Susan E. Gibson - How to Be an Amazing Volunteer Overseas - Rules of the Road, Stories from the Field

Advance Praise

Susans depth and breadth of real-world experience in overseas work is unmatched. While the book ostensibly is about volunteering, its really about international assistance, even the paid kind. Every Peace Corps volunteer, every international aid worker, manager, and executive of any kindfrom NGO CEOs to World Bank expertsshould devour How to Be an Amazing Volunteer Overseas and assign it to their teams. It will be a text in my courses. A game changer!

Kim Wilson, Sr. Lecturer, Fletcher School, Tufts University

Invaluable guidance for anyone volunteering locally or internationally. The list of dos and donts paired with stories is a great way to share important experienceauthentic, not theoretical.

Wanjiku Kibui, Finance and Operations Consultant

Susan is very frank and gives direct advice. The book is a lesson on understanding humans, on dignity, and on how to treat people that you believe need your help. The depth of her truth forces the reader to reflect on their intentions. You have represented us in the developing world very well.

Sidee Dlamini, Director of Stakeholder Management, African Leadership University

This is an amazing compilation of information, personal anecdotes, real life lessons, and fun-to-read stories. You have demonstrated that you have to know your privilege to truly set yourself in a position of service to others; that it is working alongside communities and individuals who ultimately teach you more than you could ever teach them.

Elissa McCarter-Borde, CEO, Vitas Group

Whilst COVID may have delayed some plans for potential volunteers, the human urge to explore and contribute will still be there once the pandemic is over! I certainly plan to reference it when I talk to new potential volunteers and indeed staff who want to take first assignments abroad.

Sanj Srikanthan, CEO, Shelter Box

I really appreciated the overall tone of respect and deference to the knowledge, experiences, priorities and needs of organizations and/or peoples of the countries that we set out to help. It is so important to take our cues from them and to position ourselves in service to people and communities. Despite todays wokeness, the international aid industry still suffers from first worldism, where developed countries still play the role of experts advising the developing world.

Ghada Jiha, Regional Gender Expert Middle East, UN World Tourism Organization

The opportunity to volunteer with global organizations is a privilege to not only give of oneself, but to learn from local leadership and respect the wisdom to be obtained.

Dr Shelly Whitman, Executive Director, The Dallaire Institute

Copyright Susan E. Gibson, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written consent of the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication data available upon request.

978-1-988025-63-6 (paperback)

978-1-988025-75-9 (epub)

Printed in Canada

Publisher: Sarah Scott

Book producer: Tracy Bordian/At Large Editorial Services

Cover design: Paul Hodgson

Interior design and layout: Liz Harasymczuk

Copy editing: Eleanor Gasparik

Proofreading: Wendy Thomas

Indexing: Wendy Thomas

For more information, visit www.barlowbooks.com

In memory of my mother, Elizabeth McPhedran Gibson. Her encouragement of my off-the-beaten-path life choices was the catalyst for me to live my life with purpose.

To Professor Muhammad Yunus, who transformed my worldview.

Net proceeds from book sales will be invested in four education programs: in Kenya, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, and in a First Nations community in Canada.

See amazingvolunteer.com for further information.

FOREWORD

BY NOBEL LAUREATE PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD YUNUS

Thank you for your interest in this book. Your interest may have originated from your expressed or hidden desire to do something to make this world a better place. You have heard many stories of how individuals devoted themselves to changing peoples lives, and actually succeeded in doing so. You admire these people. You feel that you are not cut out to do something as big as they have done. You think you can play only a minor role by being helpful to people who are contributing to the world, by volunteering in their work.

I want to make it very clear that these people that you admire are no different than you. In many cases, you may be in a much better position than they had been. The difference between you and them may lie in a small detail. They took one tiny step, one small unnoticeable step, in a direction different from their everyday routine steps. The departure from the routine made this big difference. A slight change of direction, over the long haul, makes you reach a destination a thousand miles away from your original destination.

Most of the time, this tiny change of direction happens in an apparently unplanned and spontaneous way. There was something in you that you were not aware of. Everyday life did not let this little something in you germinate and become visible to you. A new situation or a new experience suddenly triggers it, and you take that spontaneous step in a different direction. It changes your life.

People who change the world are not necessarily special people. They are everyday people who do not hesitate to respond to some outside signals. They deviated from their routine steps and felt happy in doing so. Once bitten by this tiny happiness, they could not resist doing it again when they saw that signal. They faced obstacles, but they could not stop. By persisting with their journey, they become the exceptional guys drawing admiration from the regular guys around.

Volunteering is an easy way to come closer to the people who deviate from the beaten path. Volunteering is not about discovering how these exceptional people do it; it is about discovering what you would have done in a situation like that. How would you have done it? It is about bringing yourself to a point where you feel ready to take your own first step.

This book chronicles Susans journey to discover herself and learn to express herself in her own way. She didnt know what she was going to do, but she took the initiative to learn from others by being a part of their daily work. She chose something that intrigued her as a banker. She wanted to understand microcredit by locating herself at its place of birth, in Bangladesh, a country she did not have the slightest familiarity with. In this book, she narrates her day-to-day experiences in detail. She takes the reader with her to share her high points and low points, excitements and frustrations. Most importantly, she shares with readers what this experience meant to her.

Not everybody can jump off from her job in her home country of Canada and head for Bangladesh to find out what is going on there. For those who cannot undertake a similar journey and those who are preparing for such a courageous journey, this book will be a treasure. Dont hesitate to take this virtual journey with Susan to find out what it means to you.