Post 4: Changing Perspectives

The workplace environment was the home of my bosses Kathryn and Mike. Having travelled and volunteered in 20 countries, their home was full of pictures of their trips and the cultures they had experienced. I always enjoyed this setting as me and Kathryn would work in the office room every morning to a cup of coffee. We would update each other on progress with the company and I would ask about a specific picture and learn a great deal about the culture of the country. Working on country guides for Ghana, Zambia, and Peru while she told me stories helped me grasp an idea of life in that country. New observations I made about the culture at work was that Mike and Kathryn were very community driven. Each volunteer project they participated in consisted of a community aspect and I began to realize that the work environment I was in also would have this aspect. I began to join Kathryn on talks she gave on responsible volunteering in places like Next Door Cafe, a very cool coffee shop sponsored by State Farm where coaching and classes were provided for a wide array of subjects. Kathryn and I presented power points and took questions from very enthusiastic people hoping to go on a volunteer trip. I also joined her on a dabble class for people who were considering taking a career break to travel and volunteer. I learned a great deal about how important volunteering is. Not only was it something that so many people were interested in doing, but it was also something that many companies liked and considered important in careers. There are skills that come with taking such a volunteer trip and it opened my eyes to all that I could do if I ever did take such a career break to volunteer abroad. I really began to enjoy these classes and they ranged from 20 people to a smaller group. Last week we had around 8 people show up and it was great because we all discussed and had very interactive dialogues. I began to see the positives of the voluntourism culture and how people really enjoyed the thought of traveling and collaborating on a project to help others. I had preconceived notions that some people were only interested in the tourist aspects but based on all the classes we taught I saw real interest in volunteering as well. Some people even said that their first priority was traveling but after they had volunteered and saw the affect it had their views changed and volunteering began to be a hobby and something they loved to do. Between working at Kathryn's home and going to dabble classes and engaging with interested volunteers, I began to change my perspectives on the voluntourism industry, seeing great optimism in making it something great as well as having my perspectives change on community driven projects. Such projects seemed to be ones that truly allowed for cultural exchange and collaboration and it is an environment I plan on creating with my new student organization called Unearth the World. It was approved last week and I am now in the process of marketing it and preparing for festifall so that more people that are interested in voluntourism, such as the ones I met at a dabble class, can get together to socialize, volunteer and fundraise for future trips. Many perspectives of mine have changed and there is more to come in the future as I meet more people through the club that I'm hoping becomes successful and community driven!

Next Door Cafe, where we held most of the dabble classes for those interested in voluntourism and learning to volunteer responsibly!