Dear Aspiring Overseas Volunteer

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Dear Aspiring Overseas Volunteer

As I learned the hard way, there’s far more to pre-departure preparation than just getting vaccinated against typhoid and yellow fever. I also needed to be inoculated with a good dose of reality so that I could start out my service with healthy boundaries and realistic expectations.

The truth is that international volunteers are bound for more than adventure and warm, fuzzy feelings.

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What Justin Trudeau (Accidentally) Taught Us About Being Human

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What Justin Trudeau (Accidentally) Taught Us About Being Human

Things start falling apart when we discover that those “good people” in the non-profit world have actions that are antithetical to the mission of the organization.  When they pay lip service and wear façades in order to be the person they want the world to see.  The public face versus the private face.  The idealized self versus the real self.

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There's More to Social Justice than Awareness

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There's More to Social Justice than Awareness

It seems that when it comes to justice, we often contort it to fit our own agenda. We define its dimensions according to our level of commitment to it. We speak of it to flatter ourselves, inserting “justice issues” casually but strategically into conversations—as if it gives us more buoyancy in the human struggle for worthiness. We sensationalize justice, without unpacking what it really means or looks like.

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