I’d like to be straightforward with you from the very beginning and tell you that I’m no volunteering expert. In fact, I’m quite the novice. I’ve only volunteered once before and that was for one week during my freshman year of college. I had an incredible experience and left intending to do more volunteer work but failed to do so until now – four and a half years later. That being said, I hope this post might be helpful, or encouraging, to others who have intended on volunteering but have been frozen into inaction by the overwhelming hows, whats, wheres, whens, and whys of becoming a volunteer.
Before I even began considering volunteering, I was looking into teach English abroad programs in Asia. At that point, I knew that I wanted to immerse myself in a foreign culture. Why? Because I wanted to test myself. I also wanted to expand my photography portfolio and try my hand as a freelance photographer abroad.
Granada, Nicaragua
I realized pretty quickly that teaching English in Asia was just a pretext that fit in with my own selfish motives. So, I discarded my disappointing plan and began to rework my intentions. It was at this point that I started considering working for an NGO. And thus the research began. The more I read about humanitarian organizations, the more I began to ask myself, “What can I offer with a passion?” It didn’t take long for me to find the answer: photography.
While I found several organizations all over the world that offered photography classes to underprivileged youth, I indulged the idea of starting my own photo program. But where? Well, here’s how my interest shifted away from Asia and moved towards Central America. In my final year of university, I wrote a research paper about some literature that revolved around the archipelago of Solentiname. In writing the paper, I became fascinated by Solentiname’s primitivist painters, liberation theology, and Eden-like landscapes. My attraction to Solentiname intensified tenfold once I learned that there were several organizations present on the islands.
The rest happened very quickly. I called the founder of Allianza para Solidaridad de Solentiname, spoke to him about his organization, asked him if there were any volunteer opportunities, and, once he answered affirmatively, I pitched him the idea of starting a photo program. We met in October and again in November to discuss the logistics, budget, and preparation for my dream photography program. He told me that I would also be very involved in another project to promote reading to the islands’ youth. After much consideration, I agreed to volunteer for one year. A friend of mine donated some money for us to buy cameras. I bought a one-way plane ticket to Nicaragua and now I’m in Granada where I will be taking a very long ferry ride followed by a much shorter boat ride to Solentiname.
Latest posts by tiagolmg
- Two Questions I Don't Like to Answer - April 7th, 2010
- Two Weeks into a Year's Worth of Photography Classes - March 10th, 2010
- "Can you help me with my homework?" - February 24th, 2010
- Taking Your Time - February 10th, 2010
I would love to volunteer (more short-term) on a project like this. Will you need additional help for short-term chunks of the project? And if so, will you be posting volunteer opportunities on Idealist.org, or how can potential volunteers find out about your work?
Great post, I wish you the most profound success in this new path of volunteering both for yourself and for those lives you will touch. May this new experience be a memorable one, and keep the posts coming.