The Benefits of Volunteering Abroad
Volunteering in your community or at a local nonprofit is incredibly important to helping those in need. By offering up your time and effort, you are working to make a positive difference in the world. But there are also other volunteer opportunities that work to provide critical services directly where they are needed. This is where volunteering abroad comes in.
Volunteering abroad involves volunteers traveling to particular areas around the world to provide crucial assistance to the individuals living there. There are even volunteer abroad programs for students and professionals alike that routinely help in places that are underserved, under-resourced, and in need of aid. Let’s explore some of the main benefits of volunteering abroad.
Reasons Why You Should Volunteer Abroad
• Providing Help Where It’s Needed Most - One of the main benefits of volunteering abroad is that you are helping out where it is needed most. While there are certainly issues in every country and region around the world, particular locations don’t have the same support and assistance available as others. This is where individuals who volunteer abroad can provide help where it’s needed most.
Sometimes, this help may be something specific, like medical care, and without individuals volunteering, those who are in need of assistance would not get the care or help they need. It’s also been shown that volunteering abroad is especially effective when it comes to promoting healthcare and nutrition specifically.
• Having a Direct Impact - Similarly, another advantage of volunteering abroad is that you will have a direct and immediate impact on the situation that you are helping with. When we work to make the world a better place—whether through volunteering, making donations, or any other helpful act—we don’t always get to see that work in action and the impact it has.
Volunteering abroad allows you to be on the ground where help is needed and see the effects of the work you are doing on the community there. Additionally, it can also benefit local economies by bringing in outsiders who will spend money on transportation, food, hotels, and more.
• Developing Relationships With Those You Are Helping - When you volunteer abroad, you can develop relationships with those you are helping. Whether it’s helping to provide clean water to a small village or offering medical care to individuals with health issues, you have a greater opportunity to develop a relationship with these people since you are actually assisting them where they live and immersing yourself in their communities while you are there.
• Expanding Your Worldview - Another benefit of volunteering abroad is that it helps to expand your worldview. Visiting new places helps us to understand different cultures and what it’s like to live in these places, what these individuals go through on a daily basis, and the barriers they face. You can learn about their customs, explore new locations, try different types of food, and more. However, the primary focus should always be on helping people first and traveling to a new place second.
The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) continues to provide humanitarian aid to children and their families through our hospitals, pediatric medical programs, health initiatives, hospital infrastructure projects, orphan and refugee sponsorships, and medical missions, which involve medical teams volunteering in hospitals in Palestine, refugee camps in Lebanon, and more. These efforts help to ensure that children in need get the vital assistance they require.
PCRF has a committee of volunteer pediatricians on our Medical Advisory Board, who are dedicated to building up services through training and programs, as well as guiding PCRF to improve the quality of pediatric care in Palestine. This includes providing surgery for children who have scoliosis.
PCRF is not a political or religious organization. Our mission is to provide medical and humanitarian relief collectively and individually to Arab children throughout the Middle East, regardless of their nationality, politics, or religion. We rely on charitable giving to provide medical treatment, surgeries, safety, shelter, and support to children and their families in Palestine and the Levant. Find out how you can get involved and help make a difference in children’s lives today!