A week from today I'll be sitting in an airport, terrified of the 24 hours of travel ahead. They say fear is the greatest motivator, and I guess it must be true because despite how much I hate flying, I tend to do it quite often.
Volunteering abroad is something I've always wanted to do. I remember sitting in front of the TV as a child and seeing the World Vision commercials come on. I'd always think to myself "I wish I could help them. I wish there was something I could do besides purely donating money." Now don't get me wrong, I think donations are great and I have a sponsor child myself, but people also need intangible things in life to be able to succeed. Skills such as English proficiency and computer knowledge are the way of the future in developing countries, and I feel as though these skills can go farther than purely a donation.
Hence my desire to go volunteer abroad. I have my qualms about overseas volunteering. I feel as though projects that involve restoration and construction should not be done by volunteers; instead volunteers should be spending time training locals to undertake these projects so they can have a livelihood of their own. "Orphanage tourism" has also come under wrap lately in the media, but I disagree with the medias portrayals on that one. Yes some orphanages are run by people who do not put the children first, but there are some that do provide safe environments for children.
Months ago I decided to do volunteering a little differently. Instead of doing typical teaching or orphanage work I decided to go work within a human rights NGO in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge regime is one of the worst human rights atrocities in history, and the country is still bouncing back from the havoc the administration caused on the country. NGOs in the country work in a variety of areas, all tackling the ever-present issues within the country, including environmental (illegal logging has become rampant in rural Cambodia), and women and children's rights (women here, like in many developing countries, face many hardships including the sex trade).
International issues have always been of a particular interest to me. I've spent countless hours reading books on everything from child soldiers to Middle Eastern politics to genocides. Some may call it depressing. I call it educational. However you want to look at it, it made me realize one thing: I need to do something.
This next week is going to be fuelled by emotions; fear, excitement, joy, weariness will all pass over me at some point within the next week. Some may say I'm crazy for what I'm doing. I'd like to think crazy is just a synonym for awesome. Whatever you want to call it, just know I'll be having the time of my life.
