Has anyone ever done volunteer work abroad? Cool pics welcome :D
I would LOVE to go to India to help animals in need, and I want to go on my own, just to prove to myself I can do it. However I've always been shy and the thought is terrifying.
I was wondering if anyone had done anything similar? What did you do and was it worth it? Did you come home feeling more confident?
Be strong saith my heart; I am a soldier, I have seen worse sights than this.
I volunteered with a mobile library in Zambia when I was 18 and then again when I was 19. It was a good experience but I do regret going at a time when I was quite unwell, as that hindered my enjoyment and the enjoyment of other volunteers =S I would love to do something like that again now that I'm well as I think I'd get an awful lot more out of it!
In terms of confidence, it wasn't the right thing to boost my confidence but I think that was because I chose the wrong type of activity. We were having to come up with creative and engaging activities for the children to do that related to a book we had chosen from the library and at that time I didn't feel confident doing that and so being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people having to do that didn't do great things for my confidence! Because there was quite a lot of structure, it wasn't too awful social anxiety wise as we had certain things to discuss at certain times, but it was still probably a step too far for me at that time.
I'm sorry that this is a very negative account; I'm sure there are many others who have a much more positive experience though! I don't know you or your circumstances, but what I'd suggest having a think about is how you'd feel being away from everyone that you know and what kind of activity/volunteer work you would really enjoy doing. Since you're on a self harm site it seems fair to assume that you might self harm and depending on where you were going, if you didn't think you could not self-ham for the duration of your trip you'd need to think about wound care and what would happen if you needed treatment for a wound.
Once again, I'm really sorry for being so negative! Unfortunately I'm not able to be more positive about my own experience, but I do think if you choose the right trip at the right time, it could be a really beneficial and confidence-boosting experience :)
No need to be sorry! I really appreciate your honesty, it must have took a lot for you to go through all that at such a tough point in your life.
Yes you'd be right to assume I have a history of self harming but this has improved a lot recently - although I tend to use it as a coping mechanism for uncomfortable situations/emotions, so you're right, it is something I'll need to think about.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your own experience :)
Be strong saith my heart; I am a soldier, I have seen worse sights than this.
I have worked abroad a lot, doing seasonal jobs. I have just come back from Malawi from doing a volunteer sports project through my university though which was amazing.
There is SO much out there though that I'm sure you will find something and it doesn't have to be for months at a time. Sometimes for me going out abroad helps me keep well (because I have no choice) and I know that sounds weird because being ill with mental health problems isn't a choice but yeah it helps me in that sense.
Maybe if the distance is too much there might be stuff in Europe? I did at one point find dolphin conservation stuff in the Canary Islands which was for like 2/3 weeks.
Also, there are loads and loads of companies and some offer lots of support. But equally, I agree with Jenna that you need to think about a plan if your mental health did decline. Insure you have health insurance if things go wrong etc etc.
Life can be beautiful if you let it.
Step back, breathe and take it in
I'm glad you had so many positive experiences, it gives me a bit more confidence :). I hadn't even thought about health insurance!
Did you get kind of anxious before you went? Cus that's a big thing for me but I'm sure if I could just do it it would really help x
Be strong saith my heart; I am a soldier, I have seen worse sights than this.
I taught English in an orphanage in Cambodia for two months one summer in college. I'm not a natural teacher so I felt pretty incompetent, but I loved those kids so much! However, the experience of being in a foreign country by myself, living with a missionary family I didn't know, was really hard. For the first time in my life I was surrounded by people that didn't love me. All my issues with depression and past trauma decided to come out on this trip and when I wasn't at the orphanage I just isolated myself and became extremely depressed, wishing I could get help, but knowing I couldn't until I got home to America.
Anyways, my advice is to do it! You will love the volunteering part if you already love animals. But being in a foreign country alone with no one to help you is terrifying. I was confident going into the trip that I would be fine, but any unhealthy thoughts or behaviors get magnified when you're alone, especially when you're alone in an unfamiliar place going through culture shock. My advice would be to take a friend. Or join a group of like minded people and travel with them. Even if you don't know the people in the group, you'll likely bond over your love for animals and the culture of India, then you can travel with them too. Just navigating the transportation alone is a daunting task in a foreign country so it helps to have people with you. Maybe study a few words in the dialect spoken where you want to go. By the end of my two months, I knew just enough Khmer to confidently leave the house, and tell the Tuk Tuk drivers where to bring me.
I am currently studying abroad for the semester and I am doing volunteer work through my program provider at a health clinic. I enjoy it very much and I feel that having a program who organized things and took care of getting health insurance and such was very helpful in easing my anxiety before I left. It also means that if there is a problem I have a few contact people here that I can go to, which is nice to have in the back of my mind that there are people here dedicated to my success and enjoying my time here. I would definitely say that at times I feel much better than I ever do at home, but at the same time there are also times where I feel worse than I have in a while. Definitely be prepared for a lot of differences if you go abroad, I think it helps to lower expectations a lot because then you can be pleasantly surprised when it is better than expected haha.
I also think that it is very important that wherever you go and what ever you do it is something that you at passionate about, it makes it much more enjoyable.
I've gone to a small parish in St Ann, Jamaica for the past two years.
It's really been an awesome experience, and I look forward to it every year.
The children down there are the sweetest things, and I always come back with new games to play with others.
The little girls love to teach me how to do things with my hair, and they enjoyed playing with it more. We also moved a woman into a new house that we built for her, and that was the most rewarding. It filled my heart to see how joyful she was.
I don't volunteer abroad but I do voluntary work with a local charity which takes people aged 16-30 to do outdoor sports and conservation work and we have a place up in the highlands where we run the residential bits of our program.
we get people from all sorts of backgrounds, some want to see the countryside but can't afford it so we take them for free, some have addiction/mental health issues and we also get refugees and asylum seekers reffered to us so they can integrate into living here better.
I went through the course we run back in 2009 and chose to stay on as a volunteer
