<#311 Special Report>
Volunteering Overseas: A New Trend for University Students?
By Kim Eun-ji, Student Editor
Kang Min-hee, Student Editor
Jung Hyun-young, Student Editor
University students’ interest in overseas voluntary activities has increased in recent years. The growing interest is reflected in the high completion rate of the first short-term overseas volunteering program of Chonnam National University (CNU). Among 122 students that applied for it, nine students were selected and dispatched to Lesotho in Southern Africa from June 27th to July 17th. The competition rate was 13.5 to 1. Why do many students want to participate in overseas volunteer activities? Chonnam Tribune conducted a simple survey on around 100 CNU students and interviewed several students who have the experience of volunteering abroad.
Why Volunteer Overseas?
Many people think that volunteering overseas provides opportunities for university students to improve their personal development through a variety of experiences in a foreign country, and even advance their academic goals and increase their chances of finding employment after graduation. Why are students so interested in these overseas volunteering activities?The result of the survey conducted from August 22nd to 24th showed their general attitude toward overseas voluntary activities and the reasons why students take part in those activities.
According to the result of the survey, about 67 percent of respondents answered that they would do volunteering overseas if they had the opportunity. It shows that many CNU students volunteer in a foreign country. Firstly, many students seems to do overseas volunteer work to get grades or a job after graduation. About 53 percent of respondents said they volunteered overseas for this reason. Many universities promote student volunteering activities through their curriculums. CNU also encourages it through the student’s self-improvement activity book, in which their volunteering is reflected as a grade, so students can earn necessary credits after participating in it. Lee Yeo-seol (Sophomore, Division of Plant Biotechnology) said, “It is important to know the true meaning of volunteer work, but honestly, I want to participate in it because it can be helpful to get a job.” Considering the answer of the respondents, many students tend to choose overseas volunteering because it is one of five specs that differentiate an applicant from other competitors in the job market.
Secondly, some students are likely to participate in those activities for an overseas trip. 20 percent of respondents answered that overseas voluntary work provides an opportunity to travel abroad. Jung Seung-won (Sophomore, Dept. of Japanese Language & Literature) said, “I think that overseas volunteer work is partially an overseas trip in some way. It makes volunteers meet foreign people with a variety of nationalities and accumulate a broad experience, which can improve their abilities or personalities with their enjoyment of the trip.” As traveling abroad is very expensive, most of students who feel the burden of the cost want to participate in a variety of overseas volunteering programs supported by the government and private enterprises.
Finally, about 15 percent of respondents answered that they want to volunteer to feel a true sense of reward from benefitting other people. While doing voluntary activities in a foreign country, volunteers have opportunities to witness local residents’ real-life problems such as human rights issues or poverty through direct experience. Personal experiences of this kind can make them better cope with difficult situations by recalling the time when they lived in a poor environment. Kim Joo-hee (Junior, Dept. of English Language & Literature) said, “The volunteer activities can help students become aware of their own limits and lead to self-discovery developing their potential. They can also feel a sense of achievement through voluntary work in various fields.”
Volunteering Overseas through Which Program?
Students’ interests in overseas voluntary activities are increasing, but their participation rate is very low. About 86 percent of respondents answered that they do not have any experience of overseas volunteer activities after entering university. Now Chonnam Tribune provides useful information about overseas volunteering programs provided by the government, NGOs and companies. If you want to have the experience of volunteering abroad, you can get an opportunity to do the activities through participating in the programs. The programs have superficial similarities, but they have different purposes and slogans. Therefore, if you know the purpose and goals of each program, you will have more chance to be selected than other applicants.
Cooperation and Participation in Overseas NGOs (COPION), which is a Non-Governmental Organization supported by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, operates long-term voluntary work program. COPION recruits participants of the program in April and October and dispatches volunteers to Russia, Nepal and other countries. (http://www.copion.or.kr) Applicants for the program need to have abilities in some fields such as education and healthcare. Korea Internet Volunteers (KIV) dispatches over 600 university students and information technology (IT) experts to 22 countries to reduce the information gap among nations. Volunteers teach how to use computers and the internet, promote IT Korea and our culture, and do other work for a month. If you want to take part in the program, you should make a team of four people; two members to educate IT, one to promote Korean culture and the other to interpret to the dispatched country’s people. (http://www.nia.or.kr) In addition to the aforementioned programs, several organizations like Korea International Cooperation Agency have operated various overseas volunteering programs.
However, it is difficult to have an opportunity to participate in overseas programs provided by the government or companies due to high competition rate. You can gain experience of overseas volunteer work through joining volunteer service clubs on campus. It will be a good way to participate in the volunteering program in a foreign country. Among them, Human School’s volunteering is different from other programs. The members prepare for their overseas voluntary activities for about a year. They participate in various competitions and festivals to raise enough funds to cover the cost of volunteering abroad and make more suitable educational contents for the local situations. One of the club members Kang Dan-bi (Junior, Dept. of English Language & Literature) who went to Cambodia said, “We are preparing for local people’s education that can be available in their real life. For example, we explained concretely the reason why they should maintain personal hygiene or how they can eradicate parasites.” Unlike other extracurricular volunteer programs, the club members can participate in the whole process of volunteering abroad. You will be able to get a huge experience by participating in the overseas volunteering programs.
Volunteering Overseas for Your Life
Volunteers frequently confront unexpected difficult situations and have to cope with them while volunteering abroad. As a matter of fact, they have a lot of trouble adjusting to living in other countries including eating unfamiliar foods and understanding local residents’ culture. Overseas volunteer activities are very difficult and may disappoint volunteers in some ways. However, many volunteers would feel it is a worthwhile thing to do because it does good work which benefits their society. When we think of the true sense of volunteer activities, we have a tendency to think that volunteering is devotion, but it is not.
Han Jong-suh (Senior, Horticulture and Biotechnology Major) said, “I thinkthat voluntary service is staying with people who need help together, not doing a favor. It helps me find my identity.” He added that he has been sometimes anxious about finding a job, but volunteer activities provided emotional stability and a sense of achievement to him. Meanwhile, some students who have done volunteering overseas said that the attitude toward voluntary activities is the most important because they experienced what they did not expect. Kim Dae-hyun (Junior, School of Business Administration) said, “The cost was higher than I thought. Unexpectedly, the activities were disappointing for me, compared to time and effort I put into the volunteering. However, if students prepare everything needed to do voluntary activities in detail, they could have satisfactory results for each of them.”
If you want to do volunteering overseas, there are several things that you should do to prepare for it. First of all, you should be familiar with local culture and their way of life. You have to try to know brief greetings or the local food. Also you need to know regional problems and make an effort to find ways to help local residents. It is significant that you provide some support for them after becoming aware of these problems. Finally, you have to understand the true purpose of volunteer activities. Choi Yoon-ja (Senior, School of Business Administration) who is a leader of the CNU’s first overseas volunteer team dispatched to Lesotho said, “We studied to understand where we were going, what we were doing and what we needed in Lesotho before leaving for the country. It was the most important thing because the process of preparing made me take part more carefully.” If you know the purpose of volunteering and carefully prepare for it, you are already a good volunteer. As the old saying goes, “Hit two birds with one stone”, it is high time that you can feel a true sense of volunteer activities and broaden your horizons through overseas volunteer work.
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