Stories from students, retirees, working professionals, couples, families, groups, solo travelers, first-time volunteers, volunteer veterans and everyone in-between from more than 20 countries around the world. Learn about your favorite country in their own words.

Creating a community among us

Community is what comes to mind as I reflect on our first day in Greece. Our team leader Sam has created a community among us and for us. Our stay is at a hotel owned by a local family Greek family, Dimitris and Suzanna Tsalopoulos. They put out love and generosity by their presence, food, […]

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Sad good-byes…

sad good-byes

Lori, a repeat volunteer serving in Poland, talks about her last days teaching English to children at Reymontowka camp and the team’s sad good-byes.  Our last day! Time flew by quickly. Our day again begins at a great Reymontówka breakfast. We particularly discussed how this day would be different with the third and fourth hours […]

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Recognizing special relationships

The day started as would any other. The billowing clouds packed the sky and the sound of rain dancing around us stifled our mixed emotions. The now normal routine laid itself out. Ryan got us going with his favorite quote, “Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, […]

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Relationship building on Blackfeet Reservation

By Tuesday, our team had fallen into a comfortable morning routine of navigating the showers, having breakfast together, and assembling our brown-bag lunches of peanut butter and/or jelly sandwiches. After receiving our assignments in the morning, we headed off in several different directions. Many in our group stayed at the Blackfeet Community College to work […]

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Another Wonderful Day in Our Home Far Away

our home far away

Shelby, a volunteer serving in Poland, talks about her last days teaching English to children and Reymontowka camp, what she calls “Our home far away.” Tuesday morning: Again the eager sun rose over Reymontowka, our home far away, at its usual 4:30. Slowly the muffled, comforting sounds of the camp starting another day echoed down […]

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The Openness and Willingness to Share the Blackfeet Culture

Blackfeet culture

Who knew we’d be exposed to Blackfeet culture immediately on our first work day?  In preparation, one of our team members, Julie, started us off with an emotional historical message from Chief Seattle: “How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Every part of this […]

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such a great team to share this experience with!

Message of the day: “Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it.”-Mahatma Gandhi. Shared by Amanda. Wednesday morning we had a beautiful breakfast which included what is called in Poland, omelet. To us it looked like a folded pancake with jam inside. We spend time every morning during […]

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Friday activities and weekend adventures

Message of the day: “And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.” – From America the Beautiful. Attributed to Katherine Lee Bates and offered by Fred who wished to note “from sea to shining sea” includes the whole world, not simply the space between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in North America. […]

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Practicing patience with joy

When we signed up in for this project, I wondered if three weeks was too long. As Sylvia knows, patience is not one of my virtues and I have never tolerated boredom well. I can truthfully say, with these precious children, I have practiced patience with joy, and I have not experienced one moment of […]

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“There is no end to learning”

How true the Confucian saying that there is no end to learning! Perhaps nowhere is this concept more evident than in the teaching-learning process. If the sage were living today, he would have more than a thing or two to learn about this ever-changing world, wouldn’t he? I wonder what kind of student he would […]

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globalvolunteers.org
email@globalvolunteers.org
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