guppie01 0 #1 August 21, 2006 Looking for some feedback from anyone who has done volunteer work: Was it re-warding (emotionally / spiritually)? Did the work add value (did you learn anything new)? Were you ever fearful of your life? I understand that for the most part the volunteer work is going to be in impoverished areas, and traveling may be a bit sketchy, but just seeing if it went to an EXTREME! g"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?" Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU OMG, is she okay? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sockpuppet 0 #2 August 21, 2006 Join the marine corps. If the travel turns sketchy at least you call in an airstrike. ------ Two of the three voices in my head agree with you. It might actually be unanimous but voice three only speaks Welsh. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snowwhite 0 #3 August 21, 2006 QuoteLooking for some feedback from anyone who has done volunteer work: Was it re-warding (emotionally / spiritually)? Did the work add value (did you learn anything new)? Were you ever fearful of your life? I understand that for the most part the volunteer work is going to be in impoverished areas, and traveling may be a bit sketchy, but just seeing if it went to an EXTREME! g I spent a summer teaching for the Glen Mary Missionaries, in Vanceburg Kentucky. I learned more than ANY of my students. .It was wonderfully rewarding, LONG long time ago. I would definitely do it again. If you have any questions, pm me.My best friend taught as a missionary in Africa for 17 years. I have other friends that have done other volunteer trips, dentists without borders, that kind of thing. I also do volunteer work for my church, my city and my dropzones, including the WFFC.skydiveTaylorville.org freefallbeth@yahoo.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #4 August 21, 2006 my little sister is in the process of relocating to the SeaTac area to work for AmeriCorp and the King County Housing Athority... she's really looking forward to it... she's going to be a cordinator for a student ambassodor program where middle school students perform various community and school service projects in that area... I imagine it will be a rewarding experience for her... Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
guppie01 0 #5 August 21, 2006 QuoteJoin the marine corps. If the travel turns sketchy at least you call in an airstrike. Uh, no thank you.... I don't believe in guns.... g"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?" Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU OMG, is she okay? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jtval 0 #6 August 21, 2006 funny thing is, even if you dont believe, they can still kill you (I understood what you meant, but I hadda be a wsie ass)My photos My Videos Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
guppie01 0 #7 August 21, 2006 Quotefunny thing is, even if you dont believe, they can still kill you (I understood what you meant, but I hadda be a wsie ass) No worries JT.... I know you well enought not to take it seriously. g"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?" Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU OMG, is she okay? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cloudseeker2001 0 #8 August 22, 2006 I have heard a lot more Peace Corp horror stories than good ones! Usually people who get sucked into the Save-the-World college seminar and think this is their calling! The last time I was in REI, two girls where shopping for gear and they thought they were trekking out west for a few weeks! I don't think they would ever make it...........And don't forget, your are an American and a target! You could be the next Jill!!!!! "Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance, others mean and rueful of the western dream" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dynamite 1 #9 August 22, 2006 I volunteered in Ghana and loved it - i then spent 6 years working for volunteer organisations organising the programmes and recruiting volunteers. It is an amazing experience and one i'd highly recommend everyone does at some point in their lives. As someone said above, you undoubtedly learn much more, and take much more away than you can ever give. The biggest problem i found was unrealistic expectations. Please go with an open mind. You are not going to save the world nor will everything be like home. The way people live, the things people do in foregn countries and foreign cultures are not necessarily wrong or worse - they're just different. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheAnvil 0 #10 August 22, 2006 I have a friend that did so and her experience wasn't the greatest. I've also met some peace corp volunteers while travelling about and they were loving it. Teaching English as a foreign language is also a good non-military way to see some parts of the world. Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skyrad 0 #11 August 22, 2006 QuoteQuoteJoin the marine corps. If the travel turns sketchy at least you call in an airstrike. Uh, no thank you.... I don't believe in guns.... g They're re I've seen them!When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy. Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chaoskitty 0 #12 August 22, 2006 A girl I used to be roommates with spent a year in the Peace Corps, living in a dirt hole in Nicaragua. The village didnt want her, or anyone from the peace corps there. She managed to plant a couple of vegetable gardens, but they already had vegetable gardens and knew how to plant them. In her opinion, it was an interesting experience but not worth a year of her life. My opinion is that they have hands. Unless your hands have money in them for new buildings, agricultural improvements, etc.. you are just another pair of hands and another mouth to feed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #13 August 22, 2006 Silly people. Seriously..........if you want to help people, get paid to do it, and be safer while doing it. Get a job with USAID. They are like the Peace Corps but with money. Here's the link. www.usaid.gov Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weegegirl 2 #14 August 22, 2006 Hey, My best friend from college was in the Peace Corp. She signed up for two years and had an incredible experience. Lots of ups and downs; some really HORRIBLE moments, and some really rewarding, life-changing moments. She ended up staying for a third year to work in the main Peace Corp office in Ecuador. Kat, or Jungle Kitty we referred to her at the time, has to be the strongest, most adaptable, laidback women