Gratification

I am 57 and spent 5 weeks volunteering on the outskirts of Kandy,Sri Lanka. I took part in 2 projects. The first in the Hill Country where I was lucky enough to spend a week in a pre- school. The school was small and had a slide and swings in the yard and I initially thought, " Oh they don't seem too badly off" but after the first day I reallized the classroom was very over crowded, they had no electricity to the building and the teacher had to shine a torch so the children could see the posters on the walls that had stories, numbers and letters on them.
The teacher was wonderful and had been there quite a long time.
She had very limited resources to use and was very grateful for the books, crayons and paper we brought in for them to use.
The children came to school so tidily dressed each day that I also assumed they didn't seem too badly off but on exploring the outskirts of town we saw some of the families were still having to draw water from a well and the children walked several kilometres to reach school.
I realised I should not have made such quick assumptions as these were proud people making the best from the resources they were given and they were doing a wonderful job.
They were so grateful for the time we gave them which was reward in itself.
I would definitely recommend any volunteering experience as my next 4 weeks were spent in the children's home with children's from 3 days old to 4 years old who had no parents other than the kind women who worked on very limited funding to care for them. I worked hard whilst there to try and help as much as possible and make the smallest of difference in both staff and children's lives and its reward was gratitude both from the staff and the children. I was so very happy to have helped, as small as my contribution was.
I will say go, be proactive and try and make positive change as they do not know what you can do for them unless you offer.
You will also have a wonderful cultural experience and form new friendships with the other volunteers.