Volunteer Abroad - What's the Point?

One of the main reasons why travellers don't choose to volunteer is that they don't believe their efforts will actually make a difference. It's not uncommon for people to ask "What can I do? I'm just one person!" but the truth is that your contribution can have a huge impact on both communities and environments worldwide. Even if you volunteer for just a few weeks, you can make significant progress to a cause that’s important to you. The problem is that many short term volunteers can’t see the bigger picture or the effect that their work is having upon it.

Your help is needed

Many people may think that the need isn’t that great or that people should learn to help themselves but the truth is that the need for your help is enormous. Without the help many of these vital projects would have to close down and that would be disastrous for both local communities and endangered environments.

It’s easy to underestimate how low the quality of life is for those in the developing world, especially if you're living comfortably in a first world country, far from the realities of the real world.

Consider this:

90% of the world’s income is earned by the top 10% of the world's highest earners
Every day 800 million people go to bed hungry
The three richest people in the world have assets worth more than the combined GDP of the 48 poorest countries (United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 1998)
Rainforests are being destroyed at a rate of an acre and a half a second (Rainforest Action Network)
30,000 children die each day due to poverty

Every bit counts

Though you may only volunteer for a week, you have to remember that your one week is combined with the efforts of thousands of others and that together you are helping to make a significant difference. It is your part in this bigger picture that really counts.

If you help to build a house- an enormous and daunting task- you may not be able to see the last roof tile going on or the family finally moving in but your contribution is still just as important - after all what use is a house without walls or windows or foundations? . Maybe you just painted doors or sanded windowsills but the point is that you did something. The chances are that you will have been working with a group of volunteers and perhaps a local family too and together you will have helped to create something that really will change lives.

Recent years have seen a huge increase in volunteer activity. College students are the most avid volunteers with 3.3 million university students volunteering in 2005 - that's 30% of the university population.

Volunteering abroad is growing just as rapidly, or more so. Travelocity’s annual forecast poll determined that eleven percent of responders intend to volunteer abroad in 2007. Last year through i-to-i alone, 5,000 people volunteered abroad and contributed 200,000 hours of volunteer work. Our volunteers alone taught 5,000 people English, planted 7,000 trees, built 120 homes, three schools and set up a community library.

See progress

Volunteering for an extended period of time allows you a great advantage. You may even be able to finish what you started. If you devote a lot of time into a project, you can really start to see the progress you make. If it’s something tangible like building a house, you will be able to identify which parts were yours and feel deeply involved in the project. In years to come, you will be able to identify which wall you painted or which window you installed or the place where you accidentally put a hammer through the wall and had to patch it back up. Imagine the satisfaction of completing construction and knowing that you just provided a home for someone who needed one.

The same applies to other types of projects where you will be able to see progress in any project you do for a long time. You might witness the entirety of an injured animal’s recovery or see the progress children are making in their education. Volunteering for just a week, though it does plenty of good, doesn’t enable you to see your progress but volunteering for a long period of time allows you to watch the project progress and enables you to see what a difference you're making.

After you return

Don’t forget the impact you have once you return home. Not only will you be more inclined to volunteer again but you will be more likely to act responsibly and charitably. You may donate to charitable organizations or make an effort to reduce your carbon emissions. You might initiate a recycling program in your home or workplace or use less water and energy (good for your bills and the environment!).

Don’t underestimate the impact you’ll have on other people as well. Your friends and family will be extremely interested in your experience, which is good because you’ll be extremely keen to talk about it. The chances are that the more you talk about it, the more your friends and family will want to try it themselves so you're actively recruiting new people to help!

So what's the point in volunteering? The point is that you can make a difference, that your efforts can help underprivileged communities and fragile ecosystems and that though you may not see a project through your contribution will help to ensure its competition. So what you should be asking yourself is not "what is the point in volunteering" but "why have I not done it yet?"