ireland’s highest regarded peace and reconciliation institution.

Examples of compromise overcoming ideology surround us here. Most notably, the power-sharing unity of Nationalist leader Martin McGuinness and Unionist leader Ian Paisley.

Kluger continues: “We’re a species that is capable of almost dumbfounding kindness. We nurse one another, romance one another, weep for one another. Ever since science taught us how, we willingly tear the very organs from our bodies and give them to one another. And at the same time, we slaughter one another. The past 15 years of human history are the temporal equivalent of those subatomic particles that are created in accelerators and vanish in a trillionth of a second, but in that fleeting instant, we’ve visted untold horrors on ourselves – in Mogadishu, Rwanda, Chechnya, Darfur, Beslan, Baghdad, Pakistan, London, Madrid, Lebanon, Israel, New York City, Abu Ghraib, Oklahoma City, and Amish schoolhouse in Pennylvania – all of these crimes committed by the highest, wisest, most principled species this planet has produced.”

And that, we conclude, is our paradox…. ideologies can often divide us to a greater degree than idealism draws us together. As Glencree CEO David Bloomfield advised in our first day on campus: “Managing conflict is about managing differences.”

Michele Gran, team leader and Global Volunteers co-founder

The Power of A Dream

My African adventure began in the spring of 2007. I was in the midst of a huge life transition. I homeschooled my children from kindergarten through 8th grade. My youngest had just started public high school and I was left with a huge void in my life. My passion for teaching was still alive in my heart, but I needed somewhere to channel it. About this same time I saw a special on T.V about the huge reading famine that exists in Africa. Something in my heart stirred, and even though I could not explain why, I knew I needed to go to Africa.I had heard about Global Volunteers from a friend. I did some research and made my decision. Ghana was my destination.

My mission: To teach English to the children, or so I thought. I traveled to the small village of Senchi Ferry in Western Ghana. It was there that I not only had the privilege of teaching the beautiful children of the village, but had the opportunity to meet the most welcoming, kind hearted, spirited community of people I have ever met in my life. My life has forever been changed from my experinces in this village. One day I talked with the children about their dreams for the future. I was surprised to find that in the midst of their underprivileged lives, and the absence of books, they too have dreams of becoming doctors, pilots, scientists and teachers. They have dreams of changing Africa through their education. Education is the key to a different life for them, yet resources are not available. I met Emmanuel, a bright 12 year old who wants to be a doctor, yet has never seen a picture of the human anatomy. Rosina dreams of becoming a pilot, yet she has never seen a map of her own country. It was through listening to the children's dreams that a dream of my own formed in my heart - to build a library for the children of this village. I have just returned from my second trip to the beautiful village of Senchi Ferry, Ghana. This time I brought with me a suitcase filled with children's picture books. I had the amazing experience of introducing picture books to children of all ages for the very first time in their lives. I cannot begin to describe the magic of witnessing the absolute joy and delight that emanated from their faces as colorful pictures helped to tell the stories that were read to them.

The chiefs, elders, teachers and children have all embraced the idea of buiding a library in Senchi Ferry. The location has been chosen, the blueprint drawn. Prayers have been offered for the success of our vision. I have committed to help build this village a library through Global Volunteers and fill it with books. For more information on how to help end the reading famine in Senchi Ferry, please go to my website: http://www.senchiferrylibrary.com/

-Deb McNally, Ghana Volunteer

For Love of An African Village

In March, 2007 I traveled with Global Volunteers to do three weeks of volunteer work in a small village in Ghana. The village – Senchi Ferry – is about an hour north of Accra, the capital city. My three weeks there were magical. I was the only volunteer at a primary school, working with children from kindergarten through 6th grade. I taught English lessons in the 5th grade classroom every day, and floated through all of the classrooms singing songs, teaching games such as Simon Says, the Hokey Pokey, and Duck, Duck, Goose, and introducing crayons and colored pencils for drawing (with the supplies that I had brought with me.) The children were bright, healthy, and eager to learn, but there no teaching supplies at the school other than blackboards at the front of every room. I fell in love with the children, the teachers I worked with, and the many villagers I befriended during my three weeks. Leaving was sad.

I returned home in early April and not a day went by that I didn’t think about Senchi Ferry. By mid-May I knew I had to return, and I joined another Global Volunteers team to return in October. I decided that when I returned I would bring pencils, pens, crayons and money to purchase a case of paper. I emailed every person on my email list asking for a $1 donation. My plan was to raise $300 to buy the needed supplies. Well, money began to pour in, along with packages of school supplies that friends, clients and professional colleagues donated to my cause. My dining room became a warehouse over the summer as I used the donated $3,700 to purchase every school supply you can think of (except computers.) I wrote grant applications during July seeking in-kind shipping, and DHL came through for me shipping six 50-pound cartons. I carried three additional cartons and a second suitcase stuffed with books and art supplies with my luggage. One last carton was carried as luggage with one of my co-volunteers. In all, approximately $5,000 worth of school supplies was donated to the schools of Senchi Ferry, Ghana.

