Daedalian Adventures

The road ahead is rarely straight…

By Lynelle Barrett

Yes, but will squatting strengthen my character?

It all started with an itch. It’s that same gypsy-fever-ride-off-into-the-sunset itch I always get when I have been in the same place for a while. So when the language school that I work for merged with another large language school, then absorbed three more smaller schools and became a big monster company, I started to think it might be time to move on and broaden my intercultural experience. Technically I was still a newlywed, however, so it probably wasn’t such a good idea to start commuting across national borders so soon after the wedding. While I was mulling this over, things at school started to calm down. All the newsletters and meetings about ‘big improvements’ have settled back into the normal routine. Now things are happier at work, yet I still hear the road calling my name.

So I decided to take a short break to do something different. Since I don’t have a burning desire to work at a language summer camp in UK, I decided to look for a volunteer post. There are people all over the world that need to learn English. I could choose where I wanted to go and what sort of people I would like to help. Volunteers are needed for all types of work, not just teaching English. However, unlike volunteering for an organization in your own community, it will cost money to volunteer in a foreign country. Your local organizations do not have to pay to house or feed you. They don’t have to deal with visas, picking you up at the airport, transporting you to the project, acclimating you to the culture and local etiquette, getting you medical care if you get sick and dealing with any fallout your foreign ways may generate. If the organization doesn’t charge you anything, you may be taking food or jobs away from the needy people you are there to help.

There are basically three ways you can volunteer overseas:

1)      Voluntourism. This is when you want to combine a bit of volunteer work with your holiday. It is more expensive, you can potentially spend thousands of dollars with these types of organizations. However, they will arrange everything and take care of you like a vacation tour company. You will probably have a comfortable situation as far as housing and food.

2)      Volunteer with a governmental or non-governmental organization (NGO). These organizations are non-profit and a more affordable option. A good organization only charges you for the expenses they incur to have you there; such as processing your application, transportation, paying your host family for your housing and food.

3)      Organize it yourself. You don’t have to go through an organization in order to help people overseas. However, you will still have to arrange housing, food and transportation, without the security blanket of local support.

My husband and I were already planning to take our big holiday this fall in Asia.  Why not do something meaningful instead of just lounging at a beach resort in Malaysia? When I explored what type of opportunities for teaching English were available in Asia, I found the most need in India and Nepal. So I asked my husband if he would be willing to go to Kathmandu instead of Malaysia. I have chosen an organization that I feel good about, Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN), a Nepali grassroots organization that works in marginalized communities outside Kathmandu. They have a project in Jitpur to empower women by helping them become self-sufficient, as well as teaching opportunities in community schools and in Buddist monasteries.

I have already made contact with the Executive Director of VIN (who signed his email with “Much love from Kathmandu”) and submitted our applications. I have asked for opinions from my girlfriends on which program to request, whether it is possible for a “foodie” like me to live on the local diet of rice and lentil curry, the odds of surviving six weeks with squat toilets and no hot water, whether I will end up like a patient on the TV show “House”. I have emailed my mom who, like most moms, is worried about my safety. We booked our plane tickets today, Amsterdam-Munich-Doha-Kathmandu. Now I will be shopping for hiking shoes, applying for a visa at the Nepali consulate, reading up on Nepal, practising a bit of the language and getting a barrage of vaccinations (I hope Dutch doctors give lollipops). And I suppose I’d better start doing squat exercises.

“Wow!...

It makes my humble existence as a single mother seem somewhat ordinary…Oh, the places you go. I would probably choose the empowering women and children too as they, more than anyone, can use some empowering.

Good fortune on whatever endeavor you choose and I expect nothing less than spreading your “Lynelleness” among those less fortunate…

Remember this:

1. “Squatting” will improve the strength of your thighs;
2. Living amongst the natives will give you an appreciation for what you have; and, most importantly,
3. What does not kill you will make you stronger.

XOXO,

Kendra”

Search for Volunteer Opportunities:

http://www.idealist.org/en/ivrc/skilled.html

Volunteers Initiative Nepal:

http://www.volunteeringnepal.org/index.php

Learn the Nepali Language:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0qqHfqu3oA&feature=PlayList&p=76E92FF2187926F0&index=0&playnext=1

Lynelle Barrett lives in the Netherlands and is already thinking about what to pack for Nepal, even though it will be 4 months until she leaves.