VISIONS Myanmar Volunteer Program

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Location

Myanmar

Length

4 - 12 weeks

Program Categories

Cultural Immersion Service Learning

Need-based funding

Health & Safety

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Program Details

Timeframe

Summer

Pricing

Starting Price

5000

Price Details

The program runs from June 16 to July 13, and program tuition covers all costs except for airfare.

Last Updated: Nov 15, 2022

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About Program

VISIONS offers teenagers opportunities for ambitious service work and cross-cultural immersion in the United States and abroad. We work with and for intercultural communities that lack financial and other development resources. Through service, authentic experience, and active exploration, we encourage new perspectives and dynamic learning.

In Myanmar, you will be able to explore a unique and beautiful part of the world that is just opening its doors to travelers. We are based in Mandalay, the country's last royal capital and a recognized cultural center. Our work is done in partnership with a large monastery school, focusing on projects that support education and school infrastructure. You might spend one day building classroom additions and the next teaching English.

Novice monks will serve as your guides exploring the city as you visit pagodas, local markets, and Buddha statues. Back at the school, you'll live alongside your new friends as you eat, work, and play.

This program is currently not being promoted on Go Overseas by its provider. Check with VISIONS Service Adventures for the most up-to-date information regarding the status of this program.

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Impact 🌎

Sustainability

In addition to high-impact social service and construction projects, VISIONS continues to expand our environmental commitment with projects rooted in sustainability and connection to the land. VISIONS aims to have no more than 25% meat & dairy sourced from factory farms by 2026.

Ethical Impact

VISIONS builds communities of teens, leaders and local people who support each other while working toward shared goals on projects that our host community has requested. We have worked in our host communities for two to three decades and teens are welcomed like family.

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Questions & Answers

Staff Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with program leaders.

What is your favorite travel memory?

My favorite travel memory is swimming with sea turtles in the Galapagos. I have always loved swimming, and seeing majestic and ancient sea turtles emerge out of the darkness underwater was one of the most magical experiences of my life.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

Visions changed the way that I communicate and interact with people, both in my home cultures and when I am living as a guest in different communities.

I have become more open, more willing to be vulnerable, and more curious about people, cultures, and spaces since starting to work with Visions, largely because of their frameworks both in training staff and in facilitating experiences for youth.

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What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

One of our participants on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana returned home to Philadelphia completely changed. She wrote me a letter a couple years after the program citing her experiences with the community in Browning as foundational moments in her life that altered her trajectory.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

This is so difficult! I currently live in Myanmar and I will be directing the Myanmar and Cambodia programs again this summer, and I love both of them.

If I had to pick another program, I would go back to our Blackfeet program in Montana, because I have such a huge space in my heart for my friends there and for their culture and the landscape, and I think sharing that culture and history with young people is especially crucial at this moment in US history.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

I love the fact that Visions commits to working in the same communities, with the same partners, for decades. I love that we have stayed small, that we have never stretched too big.

Many of my favorite people I have ever met in the world I met through Visions, as office staff, program staff, participants, families, and community members.

I feel so lucky to be part of that.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

There are so many factors that lead to successful programs, and Visions is versatile and experienced and excels in all of those areas. The central focus, however, should always be on safety. Safety comes before all else, and an attention to safety shapes every decision I and every staff member make on a program.

About VISIONS Service Adventures

VISIONS inspires teenagers to develop their own sense of purpose and meaning through adventurous service and cross-cultural exploration. DEVELOP YOUR OWN VISION THROUGH: -Engaging with different people in novel contexts -Sharing joy and laughter with adventurous travel -Participating in significant and meaningful service projects -Forming genuine...