volunteerism

Growing up in the United States, it seemed like everyone was volunteering all of the time and the spirit of volunteerism was something I took for granted. I’ve now lived in Russia for a little over three years and realize that that spirit isn’t necessarily entirely universal. But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t volunteering in Russia, there just isn’t the same cultural acceptance of volunteering that there is in America.

One of the things I love about my job is getting to meet young people from around the world who are working to make their communities better places to live.

During  2009, I volunteered as an English and computer literacy teacher at Louverture Cleary School in Santo, Haiti, through The Haitian Project. I have continued my involvement with Haitian teachers over the past year by working on the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) at IREX. Needless to say, last January’s earthquake came as a shock.