How to Save the World

If you’re expecting a radical mathematical formula, or a process to give yourself superpowers, unfortunately, that’s not what this post is about. What I mean by “how” to save the world is really about how each of has something we’re passionate about or something that interests us, and we can use that to help the save the world.

Each of us has our superpower in our own right, whether it’s adventurousness, curiosity, teaching, painting, lifting things, or compassion. If you’ve gotten this far, there is likely something, somewhere in the world, that occupies your daydreams or inspires you in a way other places or things don’t.

For the past four years, I’ve made a point to volunteer in a different country each year. This all started with my first volunteer trip to Pomerini, Tanzania in July of 2015. 4 Volunteer trips later I’ve learned and experienced so many things, incredible culture, sights and meeting other like minded volunteers.  I’ve learned about conservation, the political struggles of other countries and gained an entirely different perspective on my own life.

Sharing these experiences and the practical advice I’ve gained along with the way I hope to help others as they seek to explore and save the world in a unique way. I really believe we can all do things to save the world — and if you haven’t noticed, the world could definitely use a bit of saving.

This is the first blog post in a series of blog posts that covers how I went from pondering the possibility of volunteering somewhere in the world, to making a commitment to volunteer in a different country every year.

Volunteer Organizations

It’s easy to remember when I first decided to go to Tanzania.  I was a point in my life when I knew I could do more in the world and felt the strong tug of going and experience the world first hand. Traveling had been part of my professional life for years and on a particular, and otherwise uneventful night at a bar, night my friend and I were talking about places we wanted to go.  We were at a bar in conversation about travel, the equivalent of looking up at the stars but looking at countries instead. The idea started small at first, but quickly became something I began to put time and effort into, researching organizations and finding out how I wanted to contribute to saving the world.

Over the next several weeks, I spent hours online, researching various organizations to determine which organizations offered the same level of focus on volunteering that I was looking for.

When looking at companies that coordinate volunteering activities, I’ve found it helpful to focus on the following points:

Non-Profit Status – For organizations based in the US, the designation of a 501C-3 can be a sign of focus on volunteering in the field.

Charity Matching Status – Charity matching is a benefit some companies have where they match employee contributions to charitable organizations. These organizations have generally been vetted for legitimacy.  Some organizations allow for charity matching to contribute towards volunteering program fees reducing the amount of fees required.

Locations available – Volunteer trips that focus solely on tourist locations could indicate that the program is more leisure or cultural exchange trip, but it often depends on the program.  If volunteering work is your goal and the location is a highly desired tourist location it would be advisable to do some research on the specific program goals in that specific location.  If your goal is volunteering focused it’s always good to understand if there is a host organization and what their specific goals are. This can be a little more specific to a specific trip or program, but volunteer trips that focus only on tourist locations could be a red flag, however that could depend on the specific project.  

While volunteering in Cuba, I found that many trips had lax requirements to meet the ‘cultural exchange’ status, and many of these companies focused solely on Havana instead of other cities. I settled on a trip that involved both Havana and a smaller city in the center of the country called Ciego de Avila. The most reward aspect of the trip was connecting with local members of the community when teaching them English during the evening.

Established Company – How long has the volunteer organization or program been running?

Community Ties – Is the team led by a member of the community or someone who travels there solely to coordinate the volunteers?

When I was in Tanzania, my team leader was deeply rooted in the community and was formerly the second headmaster of the school we volunteered with. He was able to provide insight from living in the community about local politics and also challenges within the school.  When I was working on Robben Island, my team leader was local and had been working on the project for several years, and she was able to provide historical insight from the program as well as local organizations supporting conservation in the area.

Journal Papers Published – Citizen science projects utilize volunteers who are not professional data analysts or researchers to gather data for a project.  There are generally not major prerequisites for participation as most of the skills required are trained during the course of the project. For citizen science projects, the data collected is likely used in partnership with organizations or universities to publish papers or scientific studies.  Knowing there is a scientist or research lead scientific lead for a citizen science project is very good sign the data collected is being used for scientific and conservation efforts.

These are some of the overall things I look for, but by no means is it an extensive list.  These are just some guiding principles, and the importance of each can vary depending on the company or project.

I’ve worked with 3 organizations, but the two that I would recommend most highly are Global Volunteers for humanitarian work, which I’ve been on 2 trips (Cuba and Tanzania) and EarthWatch Institute for citizen science and conservation programs which I’ve used on my trip to Robben Island.

In the next blog post, we’ll go over the types of volunteering to help understand what best inspires you to be the change you want to see in the world!