I’m writing to you all after our final days in Bali have come to an end. After an adrenaline-seeking high octane first 10 days, our group finally hit our exhaustion capacity. Our last couple of days never really left the confines of our volunteer site and facility, and perhaps that was for the best. The mix of adventure and cultural exploration is a significant part of these volunteer trips, but it was nice to have our final days feature the heart of what we were in Bali to do: help Green Lion and our local community. This blog post is a reflection of the trip and the impact we had.
Throughout the trip, we had multiple discussions about the purpose of a volunteer trip. Was it to work full days only at the volunteer site? Was it to experience the culture and share our experiences? How could we best balance both? Bali obviously has so many tourist opportunities, but should we be spending some afternoons in paradise when we could always do more at the temple? The volunteer site didn’t like to let us work more because they were so proud of what Bali had to offer and wanted us to experience it, but throughout most of the trip, our group couldn’t shake this guilty feeling.
On my final days of my final VA trip, I began to get clarity. On our third to last day, I went to lunch with some volunteers at a cafe owned by a villager named Harry. Harry’s entire business revolved around volunteers choosing to come spend just a bit of extra pocket money to get his fresh acai bowls and smoothies. He explained to us how much his business has changed since the volunteer program begins in 2017 and how thankful he was for us choosing to come to his village. He couldn’t have been a more friendly host and even though we walked to his cafe, he offered to drive us back to the homestay after our meal.
On the final morning before we left, I went for a morning walk around the village. The local shop owner waved, and a bunch of smiling kids ran by on their way to school yelling “Hello!” After going about fifteen minutes away from the village, a motorcyclist stopped me and asked if I was one of the volunteers in English. After I nodded, he emphasized his thanks to me explaining how much the village had changed. All of the streetlights, paved roads, taxi drivers, and local business owners were thriving as a result of the residual benefits of extra spending to their village economy, something most volunteers probably thought was marginal. All of this was in addition to our actual work which he commended on as well.
After leading this trip, and being a participant on 3 VA, these final moments have helped me understand the totality of the experience. Sure, I’ll always remember waterfall jumping and the sunrise on Mt Batur. I’ll remember my past experiences in Portugal and Philippines cliff climbing and islanding jumping. But what really sticks with me emotionally even amongst the criticism that programs such as these take, is not just the work we actually did but the residual impact we have had. Sure in Bali we helped renovate a temple floor, but we also empowered an entire community and made cultural connections that will transcend our physical accomplishments. Just by creating blogs like these we help spread their culture, attract more volunteers, and completing the flywheel of continued development.
I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity our alumni have provided with VA and implore future EGLers to keep the program alive. Our impact is harder to visualize than you’d initially expect, but after 3 years of these trips, I can definitely say is there in force and we are making a difference.
EGL Family Abroad 