Lessons I Learned

Guilt. . . it sounds like such a bad word. But maybe we should start to look at it a little more lovingly. It’s our morals, our values, and our hopes for the future rising up within us to remind us what we believe in. HOW we present those beliefs, and our ability to express our feelings without “forcing” guilt on someone, is important to consider and will significantly impact the reaction of those around us (and that is something I need to continually remind myself).But trying to avoid all guilt might be just as harmful. I say, bring on the guilt! If we DON’T, our planet and our future are in trouble!

Have you ever been in a situation where someone in the room makes a statement that they are about to go do something “responsible” (sort through the recycling at the end of a party, saying no to the dessert offering, etc.) and, when you see they have made this choice and you haven’t you say, “What, are you trying to make me feel guilty?!”?

Is feeling guilty when we do something we know is bad for the environment, bad for ourselves, or irresponsible a bad thing? We often tiptoe around our real thoughts or intentions, worried that we might make others feel guilty about their actions if we state our own choices. Continue Reading

Less than two weeks ago, the day after I landed in the US for a month-long trip of meetings/fundraising/family, I got a call from our staff in the Siem Reap office. They wanted to know if it was ok for them to pursue a new idea they had come up with which they were calling “The Power of 10“.

Their idea was to create a powerful video which would inform people about why we do the work we do at PEPY – to gather interest, support, and awareness.  They wanted to launch it on 10/10/10.

I suggested we wait until 11/11/11…. how would it be possible to get this off the ground in only 12 days? They expressed how much they REALLY wanted to try, and I told them to go ahead, thinking it would be nearly impossible to find an animator to do what we were looking for in such a short amount of time.

But, they did it.  The team in Siem Reap worked through the weekends and their holiday this week, they found an animator, and they made a new website: www.jointhepowerof10.org and they did it because they believed in this idea and they owned it.  It was their idea to push it and their idea to make it huge.  And they have reminded me to be more optimistic, that huge things CAN happen, if people are passionate and have ownership in their ideas.

Thanks to the PEPY team who put 12 days of work into making this happen, Soe who made yet another beautiful website for PEPY, Rick who made the animation at lighting speed, and Tess who did our logo and branding. With only $75 invested in this project and a lot of volunteer hours, this sites is proof that saying yes to peoples big ideas a way to empower them to make the ideas come true.  I’m excited to see where this leads us…..!

We’d love it if you would “Join the Power of 10“.

I just read through and commented on this blog by Jane Reitsma about the local vs global volunteering debate.  She wrote it in response to my post about ideas for how to add value in your volunteer placement.

You can see in my comments on Jane’s piece that I recently had an experience where I got a new perspective of the potential of voluntourism.  I have usually seen wealthy people come through on voluntourism experiences, both the ones I have organized and the ones I myself had joined which started me on this journey.  Usually, it was a bunch of us who came from “privileged” backgrounds learning about just how privileged we were.

That is indeed a powerful experience, but listen to this:

http://reader.pepyride.org/a-travelers-transformation-from-voluntourism

Lesly’s story was the first personal account I had heard of someone who had had a life of gangs and anger whose life was dramatically changed through a voluntourism experience. I asked my friend, the founder of Global Potential, the organization Lesly had traveled with, if I could meet Lesly. Last week, when I was traveling through NY, I visited his school and joined the global potential group there for a presentation/discussion. I was SO impressed with these students. They had such self-confidence and, for many, a new found awareness about their ability to do good in the world.  I wrote more of my thoughts on this in the comments on Jane’s article (above).

It relates to the experience these “deportees” (or “returnees”) have had in Cambodia:

http://current.com/participate/vc2/86520671_cambodia-tiny-toons-break-dancing-for-life.htm

Please watch this and listen to the part, around 5 minutes and 20 seconds in where one of the teachers (an ex-gang member in the US) says: “If there was a program like that for me, I would not have turned out this way….. If you are exposed to it, to know you can do good, then you don’t end up… using drugs, be in a gang, etc.  This gives them the chance to grow up to be the person they might be able to be.”

Areas of our modern societies seem to have taken away a necessary part of what makes us do good: we need to be needed.  We need to know HOW we can do good in the world.  Once we are exposed to that – these two stories above – are proof that it is addictive, life changing, inspiring…. if we know how to do good, if we know how it FEELs to do good, if we know that we have the skills/talent/desire/energy to do good in the world we become compelled to continue to do so.

What do you think?  Why do YOU try to do good in the world?  If it is because it helps YOU, because it changes YOUR life, that is ok!  Actually – that’s great!  Because the more we change and improve ourselves, the more we learn HOW to do good, the more we continue to pursue a life of positive impact for others, and the more our potential for doing good increases.

I am part of a panel at the Notre Dame Forum next week, and I was asked to write a piece about the “Common Good” as it relates to businesses and the work place.  Here is my take, from the perspective of growing PEPY.

