Sustainable Good

Summer's Here: Don't Spend it at a Resort

It is June, which to me means summer is here! It is getting hotter, kids are finishing their last days of school, and parents are planning vacations (maybe less this year because of the recession). I thought this would be the perfect time to talk about one of the most frustrating things I have ever experienced--the resort vacationer.

International travel can be one of the most amazing experiences imaginable. It can open your eyes to new cultures, new foods, new ways of life. It can also break your heart and change your life. It can help you to see how little material things some people have. It can inspire you to ACT. On the other hand, it can also just be a luxuriant week of excesses that does little besides reinforce the inequality in the world.

Rocky Mountain Mission Center Hunger Challenge

I just attended a Hunger Challenge in Ft. Collins, CO, USA.  There were over 60 kids, teens, and adults who fasted for 24 hours, learned about poverty, raised awareness in the community, collected cans, donated money, and brainstormed their own solutions to hunger.  It was an inspiring weekend and I am thankful to Dezi Rae Astle and her crew for raising so much money for Outreach International.  Thanks to all of you!

New WorldService Corps Website

The WorldService Corps, a volunteer agency affiliated with the Community of Christ, launched a new website this week (http://www.worldservicecorps.org), providing information to young adults who are searching for service opportunities.

I must admit that I found the old website rather dull, which stood in direct contrast with how exciting, challenging and engaging my time as volunteer was.  Thankfully, the new website is very cool – well designed with lots of multimedia resources telling the stories of past volunteers.

It was my experience as a summer WorldService Corps volunteer in Kenya that first got me really excited about Outreach International. I had never been in the developing world as an adult and the immersion into extremely poor communities in the midst of a fraught political environment grabbed me like no other previous job or assignment.  I found going back to college after the summer very hard – nothing in class seemed to match the level of education I had gotten out in the field.

Tips on Serving in the Developing World

Living in Uganda, I run across many young North Americans and Europeans who have come seeking to help out with aid efforts.  Uganda certainly has a lot of need, coming out of a lengthy civil war and burdened by high levels of poverty.

However, the influx of international charities, while spurring economic growth, has also contributed to inflation, especially in land prices. Many local people feel expectations of aid have not been met and are suspicious that foreign aid workers come for self-serving reasons such as career development, resume-padding, high paying salaries or ‘adventure.’

Such issues are unfortunately quite common in aid ‘hot spots’ – disaster and conflict zones that receive intensive international political and media attention. When the excitement dies down, additional problems arise from the rapid withdrawal of personnel and agencies moving onto the next big cause celebre disaster.

Based on my experience working as an aid worker, researcher and journalist in several such ‘hot spots’, I have observed several ways in which good-hearted young people can serve in the developing world while minimizing burdens on local people.

Hope despite the hurricanes

Seeing all the news about more and more hurricanes reminds of when I went to Mississippi with a group from college to help rebuild a house devastated by Katrina. The damage to the area was absolutely overwhelming. Every day we would see remnant foundations of once beautiful homes, cars that looked they had just been smashed by a junk yard car crusher. We visited a school that was meeting in a church because their school had been completely destroyed. What I found more amazing than the destruction was the sense of hope that we saw in the people.