Sneak Preview: Inside Our Heads

It is a rather different experience living as a first time, full-time volunteer in a first world country where everyone seems to move so fast, eat fast, talk fast, and walk fast. It has been a welcome adjustment and challenge to survive in a developed country with high standards of living with a minimum allowance. As I wake up everyday greeted by the cool breeze of spring, where buses have a strict schedule and people follow a mental queue of who's first and who's next on the Internet at the local library, I find myself thinking of my impact to this community. Thus, my mission begins.

-Raina


Living in a developed country like the UK, where you basically have everything, makes you appreciate the things back home that you usually take for granted. It makes you see the beauty of your country. Most importantly, being a GX volunteer enables you to see that even if the UK is on the opposite side of the world, the problems that we face in our own country are somehow similar with what they are experiencing. Seeing and experiencing all these makes you realize that you can actually do something to help address these problems and make a difference.

–Miel

Being a GXP volunteer has been a tremendous experience so far. It offers an international venue to take an active role in community development through our assigned volunteer placements; to take charge in running and organizing sessions on global issues through various informal learning settings; to live in a new environment with other people different from myself; and aids in personal growth. It has given me the opportunity to try new things, take initiative and a leading role in situations I would not normally find myself in. More than anything, I can notice so far the changes in my persona and I feel privileged and satisfied to be a volunteer of the Global Xchange Programme.

– Philip

Being a GXP volunteer allows me to really interact with a new community in a team so diverse and enthusiastic that every time you talk to them you discover something new. This, along with our team building days, allows me to really interact with others and discover a new culture from the eyes of those living in it. My volunteer placement is challenging, and requires a huge amount of initiative, but pays off huge rewards if I push myself. My beliefs and values are constantly being challenged and adjusted after every GCD!

-Steffan