Testimonials
Here are some thoughts from some of the volunteers who not only have served but have also led and shaped our trips:
KATIE (New Orleans Lead 2008 & 2009):
a) Why Service Travel? I chose to do service travel because of the immersion experience in the service. Setting aside several days or even a couple of weeks, just to serve others, can bring about such growth that even volunteering regularly in your home area can't provide. Traveling allows a person to learn about a new culture and really get to know the community that they are serving.
b) What is your best memory or what do you look most forward to? My best memory of service travel with the trip to New Orleans is the front wall raising of 6 homes last year. So many families, volunteers, and local officials were present. All had worked together to get these homes built. Having everyone together at one time in such a large group made the experience that much more intense.
c) How has Service Travel shaped your view of Community Service? I understand the importance of knowing the people or group that you are serving. It is so easy to volunteer locally and not get to know those that you serve because you go home soon after the event and move on to other things. When traveling you have a much longer time commitment and therefore have the time to really get to learn about those that you are serving.
d) What have you learned through Service Travel? I have learned about other people and the importance of leaning on each other for help. Volunteers often need the help of the person they are helping, yet in a different way.
e) Why would you recommend Service Travel? Service Travel is a good way to re-focus your life. It is a break from the normal activities. Different from a vacation though, you are forced to work as a team which can develop qualities you may not have known you had, or those that you have but don't often get to exhibit.
Martin (Ghana Lead 2008)
a) Why Service Travel? For me, service travel is about stepping out of my
comfort zone to give time towards a worthy cause and to connect with other people. With service travel, I believe that I will always get more than I give.
b) What is your best memory or what do you look most forward to? I look forward to meeting the people in the community that we'll be working in and to developing relationships with my fellow team members.
c) How can Service Travel shaped your view of Community Service? I believe that it will show me that I have a responsibility to make my community and other communities better.
d) What have you learned through Service Travel? Through service travel, I learned to have more appreciation for many of the conveniences of American life that I take for granted. After my trip, when I say that it is better to give than to receive, I have the real life experiences to support the statement.
e) Why would you recommend Service Travel? I recommend Service Travel because it has the power to inspire people to greatness by showing them how rewarding and important it is to give.
SELAM (Guatemala Lead 2006):
a) Why Service Travel? Because it combines my two favorite things- service and travel. I have travelled quite a bit, but sometimes I have felt a little bit uncomfortable going to other countries and merely being a spectator to poverty. Standing by and witnessing poverty and doing nothing is tantamount to standing by while a crime is being committed. So for me, service travel allows me to take some part in the solution, while learning a new country and its culture.
The thing about service travel that is so different than doing volunteer work in the trenches here at home in the U.S., is that there is something about being in another country- without my cell phone and
email and blackberry and facebook and chat and laptop- that makes me disconnect and just be present in the moment, whether I am shoveling cement or enjoying the company of the families we help and the service travel team. I have made some of my best decisions on service travel trips- such as my decision to leave my job and go to graduate school to study international development!
b) What is your best memory? My best memory is when one of the Guatemalan women for whom we were building a house, thanked us for our work and said that we were like angels that had fallen from the sky. It was amazing that just spending one week could make such a difference in her life. She encouraged us to continue our work and to help other families. It encouraged me to follow my calling and find a way to get more people out of poverty.
c) How has Service Travel shaped your view of Community Service? I think that I used to put people into categories- those who were "into" helping poor countries, and those who were not. What I learned through service travel is that sometimes people come to the team with different objectives, but even if world peace, is not one of them, they can have just as much impact (if not more) than people who are trying to "save" the world.
d) What have you learned through Service Travel? That nothing feels better to me than working with and for poor people around the world. I had read books, consulted mentors, and spent a lot of money trying to figure out my calling when it turns out it was right under my nose the whole time anyway. I never knew that I would realize it digging a trench in Ecuador!
e) Why would you recommend Service Travel? It is absolutely a life changing experience. Whether you have never been on a plane before, or you are a seasoned third world traveler, this trip will transform you mentally, emotionally (and physically!). You will learn so much about yourself, and other people, and another country, and what it truly means to help other people.
HOLLY (Give Back Beyond Treasurer 2008):
a) Why Service Travel? Service travel is a great opportunity for our community to serve another community. For me personally, the decision to get involved in NOLA came from a desire to get more involved in GBC and to feel like in some small way I was making a difference.
b) What is your best memory? My favorite memory from NOLA last year was getting to meet a family that would be moving into a home we were building. Hearing the story of what the family had been through and what a home meant to them was a reminder of the importance of community service.
c) How has Service Travel shaped your view of Community Service? While we often think about what we can do to improve our own Cincinnati community, service travel focuses on we can do to improve communities in need all over the nation and all over the world.
d) What have you learned through Service Travel? The most important lesson that I have taken away from service travel is what the work we do really means to the communities we visit. We may physically build homes, but what we create is opportunity and a sense of security for a community in need.
e) Why would you recommend Service Travel? Getting engaged in service travel is a great way to make an impact in a community with a need, as well as meeting new people in your own community who share a common interest of service. Oh – and we have a lot of fun.
Joe (Katrina Collaboration Founder/NOLA Lead 06 & 07)
a) Why Service Travel?
Service Travel - Gives you a whole new perspective on service. I love serving my own community, but both international and domestic service travel provides a new perspective on poverty and need. And it doesn't hurt that you get to go with a couple dozen amazing people from Cincinnati...building new friendships.
b) What is your best memory?
Best or Worst... not sure which it is, but the World Cup Qualifying match between Ecuador and Uruguay was definitely the most memorable experience. Toss together a passionate fan base of 60,000 people in a 30,000 seat stadium, add in some gypsies with quick hands, spice it up with open flames and fireworks in the stands and for good measure add some guards armed with AK47s on the field... what's not to love? And they call Paul Brown Stadium 'The Jungle'... ha! more like 'daycare'!
c) How has Service Travel shaped your view of Community Service?
It has given me a whole new appreciation for the benefits of living in the United States. Not to take away any of the hardships that occur in our country or in our city, but seeing first had the poverty that exists in Ecuador and even here in the United States in the devastation of New Orleans, it adds a new level of understanding for
the opportunities that exist in Cincinnati. It has not lessened my passion for serving locally, but it has certainly allowed me to see that as bad as things get they can be much worse!
d) What have you learned through Service Travel?
I've learned many things through the trips to Ecuador and New Orleans. But probably most importantly I've learned that service to community can serve as a common ground that spans political ideology, religious beliefs, nationality, race and language differences. it is literally the single thing that can bond people across any differences and provide a starting ground for understanding.
e) Why would you recommend Service Travel?
Well in addition to everything mentioned above, I think one of the biggest reasons to take part in a service travel trip is to take yourself out of a box for a while. It allows you to challenge your thinking... your understanding of yourself, of friends, of service, of your beliefs. It allows you to take time away to re-focus your life... And you'll come back to Cincinnati changed in some way, with a memory that will last a lifetime, and with new friends with a common bond.
Sunday, January 31, 2010, Administrator