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Careers in helping people..
4rch3nemy
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
..okay, first thing I'd like to do is thank you guys in H/A because you're all great. I've asked a bunch of questions and always feel a lot better with some of the advice I get. Thanks again.
I was watching an independent news site (www.vbs.tv) and came upon some self-realization: everytime I watch tourism tv/overseas news, or meet/listen to people who've gone abroad, I get a wondrous feeling. I wonder what it'd be like to help people, or be a global journalist, and my stomach flutters.
Enough with the backstory.
What are my options regarding this? I've very little college education, I'm 22, I've got almost no tradeskills, and very little volunteer experience. I just badly want to do some sort of (hopefully important!) change to the world in a good way. I'd like to go anywhere but North America and really immerse myself in new cultures, meet new people with like mindsets ("help people! yay!"), and just see the world.
I'm convinced there is some sort of career that I can work towards, because frankly.. I'm at a turning point in my life and want to make it happen. It can really be ANYTHING and I'd be glad.
Even if it were a 1 year program helping to build homes in Africa.. I'd take the opportunity. Hell, put me in Baghdad. I so badly want this.
If I'm not clear, please just enquire.
I was watching an independent news site (www.vbs.tv) and came upon some self-realization: everytime I watch tourism tv/overseas news, or meet/listen to people who've gone abroad, I get a wondrous feeling. I wonder what it'd be like to help people, or be a global journalist, and my stomach flutters.
Enough with the backstory.
What are my options regarding this? I've very little college education, I'm 22, I've got almost no tradeskills, and very little volunteer experience. I just badly want to do some sort of (hopefully important!) change to the world in a good way. I'd like to go anywhere but North America and really immerse myself in new cultures, meet new people with like mindsets ("help people! yay!"), and just see the world.
I'm convinced there is some sort of career that I can work towards, because frankly.. I'm at a turning point in my life and want to make it happen. It can really be ANYTHING and I'd be glad.
Even if it were a 1 year program helping to build homes in Africa.. I'd take the opportunity. Hell, put me in Baghdad. I so badly want this.
If I'm not clear, please just enquire.
4rch3nemy on
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the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Awesome link.. BUT I forgot to mention to you all that I'm pretty much broke and need to either earn money doing this, or at the very least not LOSE money doing this.
The problem with them, for me at least, was that you don't have much say in where they drop you.
A lot of people who are like you take lousy jobs in their homeland and will use that money once they have enough saved up to travel to Africa, it's part of their way to help others. You can't expect to run 50/50 when you're going to a place where they have to live on less than a dollar a day, the minimum wage you make here is more money than half the world will ever see.
My friend is in PeaceCorps right now, he left right after he graduated college. He's working in Cameroon doing something or other, and he absolutely loves it. Seriously, he's questioning whether or not he'll return to the States or just keep doing this (or similar programs) indefinitely. Might not be for you, but some people love it.
The details I can remember from his experience: they do give you $6,000, after your 2-year tour is over. They pay for your transportation over there and back, and for a brief training program. You also get a month or two of vacation time, but of course all expenses are on you if you want to fly back to the US (although some people stay where they are, or travel around that country/continent on the cheap).
As for location, he wanted to be somewhere in Africa ideally, but would have taken Central America, and he ended up getting near his top choice. The way it worked was he gave them general regions that he'd most like to visit and the kind of jobs he'd like to do, they found all the things that fit those criteria, he ranked them, and they gave him the top choice that they could. You can see what job categories and regions they place people in/send people to on their site, but there's no guarantee that you'll get your first choice of either (though you can refuse an offer if you don't like it).
Also, if you want to do something else afterwards, having the PeaceCorps on your resume is great. It's essentially two years' worth of really intensive volunteer/service work, and I believe my friend mentioned that government organizations either have to or often give preference to people who have served, so it's especially helpful if that's what you'd like to do later.