The Road to Universal Giving

It All Started in Mexico…

For those of us that have traveled internationally, you may remember a time when we were ‘hit’ with the importance of getting involved globally. For me, I was twelve. We were on a family vacation in Mexico, near a traditional marketplace. I remember lots of colorful hats, flags, and beautifully patterned blankets. My father and I wandered off, just a few paces away, to a scene not so colorful. We were confronted with a cult-de-sac of unwashed, handicapped, begging children. Having my eyes widened with disbelief and overwhelming sadness, I simply remember the word UNACCEPTABLE flashing across my mind. I still feel it and see that word all the time. It’s simply “not ok” that millions are starving, on the streets, and without opportunity.

That scene has driven me ever since.

Volunteering

I started volunteering in every capacity I could—in soup kitchens, with welfare patients, crisis counseling in the United States. As I became an adult, my volunteering transitioned to the international front. I volunteered in as many countries as I could, across as many areas as I could. My head spun with what seemed to be disastrous life circumstances, all over.

I headed to remote microfinance in India, where distant villages had a 25% suicide rate as farmers could not provide for their families. I worked on a sustainable farm in Guatemala, with the end goal of creating more manageable marketplaces that could help smaller farmers, previously barred, gain access. I helped preserve part of the Amazon River and local cultural practices in Peru; trained with handicapped people from Pol Pot’s regime in Peru; invested in AIDS prevention centers in Uganda; and worked to prevent domestic violence with prevention centers in Mexico…

El Salvador

One of the most riveting trips was in El Salvador during the earthquake crisis about six years ago. Another person and I were taking deliveries of food, clothing, and bedding up to remote parts of the mountains. These villages were so removed that even the World Food Program wouldn’t go there.

When we arrived, volcanic fluid was flowing into the rivers, and the church steeple and ceiling had fallen down. It was raining, and some homes were caving in. This was a very tough situation. People were so desolate, and then also appreciative that someone had found them. Someone had cared to visit, and to make the effort to help. That was a very moving experience because beyond giving material supplies, our visit to these people made them feel cared and loved.

But that trip was definitely a two-way blessing. I was so struck by their generosity and selflessness. The people in the community were living on perhaps five cents to a dollar a day. But when one family learned that I loved mangoes, they offered me a big bag of fruit that they could have sold. At first I didn’t want to accept it, but I realized they wanted to be able to give, too. While my Spanish wasn’t very good, I tried to thank them with my smiles and positive thanks. The true gift was this sense of connection, shared among us. We were both caring for each other.

A New Kind of Wealth

Meeting new people, connecting with a culture that is foreign to us…these are among the greatest gifts of international volunteering. Travel alone can alter your perspective, but you gain so much by understanding more about someone’s life. Your perspective is enlarged. You understand different cultures. Your mind is opened to see there are so many approaches to accomplishing an activity, and usually best with collaboration with many members of the community.

Giving of yourself through a global volunteer trip will most certainly open you up to a new view of wealth. Wealth isn’t just money. Many of these cultures have a richness that we don’t experience. Wealth in time spent with their families. Wealth in history, culture and rituals. Wealth in connection to the earth, their food, their farmlands. I feel fortunate to have had these experiences, and I know they impact my life in so many ways. My gratitude and inspiration from life stems daily from the richness I have experienced in these international service trips.

UniversalGiving

From these trips, I had to make a decision. Would I become a long-term volunteer, or use my business skills to create a website that would allow millions of others to get involved? I knew I had to scale my experience. In 2002, I founded UniversalGiving.  Our vision is to “Create a World Where Giving and Volunteering Are a Natural Part of Everyday Life.” UniversalGiving is now the top marketplace on the web where people can find trusted, vetted ways to donate and volunteer their time, in more than 70 countries across the world. Visit us to find quality opportunities to impact the world while you travel somewhere new. Travel means different things to different people; to me, to travel and to volunteer is the opportunity to be of service by valuing others. You’ll find it to be lifechanging.

Photos by supermagicmike, Pamela Hawley

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