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Why Volunteer Abroad?

A World Awaits You. A Journal of Success in International Exchange for People with Disabilities. Volunteering Abroad with a Disability issue. January 2010 

Countries and communities are more connected than ever. “In real time, we watch news and events around the globe, read one another’s blogs, and chat at dusk on discussion forums with others who type at dawn,” explains the International Volunteer Resource Center website. “We see disasters happen and watch communities rebuild. The more we know, the more we want to get involved. And volunteering abroad is one of the ways that we can set out into the world to lend a hand, see for ourselves, learn, explore, and make a difference.”


Photo: H'sien Hayward with local children in ThailandH’Sien Hayward, a graduate student in psychology and a wheelchair user, volunteered with Thai mental health professionals following the 2004 Asia Tsunami. “We came away from it with the feeling that in attempting to give something to people in need, particularly in the context of such an extreme natural disaster, we gained as much as we gave. The psychologists and other mental health professionals with whom we worked were eager to participate and to incorporate any skills they might gain from the training.” 

Christine Roschaert, who is DeafBlind, volunteered abroad in Nigeria and the Philippines. “I know that I have become a better person, more empathetic, and I have understood what it means to be privileged and underprivileged,” she says. In the town of Jagna, Bohol, Philippines, Roschaert taught at a primary school with 900 students, 200 of whom were Deaf or DeafBlind. She also encountered many Deaf and DeafBlind children who were denied a proper education. “I felt a surge of passion and I just knew that I was destined to do something on an international level,” says Roschaert, who has dreams of working in other countries and eventually at the World Federation of the DeafBlind in Europe. “[I want to] change how others perceive DeafBlind people and empower others for independence.”

Connections are strengthened through volunteering abroad and the meaning of community expands. “In South Africa it was like going home – there were people who look like me!” says Azulai Booker, an African-American social work student with dyslexia who volunteered at a day care center. “The city folks were looking at me wondering: Am I African or what? My homestay grandmother explained ‘No, she’s from America,’ and they just smiled.”

Photo: Shannon Coe with a wheelchair recipient in India.“I was born in Vietnam and didn’t get my first wheelchair until I was five years old,” says Shannon Coe, who volunteered with Wheels for the World in Vietnam, Cuba and India. “In Vietnam, I met young adults with polio who did not receive their first wheelchair until they were in their mid-twenties and I knew that I could have been in their shoes. I wanted to give back. It was very meaningful for me and I had an amazing connection with them.  Many never left their house and here I was with a college degree.”

Volunteer service has the power to contribute to the vitality of communities, countries and people around the world. It can also transform volunteers in the process, leading to increased confidence, a strong sense of personal accomplishment, new professional aspirations, and more. “My international [volunteering experience] had a profound impact on the way I view my disability. I traveled on my own and it made me a thousand times more confident in my abilities not just as a wheelchair user but also as a young woman,” says Megan Smith, who volunteered in Costa Rica, Peru and Nepal. “Due to my travel in Latin America, I have focused my area of study on Latin America. Volunteering abroad is a life-changing experience that helps expand my mind as well as grow within my disability.”

Volunteers with disabilities and their fellow volunteers can gain insight into their own culturally based perceptions of disability, through the lens provided by interactions and experiences in a different culture. “I am finally becoming comfortable with how complicated cross-cultural experience is,” says Pam Houston, who has cerebral palsy and volunteered with Food for the Hungry in Peru and with the Peace Corps in the island nation of Kiribati. “It isn’t just about warm fuzzy feelings. Aggravation and frustration, give and take, bewilderment and enlightenment are all part of living and serving in another culture. Volunteering in a community elsewhere in the world provides ample opportunity to see myself and my own culture in a new light. Getting to know the local people and learning their language and culture really enriched me. I learned a whole different way of doing things that really brought out a different part of my personality.” 

For people with disabilities, international volunteerism can be a particularly empowering experience as they have historically been considered recipients – not providers – of volunteer service. Since many volunteer organizations offer opportunities to work with disability communities overseas, people with disabilities can be valuable role models at these placement sites.

For people with disabilities, international volunteerism can be a particularly empowering experience as they have historically been considered recipients – not providers – of volunteer service. Since many volunteer organizations offer opportunities to work with disability communities overseas, people with disabilities can be valuable role models at these placement sites. Sarah Presley, a returned Peace Corps volunteer to Morocco who is blind, initially did not want a position teaching blind students as she was used to a mainstream classroom. After interacting with Moroccan students who are blind, she changed her mind. “I now know how important it is for those of us with disabilities to share our experiences, especially in the areas of education, adapting to the world around us and gaining our equal rights.”

During daily interactions with the local community, volunteers with disabilities also help dispel stereotypes and change perceptions about what people with disabilities can and cannot do. In Paraguay, where Shannon Coe volunteered in the Peace Corps, local people with physical disabilities are not often seen in society because the inaccessible infrastructure makes it difficult for them leave their homes without a companion. Coe, a wheelchair user, was resourceful and creative in dealing with the challenges of getting from place to place. “When I pushed myself around my community, people stared at me curiously. Many had probably never seen an independent woman in a wheelchair before. Every time I heard, ‘Qué quapa (you are hardworking)!’ when going to work on my own, I knew that I had changed another person’s perspective.”

