Volunteer Abroad Returnees: Coming Home or Going to Volunteer Again?

A few days ago I wrote a Blog post about a volunteer (Daniel Jackson) who returned home only to start up his own non-profit and find new ways to assist the medical clinic where he volunteered for with GeoVisions in Peru.

This Blog post is about a volunteer who is returning to GeoVisions for a second time.  Shannon Anderson first went to Peru with GeoVisions.  Now she's headed to Italy. I hope you will go back to Shannon's Blog and follow her as she makes her plans, takes her Italian language courses, gets her host family and prepares to tutor.

Two things quickly come to mind:

• It is a rare opportunity when people share the intimate details of their decisions, their process and the ups and downs in preparing to volunteer abroad.  I hope you'll subscribe to Shannon's Blog and be a part of all that.  It will serve you well if you are in the same position or hope to be.
• GeoVisions is far more interested in what people do after the volunteer abroad experience than we are in trying to get you to go.  Newspaper articles and magazine articles are full of stories about Voluntourism, how great it is and then listing a few organizations you can choose to help you with your experience. We're more about showing people what happens after the experience has taken place.  In this case...Shannon is returning for another experience.  And we want to share that with you and so does Shannon.

So enjoy Shannon's Blog, Part Due.  Comment on her Blog and help her along and ask her for some advice if you're planning your own volunteer program.  In the meantime, let us know what you're doing if you are a volunteer abroad returnee.  We want to hear about your experience and follow up what you're doing now.