Alumni Speak
How my CAS experience led to this...
I am spending 6 months of my gap year volunteering in Cambodia with an NGO called RAW Impact. It’s difficult to explain what Raw Impact does in a few sentences, but basically they have a lot of different projects all focused in different areas that when put together give impoverished families in Cambodia the tools, knowledge and resources to lead a better life independently. They are in the process of building whole communities and providing Khmer families with a sustainable bamboo house. They have started a bamboo plantation that will eventually create many job opportunities for the locals in that area. They have built numerous schools and are providing local teachers with proper training in order for them to be able to deliver proper lessons, and they have created a debt rescue program and are teaching locals about the importance of saving and how to save money, among other things.
I decided to volunteer with Raw
Impact because I agree with
the way they tackle social
issues in an ethical and
sustainable manner, with the
mindset of create lasting,
long-term impact. I think it’s
important to be mindful about
the repercussions of your actions
and how they are actually
affecting other people in the
long run.
Being here has had it’s fair share
of ups and downs. Besides
obviously the initial culture
shock, homesickness and being totally alone in a completely new environment, the thing I struggled with a lot in the first few weeks is not being satisfied with what I was doing. Even though I was part of a much bigger organisation doing incredible things, back home when I was doing the IB I was leading a small project, while here I was following the path already set out for me by previous volunteers. I think I struggled with the thought that even though what I was doing was helping the organisation run smoothly and improve their projects, I wasn’t driving any significant, unique change. With the project I was leading back home, if I didn’t initiate certain things, the project wouldn’t have developed like it did. Whereas here I don’t really have the opportunity to do that.
I have constantly remembered what Ms Van Rooyen used to tell us; service isn’t always doing things you want to do, rather it’s doing things that need to be done, for the benefit of others. You need to be able to see the greater good of your actions.
Raw Impact runs team trips of groups of people who come over here for around 2 weeks to help with the building and planting. Before they leave, we have a thorough debrief where everyone shares their highlight, what impacted them the most, and how they’ve changed. During the last team I was on, I realised some things that helped me deal with what I had a hard time dealing with before. I’ll share with you what I shared during the debrief;
Update from Lara Vella, Class of 2018.
|41|