“The most important things I’ve learned haven’t been in a classroom”

The most important things I’ve learned haven’t been in a classroom” What traveling/volunteering has taught me.

Kelley and her teachers

This is my first blog posting since joining Give Your Gap. So, a big “Hey there” to all my fellow gappers. I wanted to take a minute to explain why I am drawn to give your gap.

Oscar Wilde once said, “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” As I work to pay off my sizeable college loans, I don’t quite agree that nothing can be taught but I still like his message. I believe that the most important things I have learned and that motivate and inspire me everyday are not things from school. They are lessons learned the hard (but fun) way…through experience.

One of the most amazing things I have been realizing is that most things we think are extremely normal in our lives are in fact completely culturally biased. No one way of doing something is the right way. I remember once when I was talking to a Korean student when I was teaching ESL. The student said they had had a stomach ache the other day and so pricked their fingers to let some blood out. All the western students in the class and I looked shocked. The Korean student could not figure out what we thought was strange. He explained that in Korea, when people have stomach aches from eating too much food or something, they let a little blood run from their fingers so they feel better. To him this was the best and most normal way to deal with the issue. To us it seemed crazy. Every time I think of this story I am reminded that even the most normal and logical parts of our daily lives are strongly influenced by our culture and the culture we live in. It helps me remember that often no one is right or wrong. They are just speaking different truths.

Another time when I was volunteering at the Mosaic Project, a non-profit outdoor school program that teaches kids about the importance of diversity, peace building skills, and conflict resolution, I volunteered to wrap a gift for someone, sharing that I had been a professional gift wrapper at a store before. One of the staff members jokingly told me, “Never let a non-profit know you have a skill. They will exploit you.” What I learned from this experience was not to hide my skills like my collegue suggested, but rather to remember that I always have something to offer to an organization in need. No matter how little I think I know or can do there is always someone who will benefit immensely from my help. This has inspired me to never stop giving and to never believe I am not talented enough to make a difference.

These and countless other lessons I have learned have only inspired to learn more. I hope everyone has the chance to go out, explore the world, give back, and learn amazing lessons that were never taught in the classroom. I believe Give Your Gap offers people a way to do this and so am extremely thankful and excited to be a part of it.

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Ashley Bulgarelli, Volta Aid Foundation

Name, Age:Ashley Bulgarelli, 23
University, Major:Queensland University of Technology, Bachelor of Business
Region:Africa
Length of stay:26 Months
Type of Work:Medical/Public Health, Education, Infrastructure (building houses, roads, wells), Community Development, Childcare

Tell us about the nonprofit/social business you work for:
Volta Aid Foundation is based in the Volta Region of Ghana. We work in towns and villages including Ho, Adaklu-Goefe, Adaklu-Tsrefe, Adaklu-Waya, Tsito and Kilkor-Agbozume. Our website is www.voltaaidfoundation.org

How did you find your position?
I founded the organization!

What’s your typical day like?
My position as the founder and director means I have to work on all areas of the organization, everything from volunteer and staff management to project site overseeing to budgeting and accounting works. I work endless hours.

One of our intensive first aid workshops complete with resuscitation mannequins.

What kind of people do you work with?
Younger, older, locals, international – everyone! Education and training depends on the specific program volunteers work on but most training is done onsite.

What are your living accommodations?
I sleep in a single room attached to the office which holds my mattress and my gas burner. Simple but it’s all I need.

What do you do in your free time?
I play football (soccer)! I have joined a local team and have dressed everyone up in jerseys from my team back home and shin pads and we train daily and play every Sunday.

Share a favorite memory or story from your experience!
I lived with a little Ghanaian boy when he started to speak. One of the first words he could say was ASH, ASH, ASH. From that point on every white person he sees he calls them Ash, even to this day!

What inspired you to do this kind of work? If you are taking a gap year, what motivated you to do that?
I was traveling around the world and ended up in London and was applying for my Irish working holiday visa and searching for jobs. I just remember spending hours upon hours of time on the web and something clicked in my head and I thought this is not for me. Two weeks later I was in Ghana.

How are you financing your time?
I do not take a stipend from the organisation. I rely purely on my personal savings and friends support.

What kind of special skills do you need to do your job?
None.

Do you feel like you are making a positive, critical impact on the global community?
I believe that the difference I make is enormous. Through my efforts we have sponsored two forgotten girls to attend school. Two might not sound like a lot, but it is two less girls apparently destined to be a market lady. We have also trained over 200 people in first aid and provided over 500 people with diabetes counseling and information. The list goes on but I truly believe in education and empowerment (however cliche that sounds) – knowledge is power. I am not just talking about school education but broader education such as first aid, health issues, business skills, life skills, social skills. A good example is the children in our partner orphanages speak better English, have better social skills, and achieve higher grades in school because of the impact of our volunteers over the past two years. This kind of impact cannot be measured quantitatively but helps the child more than anything else in this world.

This is our lovely host family for our volunteers in Ho. Bea, Sena, Senyo, me, Clinton.