I know. Her ability to put up with stuff and keep calm is amazing. She wrote journal entries and emailed us all the time. She was very graphic about how her body had to adjust to the new environment, how sick she got every step of the way from the food and water, parasites, etc. She told stories of being harrassed by those that didn't want her there, and welcomed by others. The trip really changed her life. I went down there and we travelled to Peru to Machu Piccu with a bunch of the other Peace Corp kids. I was very close to joining myself but decided to take a different route with my career. Anyway, I can put you in touch with her if you want more information. She is an amazing woman and too freakin fun. Just for the heck of it, here are a few excerpts from her dozens of emails she sent. We keep telling her she needs to write a book about her experience: Quote …i am still working with my worm farm, but in my own house, my host parents built me a little worm bed, and i went to quito to get a box full of worms and they survived flying on a puddle jumper back to the amazon and then the horrible bus trip home and are doing great, all the neighborhood kids are fascinated by them and actually learn about taking care of them and its a lot of fun, and its mine, so i can do what i want with it!... Quote…So, today is International Women’s Day. I have been in Cuenca for a week preparing some stuff because we Peace corps Volunteers had a booth in the central park on that day and gave a presentation about how to use a condom etc. So they made me actually give the talk because my Spanish is pretty good and so I was pretty damn nervous about it, especially because I don´t know all the vocabulary and I hate speaking in front of people in Spanish. Anyway, apparently the words that people taught me were slang words for male and female genitals so instead of being really professional and saying penis i was like so strap this sucker on the cock and start knockin´ boots. Which would have been fine in the field in a small town and they would understand that, but this was the cream of Cuenca women society. ...oops… Quote…I am on my way to a seminar in the Northern Amazon, which should be really cool. There is a lot of eco-tourism there and we are going to learn about raising native animals for meat in captivity. The goal is that by providing that meat source in domesticity, people would stop hunting the native animals so much, and also to not be raising imported species. This applies more to fish farming because there is always a certain quantity of fish which escape into nature and cause all sorts of environmental impacts... Quote… I know this is probably a really long obnoxious email, but I realized I haven’t written in a long time. So I will tell you about that seminar, but first let me tell you that I am infested with bugs similar to chiggers and had fleas in my bed and at the moment am continuously scratching, swearing and cursing this country. I am dreading going to bed again as I am not sure I got rid of all the little fuckers. I am covered in bites from my wrists to my tits and they somehow got in my ears as well. I might shave my head again, but I don’t actually think they are in my hair. Enough about the bugs. The seminar was awesome. One of the coolest places we went was this place called the Centro Fatima. They raise and protect wild animals in their natural environment, but they also live there so its like a farm with jungle critters. Its kind of like the Wild Animal Park in San Diego if anyone knows that place. ( Only 200 times smaller) I got a huge kick out of it because the most normal thing in the third world when you see a human living unit is a shack generally ugly of either cement, bamboo, or wood. It is surrounded by various scraggly plants and animals and tended by a horde of children playing with the chickens, cats and dogs- also scraggly. In the centro Fatima, it was a pleasant wood and bamboo house surrounded by lush jungle with fruit bearing trees in which parrots, macaws, and monkeys frolicked. The children (and the Peace Corps Volunteers) instead of malnourished dogs and cats, played with healthy capibaras, tapirs, guantas, guatusas and various other strange and wonderful beasts. It was so strange to see although it was the most natural combination of man and beast in their environment. And yet it made one think of how very much the outside world pollutes the jungle and realize how susceptible to sickness these imported animals (also imported people like ME) are where the native species thrive and flourish and very truly can be domesticated and farmed instead of cows, pigs, and chickens. Interesting, very interesting. I am sure you are all riveted. Anyway, big itchy hug to all of you, I am off to do some work (saving the world). Or I might just take a nap. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
guppie01 0 #15 August 22, 2006 Very cool! Thanks for sharing Weege! g"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?" Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU OMG, is she okay? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlyingJ 0 #16 August 25, 2006 I'm a few months away from completing my 2nd year with AmeriCorps. I was able to find a position that is based working for a state park service so my daily workload is all about working outside doing natural resources management and volunteer recruitment, but I've also spent months of that time providing disaster relief. In that time we've worked as saw crews cutting trees off people's homes, roof tarping, distributing MREs and water, helping people gut out their homes or pack up salvagable belongings if their home was condemned, etc. I also spent a few months assigned to Red Cross after Katrina. There are piles of different opportunities out there and many places are willing to work with you to make sure that you get as much out of participating as you put into the work you do. I wanted to do Peace Corps, but a few different things got in the way and I'm happy the way things worked out. If you are thinking about it though, take some time to really consider doing it. I was well placed in my chosen career field for 5 years after college, doing everything I had dreamed of doing for a career, but it always itched at me that I hadn't taken the time after college to do something like this. Weather you have a life changing experience or feel like maybe it wasn't for you and wish you might have chosen to do something else, by going ahead and doing it at least you won't always wonder what it would have been like. jason.Killing threads since 2004. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
