We asked our very own members and volunteers what made them go to a different country, leave behind the comfort of their homes, parents, and friends and do some volunteer work with people from all over the world. We wanted to know what drove them to volunteer and given a chance, why they would do it again.

After a good number of responses over a few years, this is what they had to tell us!

1. Experience Personal Growth
“The only one you need to be better than is who you were yesterday”

Many volunteers come back from their experience and say they’ve evolved as a person. In most cases volunteers become more concerned and aware of the problems facing the world and once they’ve returned from a trip are usually more independent, more adventurous and more courageous – especially if it was their first independent trip.

2. Stand Out of the regular

If you’re looking to stand out from the crowd, volunteering is a great talking point in all forms of life – from future interviews with new employers to life stories down the pub!

This is something that companies and externals highly value when looking for talent.

3. Use Your Skills to Appreciate Others

“Human need for contribution is fuels the species and it’s progression”
That feeling you get when you KNOW you’ve appreciated or added value to someone else’s life is one of the purest and rewarding.

Skill unutilized is skill wasted.

4. Spend Time – with Quality

Getting bored of your current 9-5? Take a break and volunteer. Not only will you be doing something worthwhile, but you’ll get the chance to get focused about where you want your life to go and you’ll have plenty of chances to explore and see a new land too.

You will feel better at the end of it and will want more.
5. See the Impact You’ve Made – Yourself

Stand back and take a look. Pausing to take a moment to see what you’ve achieved during your time away is an incredible experience. Seeing your efforts manifest into something beautiful is something that only few have the opportunity to see.

6. Better Your CV

It’s as much taking back, when you give. During your time away you’ll find out so much about yourself. You’ll learn new skills and build on your current experience, and all of the above is great for padding out your CV. And as mentioned before, people who are looking for talent are extremely delighted to hear that you are willing to do something without getting paid.

7. New Friendships – Belong

Human is after all a social animal. We seek belonging everywhere we go. Making friends with other volunteers is a strong motive for many of those who choose to volunteer abroad.

Many volunteers make lifelong friendships that come from working through difficulties and exploring new things together.

8. Plus one with Languages

The best way to develop your language skills is to use it day to day in real life situations, and volunteering provides the perfect opportunity to do this. You don’t get very far practicing Spanish three hours a week if when you speak English for the other 165 hours of the week, but when spending a significant amount of time abroad you will be speaking a foreign language twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. 6 weeks of your life.

9. LIVE a new culture

“Travel takes a mute and makes him a story teller”
One of the biggest benefits of volunteering abroad is being able to spend an extended period of time in a new country. It’s a unique learning experience that will see you interacting with new cultures, trying out loads of awesome new food, speaking new languages and meeting new people. As a volunteer you will get a glimpse of the local culture, allowing you to become a traveller, rather than a tourist

10. Do something today that your future you will thank

 

Life is all about the memories, the people, the experiences and the value you add to others. Everyday. One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

Sometimes, what we regret is those opportunities we did not take. Make sure you’re not one of them. All of us have an initial hesitation towards something new, but once we let it consume us is when it becomes dangerous.

Hi, I’m Jessie, and I’m part of the North American millennial generation. And as someone who identifies as part of this generation, I have no problem telling you that I believe complacency runs rampant among North American youth. This is not a particularly new idea; we’ve heard before that millennials are notorious for being narcissistic and lazy, and while studies on millennials in society report mixed results, there is no doubt that we, as a generation, are struggling to find our place in the world.

What is often overlooked here though, is how destructive complacency can be to the individual. To become complacent is to stop growing, and when there is stagnation, there is no progress, and thereby no success. Here are the top 5 things stopping millennials from engaging, and essentially keeping us from reaching our full potential.

Entitlement

Often, entitlement shapes our thinking in way that we don’t even realize. We have grown up as the most privileged youth in the world, and it’s very easy to get stuck thinking we have everything, this is all there is, and that we “deserve” this and that. (Indeed, one of the nicknames for the millennial generation is the “Most Coddled Generation”.)

As North Americans youth who have all been recipients to education, and so on, we all fall prey sometimes to the Western point of view—a worldview that has historically disregards all other cultural thought. This thinking dictates—and dare I say, can cripple—our reactions to other cultures, and limits us from cultural understanding.

Disillusionment

Sometimes, youth can’t be bothered about active participation because they do not believe that they can make a difference. They don’t see the value of their individual active engagement. “I’m just one of many”, “Who really cares?” — these thoughts perpetuate a cycle of indifference and inaction.

What’s more, in today’s society, it’s almost cool not to care—or rather, it’s only ‘cool’ to care about certain things. Regardless, this feeling of disillusionment is reflected in the number of youth voters in elections in recent years, which are disappointingly low. Youth need to understand that their age cannot keep them down. They need to be shown, and not just told, their value to society, and be motivated to become worthy of it.

Ignorance

The lack of understanding — true understanding, which requires time and effort on the part of the individual — is perhaps the reason for many problems today. In an era of information, it is just as likely to receive false information as it is true. What’s more, with everyone’s biases, it’s very easy to let someone else make the judgement for you. In doing this, we relinquish the responsibility and thereby the consequences of potentially being wrong.

This ignorance extends itself to all the many ways we interact with society itself. It affects the way we view the world, our willingness to experience it, and also the way we view ourselves. We become less effective as contributors to society when we are unaware of society and our own role within.

Individualism

The millennial generation grew up hearing about how each of are special and unique, and will go on one day to change the world and whatnot because no one is exactly like us. It’s not a far stretch to see this is not true—at least, not innately. We make ourselves special, and whatever impact we make on the world is a result of us actually consciously demonstrating effort and passion, and working hard at it.

Having been constantly told how unique we are has led us to become more self-centred. We play more value on our own careers than on society, failing to make the realization that both are interconnected. While individuality is by no means inconsequential, millennials need to realize that our individuality both enhances and is enhanced by the society and context we are placed. in.

Technology 

Millennials have grown up with a society that has become increasingly saturated with technology in all its various forms. What we have not been prepared for, however, is the adverse effect that technology has had on the interactions between people in real life. When online communication takes precedent, it is at the expense of affecting people’s ability to truly connect with someone in person, offline. We lack intention by letting technology do all the talking for us.

Stop and think, who are we, outside of our social media profiles and what we share online? How would people view us, had we not Facebook, or Twitter, or the numerous other social platforms? It is the lack of questioning that leads to things like slacktivism, where we share things not only because we care, but because we want others to know it.

—

The world has a lot of say about the millennial generation. Our expectations in life are different are those of our parents. We are lazy, passionate, impatient, ambitious, open-minded, and disengaged all at once. Having been told to “follow your dream” has led us to become more lost than ever. Youth engagement in society has been steadily decreasing; North American youth are complacent.

What, then, is the solution?

There is a quote that states: “We must take adventures in order to know where we truly belong.” Never has that statement been more true than today. In exploring the world, one gains more knowledge of different cultures, and understanding of where they fit in the world. A wider perspective will also let one see the importance and value of things.

What’s more, this “world” doesn’t necessarily mean jumping on a plane and flying all around the globe. It can be a simple as stepping outside of your comfort zone to shake up your own worldview a little bit. It’s important to ask questions, but equally important to go and find out the answers yourself. Being aware is only the first step.