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When you work in the social sector, some are quick to think you are a martyr, sacrificing for others. People sometimes talk about a concern for the “Common Good” as if it were contradictory to a concern for “Our Own Personal Good.” But the two are not mutually exclusive, or at least, they don’t have to be.

We named the organization we founded in Cambodia “Protect the Earth. Protect Yourself.” (PEPY for short). The name alludes to the relationship between common and individual goods – the environment is a common good we need to protect in order to ensure our own safety. By protecting the earth, we are thereby protecting ourselves. Telling a Cambodian family to reduce pesticides to protect the common good of our global environment bears little weight if that family is struggling to feed its own children. When they learn that the poisons they are putting into the ground enter their water source and harm their children’s health, the issue becomes a much more compelling reason to do less environmental damage.

Similarly, working in a job where you are helping others can also be a self-serving choice – not just in the general sense of “making the world a better place,” but also in a way that more directly benefits yourself. In my opinion, the best joys you can receive in life come from helping others to succeed and reach their own potential. That is my aim through my job, not only because it is good for the world, but also because it is good for ME. My favorite quote is by Harold Thurman and it says:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and then go out and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Doing a job that you love is indeed like coming alive, like entering Narnia, like turning on a switch that makes you wake up in the morning eager to be part of a day spent creating something in which you believe. There is no substitute for loving what you do – you can’t fake it, to the world or to yourself. Do you wake up eager to begin the day, itching to make change and move forward, or secretly wishing for a snow day? By doing what makes you come alive, and finding ways to spread that passion you have for your work, you are adding to the common good: there is nothing more motivating than seeing someone come alive.

The organization I run has a branch offering educational, adventure, and service-learning tours, and recently I have been approached by a few people who are interested in entering this business sector. They typically start by asking about the business model and wondering how they can increase their income from tours, and my advice is always to focus on impact over income. If we continue to hold income as the measuring stick for success with and as the aim of our companies, we will continue to breed more transparency-resistant and contagious strains of damaging business models. If, instead, we hold impact as our gold standard and strive to be the best at what we do, there is no question that income will follow. In a world where “green initiatives” and “CSR” are becoming marketing techniques, we spend too much time trying to “craft our story” and describe our impact and not nearly enough time accomplishing it. Once again, there is no substitute for doing good: if you are working towards it, others will see that and follow along.

Let’s do what we love and focus on doing it the best way that we can – the people, the funds, and the addition to the common good will indeed follow.

Last week I wrote a blog post complaining about volunteer sending organizations trying to “sell” their 17 year old volunteers to NGO organizations.  I then got a very well thought out response from 16 year old Naya Herman who is considering volunteering abroad and so I decided to answer her two questions in two new blog posts. Here is the second of two posts.
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As for your second question, what can YOU do, a nearly-17-year-old, intelligent, worldly, education-seeking, student?  Well, there is a LOT you can do.  I just don’t think that these “pay to teach English in an orphanage” programs are it.  First off, my advice is:

a) Start off by volunteering at home. There is a quote that says something like “We go abroad to stare at the same people we ignore at home.”  We have homeless shelters at home, big brother/big sister type programs where you can mentor a younger child who might not have someone as loving and intelligent as you to believe in them, refugee service programs where you can be matched with a refugee family coming in from South East Asia (if that is where your interest lies) and you can help show them the compassion and welcoming feelings you received when you were in Cambodia.  There are a LOT of ways to do great things every week at home (libraries to read to young kids in, fundraising projects at school, writing online about the lessons you learned on your travels to share with others, etc).

b) Look into NGOs to volunteer abroad where your skills are needed and/or you can provide support to programs you believe in without going through a profiteering middle-man. At PEPY, we take volunteers for 6 months, but the difference from the typical “Volunteer Abroad” programs is, they usually work in our OFFICE, not with students, not building things, not teaching English in orphanages.  Hence, the work seems a lot more “boring” than the “go abroad and change a child’s life” ads some volunteer programs are using.  BUT, there are indeed things that someone with your skills could help do at PEPY or elsewhere – and they might be similar to things you would do interning at home in an office such as editing copy in English, reading through and sorting data and English information that our Khmer staff might have difficulties with, donor relations and thank yous, etc. No, not glamorous, but yes, a chance to learn. 

When evaluating a volunteer placement I would consider:

1) Do my skills match the stated need? Are you being sent out as a Peace Corps volunteer in “Guatemalan Small Business Development Planning” when you majored in English and have never been to Guatemala?  Hmm…. maybe it’s not a great fit?

2) Does the stated volunteer position seem like I will be adding to the sustainability of the organizations overall work? If the core problem the program claims to be solving is English language education, does your short term visit seem like it is a good long-term solution?  If instead, you are teaching TEACHERS English to improve their native pronunciation so that they can be more effective teachers in the long-term, that would seem to me to be a slightly better fit.

