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A To-Do List for Your Upcoming Trip
This blog is mostly about my personal experiences while volunteering, yet, I have realised that many of my friends want to embark on similar experiences but do not know where to start. So, I’ve decided to start a mini-series called “A Guide to Volunteering” in which I will be sharing my tips on the organisation of a trip, how to plan for it, what to bring, what to expect, and so on. Without further ado, here is a to-do list that you may want to take a look at before you depart: First, where are you going? Here are things to research: What is the weather like? What are the cultural customs regarding the dress code? This will most likely change depending on your gender. Will you require a visa, and if yes, what are the processing times? What vaccines will you need? Go on your government’s website and search for the travel advisory section. I suggest the…
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5 Things I Learned While Volunteering Abroad
For the past 2.5 years, I have been travelling to a number of countries as a volunteer. After coming to Morocco for the first time in 2017, then travelling to Uganda in 2018, I started reminiscing the trips I had done in the past. I wondered, what is it exactly that I gained from these? What have I taken back home with me from each country? What are the things that I learned while volunteering? I realised that I cannot help everyone When you are surrounded by poverty, you can feel powerless. Imagine being in a Ugandan slum seeing children sniff gasoline out of plastic bottles to get their high. Imagine teaching women English and French, but knowing you cannot stay longer than a month because you have responsibilities back home, even though you would want to stay for years. Imagine having to keep politely saying no to those who ask for a bit of money, because if…
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Create the life you want to live
When I graduated from high school in 2016, my future plans included starting to study, like everyone else, at a university in The Netherlands. Never had I imagined that this would, in fact, turn into a three-year-long process that would take an unimaginable amount of twists and turns. Right away, I faced challenges that made me stay in Germany and pushed me to start studying a Bachelor of Sociology online. At first, I really only thought about this year as a “buffer year”, where I would take a couple of classes just to keep my academic skills and to get ready for when I would “really start studying”. Of course, it wasn’t that simple. In 2017, I faced more challenges that made me, for the second time, have to delay my entry to university by a year. It may seem trivial, but seeing your friends and classmates from high school all attend university and live the student lifestyle can seriously…
