<p>Teaching English isn’t the only thing you can do abroad. I’m actually planning a trip to Tanzania and Kenya (and possibly Rwanda… I wrote a 4000 word paper on the genocide and want to see the country) next summer with my aunt. She went as part of an NGO conference this year to help them organize a legal aid system. She met some women who run a domestic violence clinic and we are going to go help.</p>
<p>Besides, if I want to work at the UN (which I do), travelling abroad and volunteering in as many different places as possible will only help me. And that’s not to say I don’t volunteer at home. I founded my school’s Amnesty Club and am part of the Mayor’s Youth Council as well as the Youth Volunteer Corps in my city. It’s all relative. :)</p>
<p>Sending money does not always work. The Red Cross and other NGO’s have had to pull out of places like Iraq and Darfur because they were being attacked. Convoys also frequently get attacked by guerilla troops who steal food and supplies. Sending money to corrupt governments is also a bad idea (google Mugabe + Zimbabwe). Seriously, education and infrastructure building (physical things like hospitals, schools, and roads as well as financial and social systems) are the most important elements to helping these countries step out of poverty. You should look into microfinance in developping countries. The results are amazing, but they need people to set these institutions up before anything can be done. </p>
<p>Travelling is amazing. If I am going to travel anyways (the goal is to get to every continent except antarctica before I am 25), I might as well volunteer while doing it. Good philosophy, no?</p>
<p>P.S. To jPoD: [ quote ] without spaces [ /quote ]. Share the love… now you can enjoy the quote function! (I only learned how to use it a month ago… lol).</p>