3) Does the job seem like one fit for a short-term outsider? An organization based in a foreign country and working in a different language than your own will hopefully not place you in a program management position in a community.  If they are, you should go back to a) and analyze if your skills match the need.  If they are placing you in an administrative or support position, see if yours is a role that would make sense for an outsider to do.  Could a local person fill your role?  If your role is editing English copy in grant writing proposals, perhaps it is a good fit because you are able to add value through a skill you have, you would have the chance to teach the long-term staff how to improve their work, and if there is no one there to fill your role once you leave it is still possible for the organization to continue on and be successful, with perhaps slightly less editing support.

4) Where is your money going? If you are paying a “fee” to volunteer, whose salaries are you paying?  Are you paying for a UK office of a volunteer sending program?  If so, consider if the value they have provided is worth the fee you are paying.  Do they seem like they are “selling” you something or are they taking the time to honestly answer your questions and guide you to a fit that is best for you?  Is the local partner paying to have you there?  If so, do you think the value you are able to provide is worth the money they are paying to have you, or would their funds be better spent on their programs? These are questions you will need to answer based on each individual case.

I hope this is helpful!  If there are others out there reading this, I’d love to see comments with additional thoughts or other advice you would give a young person looking to volunteer!

Last week I wrote a blog post complaining about volunteer sending organizations trying to “sell” their 17 year old volunteers to NGO organizations.  I then got a very well written response from 16 year old Naya Herman who is considering volunteering abroad and so I decided to answer her two questions in two new blog posts. Here is the first of two posts.
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Let’s start with the question about aid organizations “keeping themselves in business”.  Unfortunately, there are way more cases than I would like to see of NGO’s being a way for people to make money and sustain their lifestyles rather than focus on actually doing good (the recent case of an NGO “working” in Cambodia and founded by a NYer which was revealed to have paid the founder and his travel expenses for years but yet had spent no money in Cambodia is one example) – but that is not really what I was talking about.  People clearly choosing corrupt actions using an NGO as a farce is indeed something we see here, but I am also referring to organizations, much like PEPY, who started out small and then started to grow.  At a point, like we are at now with PEPY with our 35 local staff, you grow to a stage where you have many staff members and the cost to keep them employed as well as your office costs, etc, becomes substantial.  If you lose funding, it is then not only your programs that might stop, but people might lose their jobs, so what you sometimes see in those situations is that the NGO scrambles for funding.  Sometimes they take on work that is outside the scope of their mission or skills in order to get funding to stay afloat, or sometimes they focus less on program improvements while focusing more on bringing funds for overhead.

Organizations should be working themselves out of a job, right?  If their stated mission is to ensure that all children in their county have access to health education, they should be working towards a day when they are no longer needed.  If there comes a point where the goals become to difficult to achieve or the focus of the mission is actually achieved, it is rare to see an NGO call it a day, fire all of their employees, and shut down. They instead move on to something new, yes, it could be in large part to continue to do good in new areas, but it typically is also in large part to keep their own organization going.

In the case of these middle-men volunteer sending organizations I was writing about (some of them being non-profit and some for-profit, though in reality it does not matter how you are registered as you can do great work and poor work on either side of the legal bridge), when THEY have employees and overhead, especially if there overhead is in more expensive parts of the world in which to do business (as many of them are), then they have a LOT of incentive to “sell” these trips. They NEED to sell these gap year service programs in order to make enough money to pay themselves, and some of them, it seems to me, are more concerned with selling a product to make a profit than they are with matching skills with needs, properly vetting NGO partners, ensuring that the community partners are properly benefiting from the relationships, etc.

Does that make sense?

Sometimes we need to be able to visualize the changes we want to see in the world or in our own lives in order to figure out how to get there.  Other times we can imagine the end goal, but we need help with the development of the process or the discipline to reach a long-term goal.

Below is a model for how our Child Clubs are designed to help children visualize and achieve changes they want to see in their communities. The model is simple, and it is similar to how we try to design all of our programs at PEPY:

This is the same process for how our community school development program works: the community (teachers, parents, school support committee & administrators) identify the problems THEY want to solve, we connect them to new ideas and a methodology for how to think about framing a solution, and they take actions to solve their problems.

This is how our new HR system is designed to work at PEPY as well: our staff members share their personal short-term goals and their life goals with our “Goal Guide” who helps them think about ways they can achieve these dreams. The milestones might look like setting up a savings plan/account to achieve their goal of buying a home or a moto, helping them acquire the skills they will need to reach their dream of owning their own business, even connecting them to internships outside of PEPY if their goals are in areas where we can not provide them the necessary training. From there, THEY need to choose to take those actions if they desire.

Not all of our programs involve self-identifying problems and not all of them are based on community led problem solving but we are now focusing more on these areas.  The process above, though effective at creating more lasting changes, is time consuming. Sometimes it is so much easier to go for the low-hanging fruit and try to quickly “solve” problems for others, as we have tried to do before, but we have found that the slow and steady community-led changes are the ones that last.

Do you have thoughts on this? Examples of your own work or programs you know about which relate to these ideas?  Please share!