|
|
Travel That Feeds The Soul®
|
|
|
|
THE LINK
Linking People in Mutual Understanding Worldwide
WELCOME NEW SUBSCRIBERS AND VOLUNTEERS!
|
|
Simpler Holidays Greet Volunteers Worldwide
For more than 20 years, humanitarians have celebrated the holidays and started the new year in service through Global Volunteers. Increasingly more families are choosing this option in 2008. If this appeals to you, volunteer positions are still available on teams in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Peru, Romania and Tanzania. Consider the Newman family who served in Costa Rica last December. Desiring a simpler, more meaningful holiday season, Myron, Ann Marie, Ashley and Weston lent helping hands to community remodeling projects at CASEM craft cooperative.
"I will always remember walking with the ladies at CASEM and learning about their work and history," said Ann Marie. "It was also wonderful to see the change in the buildings we painted. We all learned and grew from one another."
Myron enjoyed learning about the country through daily conversations with the local people. The Costa Ricans were "sweet and generous with their time and talents," said Ashley, who lauded the local cooking. She said she admired the "drive and determination" of community members...who inspired her to attempt to speak Spanish to better understand the unique culture.
Volunteering is "the best way to accomplish the goal of peace between cultures," added Weston. He made friends while painting at the hospital and finds himself "more appreciative of his blessings" after the service program.
Contact a volunteer coordinator to learn more about December service programs
back to top
|
|
Engage Others in Your Gift of Service!
As you plan your holiday gift list, don't deny your family and friends the satisfaction of helping you join a Global Volunteers team. Enable others to give back to the world through your gift of service by requesting tax-deductible contributions on your personal fundraising page. Set your own goal, tell your personal story, and let others join your generous effort. Many volunteers have raised their entire service program fee through small donations from their personal network! As the global economic crisis grips all countries, you can still reach out during the holiday season through a personal statement of service. If you meet special criteria, you can also apply for a matching grant through the VFPService Program and join a Global Volunteers team in 2009.
Refer to our web site or a volunteer coordinator for more fundraising tips
back to top
|
|
You Can Be the Change in the World During Hard Times
By now, you're familiar with the theory of the "Butterfly Effect": that small, remote events can have large, widespread consequences. In a global community, we've witnessed both singular tragic and heroic actions that have changed the course of history.
No one can accurately predict global cause and effect, but there are some things we know make life better. For 25 years, Global Volunteers has been wholly committed to improving life for people at the most basic level: in schools, medical clinics, village day care centers, and even in families' modest homes worldwide. The economic recession, however, threatens to curtail the critical help we provide host communities worldwide. Please don't let that happen!
If volunteer participation on our service programs drop, our ability to care for and teach local children decreases, and critical financial assistance for ongoing projects ceases.
We need your support now more than ever before. Please help us keep our commitment to our host communities by joining an upcoming service program or by making a financial donation to keep our partnerships active. Donate Here
Your singular action WILL make a significant, immediate difference by allowing us to continue our work with abandoned babies, at-risk teens, vulnerable adults, and community leaders worldwide.
back to top
|
|
Summit on International Development
By Francoise Yohalem (Volunteer Team Leader since 1992)
On October 21st, I represented Global Volunteers at the White House Summit on International Development held in Washington DC.
The purpose of the summit was to discuss the results of U.S. development assistance programs worldwide and evaluate their success. The event gathered U.S. officials administering programs and partnerships all over the world ranging from disease prevention to diverse humanitarian aids. Also present were diplomats and country representatives engaged in implementing these initiatives. The summit was an opportunity to share information on their programs, comment on their effectiveness, and make recommendations.
I was fascinated to hear that there is a unanimous agreement that the following shared principles are at the core of the most successful programs. These have been the foundation of Global Volunteers's philosophy of service for 25 years!
- Importance of local participation
- Ownership as critical to success
- People are in charge
- Work in partnership with the local people
- Partnership - not Paternalism
- Empowerment at the grass roots level
- Local solutions to local issues
- Develop goals in partnership with local people that they can achieve
- Community fully engaged and empowered to make decision.
Global Volunteers was way ahead of other experts in its strategy for effective and fair long- term development. Because of our respect for and understanding of the local people with whom we work, we have learned what makes a program successful, and we will continue our work under the leadership of the local people everywhere we are privileged to be invited.
"The greatest problem in development is the illusion that it has been accomplished." - George Bernard Shaw
back to top
|
|
"We're links in a long chain of those who have come before
and will follow to help improve the lives of people around the world."
~ Bud Philbrook, Global Volunteers founder and president
|
YOUR SUGGESTIONS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
Do you have specific topics you'd like to see in a future issue: Send us your ideas. Since 1984, we've worked alongside local people in every corner of the globe -- laying a foundation for peace through mutual international understanding. In mobilizing thousands of short-term volunteers, we've learned valuable lessons about honoring local customs, methods and perspectives. We hope to share what we've learned with you.
Please e-mail us: linkeditor@glovalvolunteers.org
back to top
(c) Global Volunteers 2008 All content and images inclusive
|
|
|