What have you learned about the nonprofit and social business world in your experience?
Unfortunately I have become very critical of NGO’s and not-for-profits operating in Ghana since I have spent so much time on the ground. I think there are far too many organizations doing the same job and a complete spread of resources and know-how. I also think many nonprofits have lost sight of their vision. On the other hand there are plenty of organizations out there doing amazing work and millions of people out there who want to help but don’t know how to go about it and don’t know who they can trust. This lack of trust is hurting the ‘industry’.

Do you think you make a unique contribution to your organization as a young person? Is your perspective or approach different from others?
Definitely. I founded the organization when I was 21 so obviously as young person – a very young person – I believe I am more down-to-earth with what can be achieved and my approach is very relaxed and personal. I believe to understand what people want you have to live side by side with them, in their homes, with their family, eat with them and cook with them, and only then you will see what they see and know what needs to be done. I have done this by being a recently graduated poor university bum who could not afford to live and act differently.

How do you see this experience fitting into your long-term goals?
It was changed my whole life. Before I was a globetrotting party animal, now I am a better person. I will always be linked with Ghana, development and social work.

Partner Orphanage.

What’s next?
Setting up a workshop in Ghana to produce goods to export to Australia.

What is one thing you wish you knew before you came to your position?
Nothing. I came with an open mind and unbiased point of view.

Do you have any advice for prospective gap-givers?
Come without expectations and, as we like to say at Volta Aid Foundation, be prepared to ‘give a little, learn a lot’.

Are you blogging about your work or travel? How can we stay in touch?
www.facebook.com/VoltaAidFoundation
www.voltaaidfoundation.org
info@voltaaidfoundation.org – For volunteer inquiries
ashleybulgarelli@voltaaidfoundation.org – For personal messages to myself

Would you be willing to take questions from potential Gappers?
Yes.

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Mugdha Golwalkar, Project RISHI

Name, Age:Mugdha Golwalkar, 20
University, Major:UC San Diego, Human Biology
Region:Asia
Length of stay:Flexible
Type of Work:Medical/Public Health, Environment/Conservation , Education, Community Development, Arts, Childcare

Tell us about the nonprofit/social business you work for:
Project RISHI (Rural Indian Social and Healthcare Improvement) is a student-run organization that works during the year to raise funds for several sustainable projects, which we then carry out on a two-week trip to a leprosy colony in rural Maharastra, India. We have chapters at UC San Diego, UCLA, Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and Northwestern University currently, but we’re always looking to expand! You can check out the website at www.projectrishi.org or specifically the UCSD chapter at www.facebook.com/groups/ucsdprojectrishi or follow us on Twitter @SDProjectRISHI for updates!

How did you find your position?
I heard about the first GBM through another organization on the UCSD campus called Sangam, and went from there!

What’s your typical day like?
When we visit, we have a fair amount of flexibility with the kinds of work we can help with there. I woke up every day at 5 am to wrap leprosy wounds in the hospital, and then spent most of the day either working on our projects, teaching dance lessons to disabled girls, teaching/helping out at the kindergarten and nursery, meeting with officials to assess the kind of project that the colony and neighboring villages still need that we could help with, and working in the pathology lab taking blood samples from patients and testing them for malaria. There are tons of opportunities if you take the initiative to ask about them.

 

What kind of people do you work with?
This colony does get other organizations that visit it, so you will be working with natives as well as international people most of the time. The majority of the administration speaks English, so language is not a big problem. The ages of people we worked with varied a lot depending on what each person chose get involved in in the community. Most people in the colony are minimally educated, but often knowledgable in the specific trades they have learned.

gyg-logo-teal-transparent1What are your living accommodations?
The colony has a guest house, which is generally a small room with several cots and an attached bathroom with western style toilet and eastern style baths (out of buckets). They aren’t the most comfortable accommodations, and sometimes there are bugs, but they do provide all the meals and the experience more than makes up for the adjustment. Internet is available at a central location, but it’s pretty slow and limited as this is an extremely rural area.

What do you do in your free time?
In my free time, we learned sign language form some of the locals, we went hiking and biking around the area. Sometimes we would go out into the main city to the market or to little local restaurants.

Most of these girls are either partially blind or deaf or were affected in some way by leprosy, but most of them already danced in the orchestra! Teaching them was an honor.

Share a favorite memory or story from your experience!
I got to teach Indian classical dance to girls affected by disabilities or leprosy! Honestly, they were so sweet, and they welcomed me with open arms and called me their “older sister” even though I was younger than some of them! They wanted us to teach them some western dance, but then spent the whole time making fun of me and my other friend who taught them when we tried to show them a latin dance to Shakira. They’re definitely friends I’m never going to forget, and they’re a big part of why I want to go back.

How are you financing your time?
I’m paying for the trip mainly out of my own funds, but with some help from my parents. The trip we take through Project RISHI generally costs $1500 and lasts for 2 weeks, but the leprosy colony we stay at would gladly welcome volunteers who want to stay longer, and it wouldn’t be too much more expensive.

What kind of special skills do you need to do your job?
None.

