Image source: Anna Strahs Watts
Welcome to part two of our Ripple Effect interview with Anna Strahs Watts, blogger, gluten free baker and avid traveler. To learn more about Anna and her amazing adventures, visit her blog A Girl and Her Backpack, where she chronicles her experiences overseas and how they have changed her perspective on the world in which we live.
Image source: Blog.er-d.org
Many of the volunteer organizations that are active today are concerned with a variety of projects in a variety of places. In many cases, this is because they want to appeal to a variety of volunteers. Indeed, volunteering with a large organization like Cross-Cultural Solutions or Habitat for Humanity means you have a lot of choices about where you go and what you do. You can volunteer with the same organization many times and each time, work with a different community on a different project. I think this does appeal to volunteers and I understand why. But there is also something to be said for the focused organization with a single community in mind. Focused organizations put down roots in one place. They have lasting relationships with local people and they do sustainable work that builds over time. Volunteering with an organization like this means you get to participate in enduring change. You get to see how that change has affected children, children who are now thriving adults. You witness the good an organization can do in ten or twenty years. I think, of necessity, this is missing from a lot of volunteer opportunities and I think seeing this kind of change can really inspire in a way that more transient projects just can’t.
Image source: Goabroad.com
Lately, I’ve been exploring the benefits of multigenerational volunteer travel experiences. I think families grow stronger when they face positive challenges. Being out of your element as a family means sticking together, relying on each other for support, and learning side-by-side. Seeing your family members in a new way teaches you about who they are as people. On volunteer excursions, families learn as much about each other as they do about the country they’re visiting. I’ve also been on the lookout for family volunteer experiences that involve total cultural immersion. I think, especially for kids, being challenged to acclimate to a home-stay fosters adaptability. It also encourages the development of language skills, since many home-stay families don’t speak English.
Image source: Liveunited.org
My sister is in college and I’m always so jealous of her time off. She gets two weeks off for spring break, two months off over Christmas, and three months off over the Summer. I don’t begrudge her the time—she works hard and needs a breather from school work—but I do try to encourage her to spend it doing something meaningful. She frittered away her last break hanging out with friends and, while she had fun, she also felt rather empty returning to school. She knows she could have spent that time more wisely.
Image source: Citipics.tk
When I was seven years old, my family moved to Nairobi, Kenya. We lived there for a year while my mom researched Pygmy music for her dissertation. That experience is a large part of the reason I’m so gung-ho about voluntouring with children. It’s funny how memory works. With a few exceptions, my early memories are more impressions and snapshots than specific events. I remember jumping in a pile of leaves but not when or with whom. I remember feeling angry with my dad but not why. All that changed when we moved to Africa.