One of our assignments for a class included a review of a social work website and the first section I read was the international social work page. The site not only addressed the issues we often think of when talking about international aid, but also a need to provided services and support for the international workers themselves. I can speak from personal experience about the emotions and challenges of being out of the country in a foreign environment for long periods of time in a working or volunteer capacity. Though the majority of my experience was very positive, there are always stressful days of being pushed out of your comfort zone. Also add on having to witness some very real suffering associated with poverty, hunger, and lack of resources of other people, and you have a prime potential for workers facing loss of motivation or, worst case scenario, a total breakdown. There must be a support network for those supporters and a system of everyone helping each other.
Yes Maggie is amazing. To work abroad means she has to sacrifice many things and live outside her comfort zone. I really like the picture of the hands and the world.
ReplyDeleteTHat is amazing that you have gotten the chance to serve others internationally. Were did you go and what we some cultural differences you learned while you were there? I would be very interested in heaing more about your journey.
ReplyDeleteI was in Central America and I worked in an intentional community in Costa Rica that focused on sustainable living skills and permaculture and we brought in and installed solar panels for families that wanted electricity without having to rely on the grid. It was an agricultural and rural village so we helped get their products out on the market so they could continue to support themselves with their lifestyle rather than having to go out the city to find jobs.
ReplyDeleteI tend to focus more on similarities rather than differences when I go abroad, but one of the things I did notice was the focus on family and relationships over material possessions and money. It is the norm for children to live with their family until they get married and have a family of their own, whereas in our culture we place so much emphasis on "self-reliance" and young adults are encouraged to go out, get a job, and make it completely on their own.