In mid-October I returned to Senchi Ferry with all of the school supplies. Boxes of crayons and watercolor sets were distributed to all the classrooms, along with bags of pencils and pens, rulers, pencil sharpeners, colored markers and highlighters, and six cases of white paper and lined writing paper, posters and maps. My three weeks were filled to overflowing with modeling for the teachers how to teach with all the new supplies, how to manage a library, how to put up posters on the walls, how to use bulletin board border, plus teaching art lessons and reading story books to all of the classes. The supplies were presented during a formal ceremony attended by Education Ministers from the Regional Administrative Offices as well as the Ministry in Accra.

Two days later another ceremony awaited me. I was to be installed as a Queen Mother of the village. I didn’t realize the seriousness of this honor until the ceremony began. Drums were sounded, cowbells were banged on and the village was called to the Chiefs’ Palace. I was dressed in traditional ceremonial robes and was lifted upon the shoulders of several men and carried through the Palace Courtyard to the cheers of the villagers. There was lots of African “Pomp and Circumstance” and by the end of the afternoon I was blessed with the new name, Nana Ofeibea II, Queen Mother of Development.

Again, my three weeks ended much too soon and before I knew it I was on my way home. I’ve already decided that I will be returning to Senchi Ferry again next October. I feel like my life is now re-energized and with a new focus and passion. I continue to love my work, but know that I have a second life in a small village six thousand miles away.

- Judy Citron ("Nana O") Ghana Volunteer

My Heart Remains in Romania

I volunteered with eight other Global Volunteers at a clinic in the small rural hamlet of Codaesti, about a 45-minute drive outside the cultural center of Iasti in northern Romania six years ago. For three weeks we cared for about 30 infants and toddlers, ranging in age from five months to two years. I have many poignant memories from 20 years of international travel, but those three weeks profoundly changed my life.

I’ve been a volunteer in Brazil, the Cook Islands, Ghana, Peru and Vietnam and other countries. Nineteen programs in all. On another Global Volunteers program I mixed cement in Guatemala and built roof trusses in Mississippi. But those three weeks working with this infants and toddlers in Codaesti introduced me to a new career.

In my adult years, I worked several part-time jobs (bartender, waitress, tour guide) but I knew I need a steady job to support my international volunteer habit. At the age of 52, I went back to school to become a licensed practical nurse, and now I'm studying to become a registered nurse. I know this would not have happened without my Global Volunteers experience. In fact, every major decision I've made about the next 50 years of my life can be traced back to this short, but profound experience with the babies of Romania.

Thankfully, memories aren't always built on first impressions. When we stepped into the small four-room house–a temporary orphanage–on the grounds of the Codaesti hospital, we were hit with the overpowering stench of urine. Babies of all sizes and ages were crying in their cribs, most of them suffering from a full body rash. The overworked staff could only change diapers three times a day and propped them for their feedings.

We were nonplussed by the challenge we faced but enthusiastic to soothe their tiny bodies and spirits. We cleaned the infants and covered the soaking wet mattresses with large plastic bags. We had brought with us lots of sleepers, dozens of cloth diapers, rubber pants and a case of Desitin.

There was no formula, so the staff had been feeding them a thin gruel of crushed crackers and water. We worked to fortify the meals to improve nutrition and to hold each of them as we fed them. Just holding and comforting dry babies became a joy.

As I write, I am staring at my psychology textbooks and thinking about the cognitive, physical and psychosocial abilities of each of those small children. I think in three short weeks what we performed was nothing short of miraculous. The babies began to turn over, the older ones began to crawl, and they all experienced a sense of love, probably for the first time in their short lives.

But, please don't conclude this was easy. Truth be told, we put in long days and passed up brief opportunities to be tourists in order to get the rest we needed for the next day’s challenges. Washing over 100 diapers by hand is not pretty or easy. But to know they those clean dry diapers would caress the dear bottoms of our babies made it worth every minute.

Perhaps that's why Romania stays in my mind. We witnessed unmistakable improvement of our babies, and we knew that another team would be arriving in a week to take our places. It eased separation anxiety some of us felt when we left.

