Wednesday 22 March 2017

Learn More About Short Term Volunteer Immersions

By Paul Brown


Basically, it is usually rare to find a person who would afford the time and the cost of being committed in volunteering for a long time. Basically, spending about six months to learn the local language while building relationships and working for sustainable development objective could be appropriate in terms of experience and impact. However, it might not be realistic for a person who is working or studying. However, to accommodate a challenging schedule for busy volunteers but passionate, short term volunteer immersions have become popular.

Basically, many people wanted to voluntarily offer services but have lacked that time. This is because they have not been able to take a longer career break while they are willing to dedicate their time to produce a positive change in the community or even other countries. Basically, the volunteering opportunities do exist for all who have a will heart to work.

Generally, there exist projects of all sorts that allow passionate volunteers to utilize their available time. Nevertheless, various challenges are faced by the short-term volunteers. One such challenge is the jetlag effect that pertains to disrupted sleep patterns, stomach ailments as well as headaches. Nevertheless, the short-term volunteers have to fight such symptoms so as to immediately shift their attention to work.

Another challenge with such volunteering is the restrained interactions or even engagements. In reality, around 2 to 3 days is needed by residents fully familiarize with you volunteering in their community. This, therefore, implies that free interactions with the locals may last some time. In fact, your time could already be up before acclimatizing and freely mingling with the locals.

Another challenge pertains to the limited impact with such programs. This is for the reason that a duration is normally needed to fully mingle with strangers and make a personal impact as some projects remain generally ineffective over such short period. For example, teaching a child requires some time while connecting to and working with students via the curriculum.

Another frustration is a feeling of being rushed and harried. Generally, in long-term volunteer programs, there is time when you can just sit and observe the society around and learn its flow. As a result, you may make random acquaintances who can turn to become friends. For the short term programs, however, there is little time to relax and look at you accomplishment. Because of this, you are left with a feeling of being rushed or harried.

Nevertheless, you can do several things to alleviate such frustration during a short-term volunteer program. For instance, you can come up with a strategy to deal with exhaustion, jetlag or illnesses. You may begin adjusting your sleep patterns some days before the trip, like taking a pill during the flight to quicken time zone adjustment.

Another way to alleviate the frustrations is by being proactive. Basically, just waiting for instructions or sitting idly is simply a waste of the already limited time. However, you can seek for opportunities to become friendly and helpful. Again, you may spend your free time building relationships by talking with the locals or asking for a language lesson.




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