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Going Global: Campers Take On The World’s Challenges
By Diane Stopyra

For the current generation of high school students, the world is becoming a much smaller place. Today’s teens are traveling abroad in greater numbers than ever before, but they’re not simply hoping for mere adventure or an exotic vacation overseas. These ambitious teens aim much higher; they’re out to change the world.

Community service camps are an increasingly popular way for young adults to do just that. Hundreds of volunteer programs across the country offer opportunities for social, environmental, and wildlife service work overseas. For anywhere from one week to several months a year, participants abandon their individual comfort zones to help build schools in South America for needy Peruvian children, work side-by-side with the orphans of a Hill Tribe Village in Thailand, or renovate public buildings in Guadalupe. Other programs involve teaching English in the third world, researching the behavior of whales along the Gold Coast of Australia, or helping to purify the contaminated waters of Tanzania. The possibilities are endless.

But just as overwhelming as the more tangible accomplishments of service camps, are the internal benefits for those who participate. Donnie Baker, marketing and communications director for the Quest program, has seen first hand the importance of cultural immersion. “It’s the highest level of cultural exchange,” he said. “Living, breathing, and eating food with people of a different cultural background, even for a short time, opens your eyes.” Volunteers leave a camp experience with a broadened perspective not only on the foreign lands they visit, but on their home countries as well.

Perhaps even more importantly, campers are important forces in combating poisonous misconceptions about today’s youth, namely that they are passive about the condition of the world in which they’re growing up. 

Katy Daly, the regional director Adventures Cross Country is impressed by what hard working high schoolers she’s encountered since entering the volunteer field. “They want to give,” she said of her campers. “Often, they want to continue working even after the scheduled time to leave a work site.” On an even broader scale, volunteer campers have done immeasurable good in combating the “ugly American” stereotype that seems to permeate global thinking. 

As an added bonus, campers are able to reconnect with the natural world during their service. Accommodations for students vary from program to program; sometimes participants stay on rustic, luxury-free camp sites, while others stay with indigenous families or in hostels. Either way, campers are asked to leave the comforts of home behind, which means no iPods and no cell phones. In today’s fast-paced, techno-savvy society, taking the time to separate oneself and reconnect with what’s real is important.

“There is simple profound value in slowing down,” said Joanne Pinnaire, director of the Visions Program, “of being in the here and now and navigating the world from deep within you and your instincts.”

Of course, this isn’t as easy as it may sound. Countries which require the most aid are often the countries which are the most unstable politically. Understandably, parents raise concerns about sending their children to remote, often volatile parts of the world. But among all of the programs mentioned here, safety is a number one priority.

For Rustic Pathways, the investigation into a potential trip site is a two year process, during which time camp directors conduct in-depth field research. Some camps require that volunteers take pre-departure classes to become better informed travelers, and almost always, camp leaders must be certified in first aid or First Responder’s, if not a more advanced safety program. Everything from the accessibility of medical aid facilities to food safety questions are taken into account. 

“There isn’t one of our trips that our own President wouldn’t be comfortable sending his daughter on,” Daly said.

Volunteering overseas offers a healthy vehicle through which a student can challenge existing stigmas, prioritize future goals, and establish a solid understanding of oneself and the wider society. 

Diane Stopyra is an editorial assistant at Curious Parents.