While the service program in Codaesti ended when the hospital closed several years ago (a casualty of changes brought about by membership in the European Union), my experience exemplifies what happens on a well-run volunteer team. Global Volunteers has sustained a long-term development partnership with Dr. Dehlia at Tutova Hospital in Romania to care for similar needy babies at the Tutova Failure to Thrive ward outside Barlad. The philosophy of Global Volunteers is to help a community with a project that the community decides is necessary. Working side by side with a person from a different culture is not only a good way to learn about that culture but also to make a close relationship. I have never been on a team that expected me to do anything for which I was physically unable. I was, however, offered the chance to learn new stuff. But in the end, it is about making friendships and letting others get to know an American. Many people I have met tell me I am no the American they expected. And I have learned that people all around the globe have the same needs and wants as we do, laughter comes in all languages.

Susan Surma, nurse and indefatigable international volunteer

Reflections

Thoughts of a Grandmother:
Most parents want their children to be happy and successful throughout their lives. Unfortunately, the mainstream culture in western society has defined happiness and success by the amount of material goods an individual possesses, or is capable of purchasing. Parents’ buy the latest video games, I-Pods, and cell phones to create happiness for their children. Families take vacations and buy family passes to theme parks to be happy. Successful movie and rock stars show our children the glamour of hedonism by indulging in designer clothing, alcohol and drugs. While these material possessions and experiences may create temporary or artificial happiness, solely teaching our children to be self indulgent is not the answer to developing our children into successful and honorable leaders.

Although I am only one person, there are steps that I can take to make the world a better place, one footprint at a time. I can teach my grandchildren to appreciate the gift of being born in the United States with parents who can provide them the luxury of plentiful food, clothing and education; I can teach them that most children in the world live in families struggling to find enough to eat and clean water to drink; I can bring them to meet those who are poor, disabled, and sick so they will know the real identities of the less fortunate children whose faces they see in photographs, and I can develop my grandchildren’s compassion so that throughout their lives they will reach out to those who need them. Global Volunteers has provided one avenue for me to accomplish these goals.

Kathryn Kuehnle - Clinical Child Psychologist and volunteer

Thoughts of a Grandson

Starting when I was 12 years old, my grandmother and I developed a tradition of giving presents to homeless children for Christmas. Each year we gather a Christmas wish list from the children living in one of our community’s homeless shelters. We purchase the items and then take the presents to the shelter before Christmas Eve. I find our tradition very rewarding because my grandmother and I are sharing something special, and I know that the children in this particular homeless shelter will wake up to find presents under their Christmas tree. When we started this tradition I didn’t actually comprehend the plight of the children because I had never experienced these children as unwashed and sleeping in cardboard boxes or living in their cars. The shelter we visited had clean rooms, beds, running water, and electricity. I didn’t think about what their life would be like if the shelter did not exist.

My understanding of homelessness and the plight of the poor changed when I started feeding breakfast to the homeless in my community. It was through this experience that I saw the living conditions of the almost “invisible” portion of our society. Sleeping under bridges or in parks, with no access to facilities to clean their bodies or their clothes, they were often unkempt and dirty. Without adequate food and medical attention, these people suffered from a range of untreated physical and mental illnesses. I found the experience of getting to know this group of people even more rewarding than giving Christmas presents to homeless children. I found myself looking for more opportunities to volunteer.

Three years ago my grandmother and I started volunteering through Global Volunteers. Since I have been 14 years old, we have spent our summers in foreign countries helping people who live in impoverished communities. In Ecuador we taught and played with physically and mentally handicapped children and adults. In Australia, we helped an Aborigine community establish a tourist industry for their artifacts. In Africa, I worked at the village medical clinic, and when I returned home I began the task of raising money for medical supplies for the clinic.

During my volunteer work, I have seen children whose only meal is served at their school, which means they feel hunger every day. I have seen a 5 year old girl die because there was no money to buy the medicine to treat her and no transportation to take her to a hospital. I have met people who are mentally ill and living in cardboard boxes under freeways in the greatest country in the world. I have learned that the basic necessities that I take for granted may be rare luxuries for the poor.

All too often in our society we are encouraged to place value in consumerism and material worth. We find ourselves taking things for granted and develop a false sense of entitlement. We tend to ignore the portion of our society who is poor. We also blame the poor for their fate, and egotistically assume that we, the fortunate, have done something to earn our privileged placement on this earth. My grandmother has taught me the joy of giving to others. My volunteer work has raised my awareness of global economic and living conditions, and helped put a name and face to those individuals who struggle to survive.

We've decided to help raise money for the Pommern Medical Clininc, and you can view our web site and make a donation here: http://pommerndonations.com/

Chris Evans, high school senior