International volunteers often return home with a new or greater commitment to giving back in their home countries as well. Alexandra McArthur has muscular dystrophy and volunteered twice in Honduras with a faith-based group. “As a high school student, it opened my eyes to poverty and injustice and made me appreciate the things and the freedom that I have in the United States. I came back committed to volunteering in my community, and whenever possible, abroad.” Zach Lattin, who is blind and Native American, traveled to Peru to study Quechua, the Native American language primarily spoken in the Andes, and stayed on to teach braille and advocate for disability rights as a volunteer. Upon returning home, he was motivated to continue volunteering and joined AmeriCorps, the U.S. national community service corps. 

 

More Reasons Why People Volunteer Abroad

  • Living in another country and taking part in day-to-day activities and traditions provides an invaluable intercultural experience.
  • There is great value in studying and using another language to the best of your ability. Language provides rich clues about individuals, their worldview and the cultural context in which they live. 
  • Journeying to an unknown country and culture can be a wondrous adventure, full of new sights, sounds and aromas.
  • Volunteering overseas can teach you to let go of preconceptions about what other people need, about what they should do. You have an opportunity to learn about and appreciate the ideas and resourcefulness of those in the host community.
  • International volunteering provides an invaluable opportunity to experience firsthand what you learn in the classroom, see on television, and read in books and on blogs.
  • You gain unique skills and experiences that can open doors to employment in international and domestic fields, including international development, public health, education and more.

People with Disabilities from China Volunteer in the United States 

 Photo: Candy Yang serving Food at a woman's shelter.

Did you know that U.S. communities also benefit from international volunteers? 

Candy Yang, a participant on the Study of the U.S. Institute (SUSI) program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, joined other student leaders from China at the University of Alabama-Huntsville to explore U.S. democracy, race relations, gender issues and religious diversity and tolerance. The student leaders also engaged in several service learning projects during their five week stay in the United States.  Like volunteerism, service learning benefits communities and individuals in need. Service learning combines volunteer service with academic coursework and specific learning objectives. Students who engage in service learning also take part in structured reflection activities after their service experience and apply their learning in real-life activities.

According to Yang, “As a volunteer, I gained a clearer understanding of people’s needs. People need more than money, food and help from others. They also need love, care and understanding. Although my role at a local women’s shelter was to help prepare dinner, I really enjoyed talking with the women after dinner. I saw smiles on their faces even though they had experienced some ups and downs in the past few days.”

Yang, who has a physical disability and uses crutches, also attended a session on service learning at the United Way, visited the Harris Home for Children, volunteered in the garden at the Care Assurance Agency for the Aging and Homebound, and joined Habitat for Humanity volunteers on a local building site. “[Habitat for Humanity] was really interesting for me because I had never done that before even though my father is an architect,” says Yang.

Service learning was also an important part of Leeanne Huang’s study abroad experience in the United States.  Huang, a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania on the Global Undergraduate (UGRAD) exchange program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, approached the International Students’ Office to find out about volunteer opportunities on campus and elsewhere in the community. On the advice of her advisor, Huang joined a student service learning organization and signed up to receive information about volunteer opportunities by email.

During her academic year in the United States, Huang volunteered at a blood drive organized by the Red Cross and helped organize a holiday party for children from a local neighborhood. Huang, who has a physical disability and uses a cane for mobility, also joined her classmates on an alternative spring break trip to Texas. There she helped build dog pens, clean kennels and feed animals as a volunteer with the Southern Animals Rescue Association in Seguin, Texas. “I think doing community service is also a way to study,” says Huang. “Doing community service helped me learn how to work as part of a team, and helped open my eyes to the world outside of school. I will bring my experience back to China, and continue to do community service in my own country so that I can help more people.”

Photo: Joe Chen with a Camp Costanoan camper.Joe Chen, another student from China, participated on a summer exchange to the United States to do service learning work through the Asia-U.S. Service Learning (AUSL) program coordinated by Volunteers in Asia (VIA). Chen learned about the opportunity from a U.S. volunteer at his junior college in China. There were 23 participants from different Asian countries in the AUSL program. “It seemed that we were all the same in coming to the United States to learn about service. But when I started observing the people and the things around me, I realized that we had differences. It was not only because we are from different countries, but also we grew up with very different cultures. These differences shape us in languages, personalities, and talents. But, we learned the same thing from this program – to increase the understanding between us through service.”

Chen had a particularly meaningful experience volunteering with children during two days at Camp Costanoan, a summer camp for children with physical and developmental disabilities. “For two years, I had been living with my classmates (we all have physical disabilities) at a boarding school in China. But not until I experienced this U.S. camp did I realize how these group experiences benefit both the children with disabilities and the volunteers. We learned from each other. We also created a way for people to make a difference in society. I believe all people, including those with disabilities, can contribute to society and improve the world.”

Learn about other volunteer opportunities in the United States for international volunteers.

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