Volunteering in the Philippines
By: The GoAbroad Team
Posted on: Philippines, Volunteering
1. Volunteer Work is a PERSONAL SACRIFICE
Volunteer job is a choice. It is your decision. Once you get in the job it goes without saying that you are ready to live up to what the volunteer work asks from you. You accept the challenge of possibly living a totally different life. You have to settle for what is in the area, the food, the house, the people, the place and the work. It is a personal sacrifice.
2. Volunteer Work is a Humbling Experience
Most of the testimonials from volunteers especially in those of the Third world countries talk much of humbling experience. Feeding a sick old woman in a marginalized sector of a community, taking care of street children, teaching poor students who literally live in rubbish dumps and harbor slums, initiating dental and medical missions to rural areas. Youll see people dying due to lack of medication. Youll see children malnourished and suffering from poverty.
After three to six months of volunteer work, youll go home having the desire to help other people, appreciating life more and a totally different person. It is an enriching experience like no other. It is something that neither classroom nor a training cant give. An education never before contextualized in theories. A humbling experience that even a zillion of money cant buy.
3. Volunteer Work is a Fulfillment
Volunteer work gives you a unique cultural experience of another country. You get to socialize with the locals, learn their diverse unique customs and traditions and discover the most valuable treasure of the country: its people. It opens a window to your own culture and challenges the way you perceive it upon returning.
When faced with no luxuries of computer and internet, bars, cinema houses, shopping malls, digital equipments, electricity and water you will then realize the worth and value of simple life, to appreciate what you have at home and the real essence of being a person. Volunteer work make you realize that one of the greatest fulfillment in life is to be of service.
If you are interested in a volunteering program in the Philippines, search GoAbroad.com's Volunteering Directory for the Philippines.
photo by: paulshaffner
