1. Appreciation
When I first arrived in the small village where I was volunteering, Parismina, I was not shocked by the poverty. The conditions of the buildings, lack of roads, and minimal lighting was not a surprise to me because I was prepared for all of this. If you're going to volunteer in a poor country be prepared to see poverty, be prepared to live in it. Of course, reading books and blogs can not prepare you for everything that you will see and experience. The one thing that I was not prepared for was people's generosity. Let me rephrase this. These people who lived in houses with no windows, mud floor bathrooms, minimal fixtures, no vehicles, extremely low monthly incomes, no air conditioning, heat, or hot water, were very generous. Without even knowing me, people were willing to share food, their time, and clothing with me, basically anything I needed. These people had nothing more than what they needed, and in a relative perspective I mean they only had the necessary basics.
I grew up in Wisconsin, one of the so-called friendly, home-loving places in the U.S., and I had never experienced anything like this. Sure, people in my life had shared their things with me, but all of them had way more than the people of Parismina. Most of the time people in Wisconsin always wanted more stuff. If something wasn’t perfect, then they would replace it with something better, something new. When you have a decent income you can do that.
By observing how the people of Parismina lived, by noticing how happy they were, I realized it is not the stuff that you have that makes you happy, it's your attitude. If you have a lot of materials in your life, be thankful, many people in the world are not as lucky as you, appreciate what you have.
2. How to deal with boredom
This is a skill that is far to often overlooked. When traveling by yourself, in countries with limited wifi and phone service, it's inevitable, at some point or another you will be bored. Often times when people begin to get bored, homesickness quickly follows. I spent two months in Costa Rica with no phone, very poor wifi, and only 1 book. Bringing books with you on your travels is very helpful when you get bored, however, how many books are you willing to carry? A few things that I discovered which helped me with my boredom was to write, get involved, and immerse myself in the community.
I kept a journal and this allowed me to use up some of my free time, as well as helped me organize my thoughts and feelings. Volunteering abroad is one of the most thought-provoking, emotional succumbing experiences I’ve ever had. So writing down those emotions is a good way to process, digest, and come to a conclusion about why you actually feel the way that you do. Not to mention keeping a journal is the best way to keep track of your experiences and memories that happen on a day to day basis. It may seem like you will remember everything, but very often the small details are lost, which is oh so very sad.
I also got more involved in the program while I was volunteering. Believe it or not when you volunteer, you usually only work for a few hours a day. In my case I worked 4 hours at night, either 8 pm-midnight or midnight to 4 am. That meant I had my entire day to fill. What I did is that I got even more involved. I began asking our lead volunteers if there was anything more I could do, and there was soooo much more. I ended up helping the community by painting buildings, fixing broken playground equipment, and running after-school art projects with young kids. And I had a blast!
By getting involved with school children I inherently got more involved with their families and the community. I started to know people around the village by their first names, and they began to know mine. I didn’t know much Spanish and no one knew much English, but I felt like our small engagements were making a huge difference. I learned some Spanish from them, they learned some English from me. But the really important part is that we were opening our own cultures to each other. By doing this, stereotypes were beginning to break down and board ranging perspectives of how people of a different country live were influenced.
3. What to do in scary situations when you don’t know what's going or where you're at
Sometimes when you're in a country where you don’t speak the language there can be situations that may seem scary. Remaining calm in these situations is very important. When your not calm, your mind begins to race and you can't think clearly. A great example of when a scary situation may occur is when you're trying to get somewhere, maybe on a bus or in an Uber. It is scary because you don’t know where you're going, your unsure of what your final destination might look like.
This happened to me personally, I was with a girl that I had met just a few hours before and we were headed back to our hostel from a bar. We hopped in the Uber, she had the address of the hostel typed in, but unfortunately, in Costa Rica, they don't exactly have addresses. They determine where things are by saying its 500 meters north of this well-known shopping mall. So needless to say they are not the most accurate. Our Uber dropped us off at the address where the hostel was supposed to be, but there was no hostel. We were somewhere in San Jose, Costa Rica, but we didn’t know exactly where. As the panic began to set in, it quickly amplified when both of our phones were almost dead. The girl I was with began to freak out, tears were flowing. This is exactly what you should not do. For one it makes you look very vulnerable, if you weren’t a target before you will definitely become one. For two, crying in the streets does not solve any of your problems.
So, how do you avoid doing this? Follow these steps. One. Be aware of your surroundings, look where you are, what's around you, and who is around you. Can anyone be of help? Usually getting to a populated public space is your best bet for getting where you need to go/finding someone who speaks English. Next, don’t be shy to ask for help, most people can tell when you're in distress anyway, so there is no use in being shy. Side tip, if someone offers to give you a ride be cautious. The best thing you could do is ask to borrow their phone, look up the number or address of where you're staying. From there you can either call the place where you're staying, they will help you. Or you can figure out your own way back after refinding the address.
Good luck with your future travels!
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