Do you feel like you are making a positive, critical impact on the global community?
Yes, I do. I feel like outside the trip, I’m spreading awareness about leprosy, which for a completely curable disease that 95% of the population is immune to, is IMMENSELY stigmatized. And on the trip itself, I can tell I’m really helping by volunteering around the community, because they really need the manpower.

Sunset at Somnath

How do you see this experience fitting into your long-term goals?
I have always wanted to work in public health, preferably in a rural community as a career, but my biggest problem was that I wasn’t sure if I could handle the conditions. I’m applying to Masters in Public Health programs right now, and I’m thinking about medical school afterward, so this experience really solidified my future goals and showed me that I can handle an experience like this, and probably can handle rural medicine, more long-term.

Do you have any advice for prospective gap-givers?
Take the initiative! Most communities you will work in are really open to having volunteers. Ask what you can do, and it doesn’t have to be overt work, like in a hospital or a school. Teaching the locals a new game or babysitting for someone for a night so they can have a night off can be just as rewarding!

Are you blogging about your work or travel? How can we stay in touch?
Our blog is at projectrishi.wordpress.com but as we didn’t have very stable internet there, our blogging was a little limited. Feel free to comment and ask questions though!

Would you be willing to take questions from potential Gappers?
Yes.

Earth Hasassri

Me with Dr. Tareq and another doctor at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency that serves Palestinian refugees. My work surrounded chronic diseases of hypertension and diabetes.

Name, Age: Earth Hasassri, 21
University, Major: UC San Diego, Physiology & Neuroscience, and Psychology
Type of Work: Medical/Public Health, Environment/Conservation, Education, Infrastructure (building houses, roads, wells), Community Development, Childcare, Human Rights
Region: North America
Length of stay: Less than one month

Tell us about the nonprofit/social business you work for:
ProWorld, Urubamba, Peru (http://www.proworldvolunteers.org/) – My experience here wasn’t a very great one. The volunteer project was good, but the logistics and organizational structure lacked experience and expertise. They need to work on more strategic planning before I would give them another shot.

Working in Urubamba, Peru in school 712, teaching these children math, arts and crafts, and environmental sustainability.

Cross-Cultural Solutions, Puriscal, Costa Rica (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/) – Overall good, but very pricey. I can understand because they have a great structure and good communication. However, they are definitely a little more voluntourist-y than I would like. The community interaction was very minimal and it’s very difficult to see the sustainability in their work.

Damar Services, Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (http://www.damar.org/) – One of the best organizations I worked with. They work with children and adults with behavioral and developmental disabilities, and I strongly believe in their mission and vision. They have a very high success rate (96%) of helping children with Autism live more independent lives and I can clearly see how they work with the public system to make what they do sustainable in terms of policy change.

Casa Familiar, San Diego, California, USA (http://www.casafamiliar.org/) – They work with migrant and border issues. I really enjoy their organization and how much they try to outreach resources to their target population.

How did you find your position?
School resource and personal connections

What’s your typical day like?
4 – 6 hours of work per day, doing various tasks

Working in Santiago de Puriscal, Costa Rica on construction of a soccer court at an elementary school with limited resources.

What kind of people do you work with?
ProWorld – Young orphans and victims of domestic violence local to Peru. I want to warn people against working with orphans unless it’s a longer term commitment since orphans already have issues surrounding attachment and separation. If a short term volunteer were to make an orphan happy, they would relive the same pains when the volunteer leaves.
Cross-Cultural Solutions – Younger, elementary school children who were Costa Rican.
Damar – Children and adults with behavioral and developmental disabilities who come from all over the US.
Casa Familiar – Migrant and refugee populations, mainly from Mexico.

What are your living accommodations? 
Hostel with ProWorld, volunteer house with CCS, hotel with Damar

What do you do in your free time?
Explore

Share a favorite memory or story from your experience! 
http://earthhasassri.blogspot.com/2011/04/reorientation-invisibility-of.html

What inspired you to do this kind of work? If you are taking a gap year, what motivated you to do that? 
Wanderlust and active citizenship

How are you financing your time?
crowd-sourced fundraising, scholarship from school

What kind of special skills do you need to do your job? 
Language, Teaching

Prom Clothing for Children with Disabilities: orking in a residential facility of Damar Services in sorting out Prom Clothing for children with disabilities, providing opportunities for these children to have a social rite of passage.

Do you feel like you are making a positive, critical impact on the global community? 
Only with Damar I was. I feel that it’s very difficult when working with non-profits to make a positive, sustainable change unless both top-down policies from the public sector as well as bottom-up efforts in social movements or behavioral changes are pushed for.

What have you learned about the nonprofit and social business world in your experience?
That change mostly happens on an individual level, and that can turn into a collective social movement if organized well enough.

Do you think you make a unique contribution to your organization as a young person? Is your perspective or approach different from others? 
Yes, and I hope so.

How do you see this experience fitting into your long-term goals?
Made me more understanding of how social issues are intertwined and permeate within each other.

What’s next?
Medical school

Are you blogging about your work or travel? How can we stay in touch?
http://earthinjordan.wordpress.com
http://earthhasassri.blogspot.com/
http://earf.tumblr.com

Would you be willing to take questions from potential Gappers?
Yes

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