Volunteer Abroad to Broaden Your Horizons

By Nicole Hindberg on September 17, 2018

As a college student, everyone wants to try new things and gain new experiences. One experience I was jealous of was people going to other countries. I’ve heard countless times that studying abroad will expand your horizons and give you a new outlook on life and even change your life. If you’re like me and can’t afford a study abroad program, you probably thought that you could never go to a foreign country while in college. My freshmen year of college, a group called VESA (Volunteer Eco Students Abroad) came to my class and talked about volunteering abroad.

Cleaning sea turtles at a turtle sanctuary in Fiji

When I applied to go I figured I wouldn’t get in, so I didn’t take it seriously. When I got my acceptance email back, I was beyond excited. When I came down from that excitement high, I thought about how I was going to pay for it. Then I looked into fundraising because this was the only way I was going to afford it. This organization had opportunities for fundraising as well as ideas for getting donations. I ended up paying a few hundred dollars out of pocket to spend almost a month volunteering abroad.

The country I chose was Fiji. Mainly because it was a culture that was so different from one I’d seen before. It was going to be very humbling to go from the blue waters and sandy beaches to staying in a village with the locals. This trip changed my life. It has changed my outlook on life as well as my outlook on faith. I never thought I’d come back such a different person than I did before I got to Fiji. I’ve learned a lot about myself and another culture during this trip. Fijians have the best outlook on life that I’ve ever seen. One Fijian said something that stuck with me. He said “We may be a poor country, but we have everything we need. We have plants to grow, fish in the sea, and everything we need within reach. It’s a simple life, but it’s a good life.” These people love and accept everyone and everything in their life as well.

My host family brought us to a traditional Fijian dance after work one day and we took pictures with the dancers

When you add something like this to your resume, you stand out a lot from other people. I volunteered at a local school and repaired it while living amongst the local people. I tried kava, ate cassava, taught English, and participated in a talent show with my host brothers. I ended my trip saving an endangered breed of sea turtles. I have a very big conversation starter for interviews as well. Not many people can say they went to a small country in the middle of the Pacific and swam in a cave that people used to hide from cannibals that had hieroglyphics that no one to this day can decipher.

Where you choose to volunteer doesn’t have to be Fiji. However, working and living almost the people of another culture gives you a different perspective on life and how lucky you are to be where you are. Volunteer Eco Students Abroad does volunteer projects in Fiji, Laos, Ecuador and Africa. There are countless other organizations that allow for volunteer work — you just have to find the right one for you.

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