Marshall Islands, Namdrik 2013

Going to the Marshall Islands for a year was the best decision I have ever made. I'm not saying the experience was easy– dengue fever, attacking dogs, dealing with drunk island men, and working as a teacher in a community that doesn't really need Western-style learning for survival or daily life were some of the challenges I faced. But it was definitely a journey whose ups and downs opened my mind to a different way of living, a different set of ethics, etiquette, mode of communication, and cultural traditions, and made me more able to understand and analyze the society I came from and the unspoken tenets I had adhered to and unwittingly accepted as a member.
This is not a program for someone who wants constant supervision and support, but rather for someone who enjoys being thrown into the water and having to figure out how to swim. Your communication with the field directors consists of one or two radio calls a week–maybe. There really aren't any curriculum books to guide your teaching, no teacher training/ mentorship, and no copy machine. I liked that freedom to do whatever I wanted and teaching was a constant experiment. That said, island life on Namdrik (the island I was placed on) is in many ways a lot less stressful and scary than life in urban centers. You have time to chat with your host family and neighbors, play with neighborhood kids, swim in the lagoon, cook, take jambos (walks), and snorkel.
I will admit that a few of the other volunteers didn't have quite the positive experience I did. For example, there was a drought my volunteer year and while Namdrik was fine because it's in the far south by the Equator and receives lots of rain, there were food and water shortages in the north and a volunteer had to be evacuated (this was after her host family stopped giving her sufficient food). In additions, a couple of the volunteer teachers were teaching far more students than should be possible (think close to 50 kids in one classroom), and one volunteer ended up being the caretaker for her host family's children when the parents decided to take off for the main island for the remainder of the year. But for the vast majority of volunteers, our year with WorldTeach in the RMI was a transformational, challenging, and wonderful experience we will revisit regularly in our minds for the rest of our our lives that strengthened us and helped us grow our souls a bit. And in my case, my time on Namdrik also guided me to a career path that I am excited about and fits who I am after years of wandering aimlessly through different job experiences after college. A great gift indeed.
So to sum it up, do this program, or something like it that gets you out of your comfort zone and introduces you to a different world.