How Expectations Can Affect Global Crossroad Volunteers

Volunteering abroad can introduce you to once-in-a-lifetime experiences and eye opening discoveries. It is a time to give back, a time for personal growth, and a time to explore. As a volunteer abroad, you will have the opportunity to gain job skills, confidence, and hands-on work experience that few others can claim. However, I am not going to kid you, volunteers abroad face a plethora of challenges, frustrations, and set-backs. Your mindset and expectations are the deciding factors in whether you will prevail or let the situation get the best of you.

Expectations can be a Global Crossroad volunteer’s worst enemy. Having high or unrealistic expectations about project results can impact how you view yourself, the people around you, and the project you’re working on. When volunteering in a developing country, the progress is going to be slow, no matter what project you are working on. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I worked in the rural countryside of Panama for over two years. As with the majority of Peace Corps Volunteers, I will never see the results of my work. What we worked on in my community may not come to fruition for several years, if at all. Volunteers who travel abroad should not expect to change the world in a day. Just because it is not possible to create and implement a sustainable project in four weeks does not mean you will not make a difference.

Many people think about volunteering abroad in terms of the physical project they will be working on. Their concept of success is dependent on how many sea turtle eggs they save or how many rain water catchment systems they make. I can tell you right now the secret to success as a Global Crossroad volunteer does not lie in the project, it lies in the people. A successful project does not just function while you are there, but continues to function after you have gone. This will only happen if you empower the people. Success is not the number of trees you planted on a reforestation project, but the number of community members you included in the project, the number of community members you educated about reforestation practices, the number of community members you’ve helped to feel more confident about themselves and their work. And do you know how many community members it takes to make a difference? Do you know how many people you need to empower and educate for your project to become sustainable? One. Just one.

There are a few expectations that Global Crossroad volunteers should have. They should expect to meet great people. From the local Global Crossroad staff to community counter-parts, volunteers will meet new people that they will not soon forget. Volunteers should also expect to enjoy their surroundings. Take advantage of the fact that you are in a foreign country. Travel on the weekends, take pictures, and explore! You never know if you will get this opportunity again. Volunteers should also expect that their short time abroad will have an impact on the people they work with. The words you say and the actions you take will stay with these people forever. It doesn’t matter if you plant 1,000 trees or just one- it is the confidence and education you instill on the people that are the real indicators of success.