Why Volunteer

“Some people volunteer to travel and other people travel to volunteer.”

-Leo

The above quote is something a fellow volunteer at Eco Agric in Uganda once said to me that really resonated. Some of the volunteers had flown specifically to Uganda to volunteer for this NGO. That plus a week in Zanzibar was their entire Africa trip. They were passionate about the project and making a difference. They would work eight hour days (even though the workaway limit is five) because they came to Uganda specifically for that purpose.

On the contrary, I volunteer to travel which means that although I always try my hardest when working, my main goal is to see as much of the world as possible on limited funds. I’d prefer to stop work at the five hour mark because I have other things I need to do with the rest of the day. When you are constantly going from one place to another volunteering, you need to set time apart for yourself each day so you can continue developing in your personal interests.

If you are only volunteering for one month and then going home to progress personally, you can afford to halt your life and go all in. However, travel is my life. Neither approach to volunteering is right or wrong, just different.

Since volunteering is my means to travel, I have to constantly be at a project or I risk blowing through a months worth of savings in a few days. If you read the story part of my blog you will notice that in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania I had a string of failed and disastrous volunteering attempts. At that point you’re probably asking yourself, “why do you keep torturing yourself and insisting on volunteering?” That’s a fair point and one I’ve asked myself many times.

The thing is, if I’m not volunteering, I don’t really have a reason to be in Africa. I’m not doing expensive safaris or other touristy things. Normally, like when backpacking in Europe I go to the green patch on my google maps and spend the day in a park. However, that is not advisable in Africa. One time I took my hammock a few feet from the path to some trees. I hung it up and started reading. Soon enough a slew of local villagers arrived, miming that a snake would get me if I stayed there. You also can’t go to a park without paying an entrance fee. I could hop around from village to village but the guest houses I can afford have metal roofs and no fan or AC. Due to the heat you need to spend your time outdoors but where do you go? To a pub and drink all day? Despite Africa having so much nature, it’s hard to retreat to it.

Without volunteering I’d just be floating around pointlessly. Volunteering gives me purpose. I go to a small village and get to know the community. I make bracelets for the kids and my heart glows as I make tiny friends. If you have the funds to rent a car and go on safaris then you could have an epic Africa adventure without volunteering. Though if you want to really get to know the community and spend as little money as possible, I’d recommend volunteering. I’m not an altruistic philanthropist on a mission to change the world. I’m more of an adventure seeking, dabbler that wants to experience as many different cultures as possible on her mission of self awareness. That being said, volunteering still works for me!

Volunteering isn’t all sunshine and roses. Obviously, I’ve had a lot of hosts that were not what they advertised. Even if you have an amazing host it can be quite taxing repeatedly going from one host to another. You want to make a great impression and to fit into their world so you are constantly having to alter your own personal energy in order to be compatible.

The travel bug first bit me while backpacking SEA. I had never felt such freedom! Each day I got to decide where I wanted to go and how to fill my day. It is cheap there and you can easily backpack without spending lots of money.​ ​You can spend your time on the beach or walking around cities and checking out temples.

That is not what an Africa trip is like. Instead of feeling the rush of freedom, I was feeling the high of survival. When you volunteer you do lose that sense of freedom but you gain a sense of being part of the community. You aren’t touring the country, you are living in it, getting to know the citizens on a personal level and making a difference. There is no right or wrong approach to traveling, just different.