<p>I think part of the problems in this world could be boiled down to the mindset of people who think that all you have to do is write a check.
How sanitary, how presumptuous, how * american*. Better yet, have your * parents* write a check!
Getting to know the people of another country/culture on * their own terms* & in their own backyard, allowing them to teach you what they will in exchange for your own thoughts & efforts- cannot be measured by a piece of paper.</p>
<p>The objective ( as I see it) of TFA, is to take well educated college students and put them into schools in the inner city in order for them to utilize their youth, & enthusiasm to jump start the students learning. ( assuming this is a school with difficulty obtaining teachers- in Seattle this would be erroneous, but in a city with a true inner city, it might not be).</p>
<p>I know TFA was not founded with the intent of turning private school grads into educators.
However, I do believe that the intent was to have TFA alumni bring that experience into whatever fields that they enter afterward. Good intentions anyway.
:)</p>
<p>I have volunteered in domestic areas with challenging populations.
I am not educated, I am not rich or even upper middle class. But those assumptions are often made by the population I was trying to assist, especially if they were american & not immigrants. I was happy to help, but I would rather put my time & energy toward something where I could make a difference & was welcomed rather than met with hostile indifference.
I got enough drama in my life & life is short.</p>
<p>I chair an organization that, among other things, trains North Americans (especially young people) to build biosand water filters - a low-cost, eco-friendly, appropriate household technology that can remove up to 99% of bacterial and viral contaminants from the water supply. ([Friendly</a> Water for the World](<a href=āhttp://www.friendlywaterfortheworld.com%5DFriendlyā>http://www.friendlywaterfortheworld.com) ) We literally know how to stop typhoid, cholera, and dysentery in their tracks, and have actually done so. After training, we try to make it possible for individuals to volunteer abroad, teaching this technology, along with community health and sanitation practices, to communities that need them. Our aim, however, is to empower communities themselves to do it themselves, without us (itās not like we will run out of places to go.) As I say at every board meeting, our success will be achieved when communities are building biosand filters, and we donāt know about it!</p>
<p>Sometimes this may lead to larger things. We recently trained one individual from Evergreen State College. The college faculty gave her a grant to spend a short time in Haiti (she is a Carribean Studies major, speaks fluent French, and is learning Creole.) One thing has led to another, and now we are looking at setting up a semi-pemanent operation in Leogane, the center of the earthquake, even as the major aid agencies are pulling out of Haiti. Our goal, again, however, is to make it possible for the people of Leogane to run it themselves, without us, and success depends entirely on their desire to do so. </p>
<p>[We raise money*], train kidsā¦ and send them out with a skill that can save the world, one glass of water at a time. And, in doing so, I can change his or her life (and with it, that of his or her parents.)</p>
<p>And, yes, the need for safe drinking water establishes a common ground.</p>
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<p>Would you say that about donating money to poor people in your own country?</p>
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<p>That all sounds very admirable. But itās quite different to sending rich kids out to āhelpā by doing unskilled labour that could easily be done by locals, no?</p>
<p>Absolutely agree. When the woman who wanted to work in Haiti first contacted the organization she wanted to volunteer with, they said there was a 6-7 month waiting list. But when she told them she could fabricate biosand filters (which we taught her in 5 days), they said, āwhen can you start?ā and she was there in two weeks. </p>
<p>Iām all FOR rich kids going out and doing unskilled labor (and they will add to the local economy!) But not because it will help communities (and, as above, I feel the same way about TFA), but because it will attune them better to the needs of others as they mature. I canāt help but think that is a good thing - or at least it was for me and my kids (though, in every case, they had skills).</p>
<p>To OP: I think the part that your parents are missing is how participation in these programs will benefit YOU. YOU will learn and grow as a person. You will be challenged on a day-to-day places, you will have a great deal of responsibility on your shoulders and will learn how to handle it, you will meet and form relationships with people you will not otherwise meet. There is no way that you can get that experience from writing a check.</p>
<p>People do not join TFA or Peace Corps for selfish reasons, of course ā but the bottom line is that these programs nonetheless benefit the volunteer in immeasurable ways. You will grow and learn and change. It will change the way you feel about yourself and your place in the world.</p>
<p>Iād also note that, especially with Peace Corps, down the line your participation is always going to earn the respect of others and may be the thing on your resume that stands out and gets you hired over a competing candidate. Itās just one of those things that pops out on a resume, piques the interest of a prospective employer, and says something about your level of commitment as a person that canāt be expressed in many other ways. </p>
<p>Your parents are responding because of their inner fears ā they fear for your safety, and they fear for the growth and change that will inevitably come as you complete your services. They will lose their baby. They want to protect you both from the physical danger you might face, but also from the harsh realities of life that you might see and hear along the way. </p>
<p>If you confuse your parentsā fear with reason, then you may be taking the very first step to a very safe and boring life. </p>
<p>Iām not saying that you have to join TFA or Peace Corps in order to have a valuable or interesting life. Iām just saying that this is one of those āroad not traveledā things, and I would hope that in your adult life that you make choices based on what YOU want, not what your parents want. </p>
<p>My advice: donāt talk to your parents any more about this choice, but make your choices and proceed full speed ahead at whatever you want to do. As a college grad you are an adult who needs to make your own choices. You donāt need your parents permission. While it is nice to have, you donāt need their approval either. If necessary, you can present this to your parents as a done deal. They will adjust.</p>
<p>Well said!</p>
<p>Would you say that about donating money to poor people in your own country?</p>
<p>Well I did point out the circumstances in which needy americans were not interested in physical assistance,- but they may possibly be helped by monetary contributions by organizations that already are in their communities. I pay taxes & I do donate to a few charities.</p>
<p>But being aware of mismanagement of funds at the non profit level, including our city school district makes me reluctant to make regular contributions unless I know more about how my money is going to be spent.</p>
<p>This is not an either/or discussion.
The OP can volunteer/live on a limited stipend for a year or two or three, then continue her education, and still decide to donate generously from her earnings.</p>
<p>Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.</p>
<p>Teach a man to fish, and then lead him to a polluted pond to fish in, and heāll curse you for a lifetime. Better to give him the fish.</p>
<p>āthey were both outraged that I would be āwastingā two years of my life on an activity that is irrelevant to my future job.ā</p>
<p>I dislike your parents. Itās parents like yours that keep the Communist Party in business. They make it so easy to hate capitalismā¦they always think the hard work is for somebody else. Tell your parents you agree with them about the Peace Corps, and that youāre going to go in the Marine Corps instead.</p>