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3 Ways Volunteering Abroad Will Change Your Life!

So maybe you’ve heard one of your housemates chatting on about how their summer trip to Thailand was the catalyst to their spiritual fulfilment, or your cousin boasting about their new zest for life after trekking across Kenya. As much as you may want to roll your eyes and go back to re-watching the entire back catalogue of Game of Thrones, you may want to consider the fact that they may not be exaggerating at all. Take it from someone who spent their summer digging holes under the Ugandan sun, the volunteering life may not always be glamourous but it will 100% be the best thing you’ll ever do. And with the end of semester in sight, now is the perfect time to plan out your summer schedule. So, switch off that spicy tv show, put down that laptop, then promptly pick it back up again and keep reading find out why volunteering abroad will make Summer 2019 your best one yet!

1.    You’ll get to know a new culture on a more intimate level.

As much as touring the streets of Rome or partying it up in Amsterdam can be fun, being a tourist will never allow you to experience your host countries’ culture on the same level as living and working with local communities for an extended period of time will. Volunteering allows you to interact with real locals on a day to day basis, beyond just eating their food and walking their streets. You’ll learn exactly how families run, you’ll probably be invited into the homes of the community, understand what makes them smile, what makes them suffer, what makes them proud. Not only this but you’ll feel it too. The school I worked in and the surrounding village were the most welcoming people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, and by final week I was so thoroughly adopted that it was hard to leave. No matter what you’ll always have a home in your host community.

2.    You’ll gain a new family.

There’s nothing quite like sharing a mosquito net and all celebrating together your first poo in a hole to bond a group of people. Forget what you know about friendship and family, volunteering abroad will put you in enough bizarre situations that you’ll know your fellow volunteers better than you know yourself. You may come from different parts of the globe but being united by a common goal will put you amongst a group of people you are instantly compatible with. Also, you’ll have a perfect group of travel buddies for life, yippee!

3.    You’ll get to know you.

I won’t lie to you, volunteering abroad won’t always be easy. Culture shock, homesickness, the realisation that oh my god that really is a hole that I have to go to the toilet in, are all very real things that can make the experience difficult. You’ll get to know your boundaries in a way that you’ve probably never had to before. For me I figured out that being constantly surrounded by twelve other people 24/7 was a lot to handle. But I also learned at what point to take a breath and deal with the situation, to find a corner and just be with me for a bit. Everyone will have their own battles no matter how big or small, but the great thing is that once you fight them you’ll know what to do the next time and the next and the next. Never in my life have I been more in tune with what makes me tick. Being thrown into a completely new environment doing completely new things has a way of stripping you bare and forcing you to take a proper look at yourself. And because of this I’ve never been more confident in myself.

Volunteering abroad may seem like the scariest thing in the world sitting nice and comfortable in your own home, but it is honestly so worth it. These are just 3 reasons how studying abroad will change your life, but research into it and you’ll discover 101 more. If you are unsure of where to start, I can personally vouch for East African Playgrounds as a fantastic charity doing amazing work across Uganda to change the lives of countless children and adults alike. You can research them here: https://www.eastafricanplaygrounds.org/

But wherever you end up, I can’t wait to see where your volunteering journey takes you!