Don’t just donate, participate

My volunteering experience in Togo was a life-changing one. Back at home I took a bachelor in social work and afterwards a master in international politics. My goal always had been to work and live abroad. At the age of 21 I was fed up with studying to reach that goal and I decided to take a shortcut, I went volunteering in Togo with Projects Abroad. My choice for Projects Abroad can be simply explained by the fact that I desperately wanted to do my volunteering in Togo and there weren’t a lot of organizations providing me with this option. Why Togo? I had never been there before, my father was Togolese and I wanted to put into practice my scholar French knowledge.

My time in the west coast of Africa was simply a-ma-zing. I was surrounded for 3 months with friendly staff, outgoing and likeminded volunteers, new local friends and most importantly the children of my orphanage. One year later I’m still in touch with most of them, but of course nothing compares with sharing experiences in real-time. Unnecessary to say that I’ll be back one day.

As far as the volunteering went, I think I might say I was able to make some changes in the children’s daily life. At least for three months… In how far these changes were structural, is another question. But that’s the point where Projects Abroad steps in, with 24/7 staff who monitor the volunteers closely. It’s their responsibility to make sure that all the worthwhile efforts you were able to accomplish in your placement don’t disappear as soon as your volunteering time ends. In doing so, every volunteer contributes to an ongoing process of helping those in need.

“Don’t just donate, participate”

My day-to-day experiences: http://www.mytripblog.org/pg/blog/jlambrecht