| Orphans International America Volunteer Opportunities |
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| Revised Feb. 20, 2004 Copyright 2001 Orphans International America note: the background of this website is whitewashed cement block, typical of proposed Orphans International housing. |
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| -- Americans as Volunteers -- Fellowship Programs -- Volunteer Vacations -- Next Trip: Indonesia: Aug. 17 - Sept. 2, 2002 -- Next Trip: Haiti: Dec.. 27 - Jan. 5, 2003 -- Internet Volunteers -- LifeShare Volunteers -- Retired Volunteers -- College Internships -- Missions -- High School Trips Americans as Volunteers. Since the French writer and cultural observer Touqueville first visited America, it has been noted that America is a nation of volunteers. The social sector has been called the fabric of American democracy. The year 2000 saw half of all Americans volunteer for a not-for-profit organization -- more than will voted for president. Frances Hesselbein, founding president of the Girl Scouts and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, states, "It is not business, it is not government, it is the social sector that may yet save society." And volunteers will continue to be the lifeblood of this vital social sector. Orphans International is a network of professional volunteers, and our numerous volunteer opportunities are listed below: Fellowship Programs. Orphan's International's own "Peace Corp"-style program will be known as the Orphans International Fellowship Program. Each campus will accept teachers, nurses, administrators, computer software instructors, and other skilled workers at the same room, board and low wage as Indonesian, Haitian or Guyanese staff. The program will entail a 40-hour per-week workload and a ten-hour per-week cultural orientation and is open to North Americans age 18 to 45, in good health, with skills suitable to our programming needs. However, if funds can be raised from other countries other than the U.S. and Canada to support this program, then its scope will be enlarged.. Volunteer Vacations. Americans are presently recruited to "travel the world teaching English." One advertisement, found in Mother Jones magazine, pictures a happy American couple and entices: "Hi, everyone! We are teaching at a university near Bandung, Java. The people are wonderful. Of all the countries we have visited, Indonesia has some of the nicest people we've ever met. With the proper marketing, Orphans International should be able to attract volunteer vacationers to Indonesia, Haiti and Guyana to help teach our children. All subjects could be taught in English. Perhaps Orphans International's most popular program may become our two-week trips offered to Indonesia which began in 2001, and two-week trips to Haiti beginning in 2002 (Guyana one-week and two-week trips tentivatively beginning in spring 2003). These "Volunteer Vacations" allow busy professionals to escape for a short period and do something completely different while learning about the world and helping children. Such programs already exist, as reported by the Atlanta Constitution: "Few comforts await us at Hope of the Child, the orphanage I arrive at after a bumpy, two-hour bus ride from the Puerta Plata airport (Dominican Republic, adjacent to Haiti). Dust hangs in the muggy air. Our modest guest quarters are furnished with cheap cots. There is no hot water. But there are plenty of hugs. The 18 children who live here rush to embrace the American strangers, volunteers who have come to visit and help. They long to sit in our laps, ride on our backs, speak to us in animated Spanish. They are astonishingly beautiful children who smile constantly in spite of the poverty that engulfs them. For volunteers/vacationers to Hope of the Child, children are the main attraction." "I signed up for this trip on a whim, intrigued by the idea of combining foreign travel with the chance to help children. Thousands of adventure-seeking travelers take advantage of such opportunities, usually offered through nonprofit organizations. Some plant gardens in Kenya; others study sea turtles in Costa Rica or build houses in Thailand. Volunteer vacations tend to attract busy people who yearn to escape but have trouble lolling on a beach. Michele Morris, a St. Louis producer of TV commercials, read about Hope of the Child in a tiny ad in the back of a flight magazine. "I thought the orphanage part sounded interesting," says Morris, 37. "I've always wanted to volunteer, to give back, but my schedule is so crazy. Morris and I join five others in our weeklong trip to Monte Cristi, a colorful, ramshackle town near the Haitian border." "The visit is organized by Orphanage Outreach in Phoenix. The tax-deductible cost, including airfare, is $875. I had hoped I could do some good at this orphanage, where water is scarce and mustering the funds to keep food in the pantry is a daily challenge. But when I finally arrive at Hope of the Child, I feel no more useful than a brick on a kite. Do I really have anything to offer these children? I can't even speak their language. I quickly realize I have plenty to give. The children crave attention. They are game for every disorganized art project I set before them. They love to sing songs and run relay races, using sticks for batons. They pull out their few possessions from worn shoe boxes hidden under their beds, showing them off like priceless treasures. Some have kept holiday cards sent by previous volunteers." "There is plenty of practical work to do at Hope of the Child. During my stay we spread a truckload of gravel around the orphanage to hold back the dust and stock the pantry with rice, beans and other staples. But these tasks are not what I'm likely to remember about my trip. The beautiful beach where we take the children, the lush mountain scenery, the camaraderie with other volunteers -- these memories will fade. But I know I'll never forget the children. I'll remember every one of their smiling, happy faces." Internet Volunteers. There will be a high demand for a core of Indonesian-Americans with Internet access to volunteer to translate messages from our children to their sponsors and back. In this way, our children and their sponsors will be able to remain in fairly constant communication with each other, sharing their lives not only once or twice a year in person, but on a frequent basis through electronic mail. LifeShare Volunteers. Older adults will be encouraged to volunteer on campus and accrue one year retirement benefits (room, board, services) for each year they volunteer. Volunteers will be recruited in all fields, including teaching, health care and administration. These volunteers must speak English fluently and be at least 50 years of age. The LifeShare Volunteers shall play an integral part of the creation and staffing on each campus.. Retired Volunteers. Older volunteers comprise almost ten percent of the U.S. Peace Corps - volunteers in 77 countries. A recent article in the Houston Chronicle discusses the trend of active senior volunteering around the world: "Catherine Beck may well be the new face of retirement. Though at 71 she precedes the Baby Boom generation, indications are that she is doing what more and more retirees may be doing in the future: putting a lot more spring into her autumn years by volunteering to help others. Awaiting the third two-year Peace Corps assignment of her ten-year retirement, the former Chicago schoolteacher already has taught children in western Africa and the eastern Caribbean. "I could never share with you all the joy I have received," she said. "It's too much." "Beck is a unique woman, yet she very well could be a sign of things to come when Baby Boomers start mothballing their business suits in 2001, the year they start turning 55 and when some start taking early retirement. "It's something I've been researching for 20 years," said Joyce Cohen, a board member of the International Society for Retirement Planning and a life-planning specialist with Unconventional Wisdom of Huntington, Conn. She said that in workshops she presents globally, she has found that deep down, the flower power generation never has lost its quest to reach a higher plane. "A desire to make life better for the coming generations remains a powerful, soulful quest that people hope to work on in the traditional retirement years," she states." "One of the greatest achievements of the 20th century is longevity," said one expert. "We've added 30 years to the life of the average American. One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is putting that longevity to creative use for our communities and our country. "Here is a segment of the population with everything we could possibly want: time, skills and experience. The problem has been that our institutions in this society have been slow to adapt. They're still offering people envelope-stuffing and/or gift-cart pushing around the hospital, but these people want to make a real difference," another expert said. "Retirement used to be this brief hiatus between the job and illness leading to death," he added. "Now people are realizing it could be at least two decades, maybe three. Who could play golf for 30 years? The Peace Corps reflects the idea of a growing social army of seniors. In the 1960s, volunteers 50 or older accounted for one percent of the volunteer corps; today they account for nine percent. According to the New York Times, "A new survey of older Americans has found that 40% are working for pay in retirement" while an equal number do volunteer work. The article summarizes contemporary thought: "The concept of retirement as simply leisure is outdated. 70% of those Americans polled found retirement to be a time to begin a new chapter in life by being active and involved, starting new activities and setting new goals. The poll further confirmed that "older Americans are most interested in raising money for charities like churches, schools and universities and working with children and youth. As for role models, 43% of those surveyed held up former President Jimmy Carter, who teaches Sunday school, writes books, builds houses with Habitat of Humanity and travels around the world as a unofficial ambassador, as the best example of the ideals they seek in retirement. The campuses of Orphans International seem built specially tailored to meet these ideals. In another piece, the New York Times reported on a woman rejected by the Peace Corps in 1961 finally accepted now that she is retired. Orphans International will look to this same population for assistance in operating our campuses. College Internships. There is a new trend on American campuses to spend spring break doing more than getting drunk in Daytona. U.S. News & World Report states that students from the University of Vermont to Mount Holyoke to Boston College are signing up en masse for programs to work with the rural poor in Kentucky, deliver meals to AIDS patients in our nation's capital, and rebuilding churches burned by arsonists in the South. Orphans International will work with colleges from around the world -- particularly in English-speaking countries or countries in which the second-language capabilities of the average national are fluent, such as the Netherlands - to bring college students to the campuses to serve as either assistant teachers or administrators. Programs will be available for either summer, winter break or year-long (September through August). Missions. Orphans International will provide separate housing and work visa applications to members of any non-proselytizing religious organization that wishes to make the Institutes a mission. Missions on our campuses will exist to save lives, not souls. All mission housing will be on a month-to-month basis and is to be cancelled immediately in the event members act contrary to the principles of Orphans International. A mission, as summarized by the late John Cardinal O'Connor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, is an organized attempt to share love -- through education, medicine, manual labor -- with one's neighbors. Missions will be welcome to staff one to six people and assist in building our campuses and programs -- teaching, tutoring, mentoring, and even gardening. We envision that several churches, mosques or national denominations may recruit volunteers or students-in-ministry to serve in quarterly or annual rotations. We hope to attract Protestant, Catholic and Moslem missions, but will welcome non-proselytizing missions from any faith. The campus mosque, church, shrine and temple, it should be noted, are to be run solely by indigenous Indonesian, Haitian and Guyanese religious organizations; the foreign missions will not be permitted to organize independent worship services. High School Trips. Orphans International will host high school trips from abroad to any of our campuses. Potential chaperons should contact our New York office for details. Susan Sarandon once said that she wished "it would be compulsory for evey high school kid to experience a different culture for two weeks and be forced to eat something other than fast food." Each of our planned campuses -- in Indonesia, Haiti and Guyana -- will offer different cultures, and none will offer fast food. An International Effort. Special thanks to the growing, multi-national team of architects, researchers, translators and consultants who continue to provide invaluable feedback and advise on this project. To date: Gilbert Afflick (NY/Jamaica), Fran Alleman-Luce (Boston),* David B. Buehrens (NY), Doris Chernik, Ph.D.(NY), Nina Chernik (NY), Rev. Mathieu Ciceron (Port-au-Prince), Virgilio Gabarra (NY/Philippines), Eliot Kerlin, M.B.A. (NY), Dan Kiang, M.B.A (Hong Kong), Haruko Kuji (Japan), Ben Larkin (Albuquerque), Claud Leandro (NY/Guyana), Kathy Luce (Austin), Rick Luce (Austin),* Michael Magnus (Jamaica/NY), Debi Mahabir (NY/Guyana), Susan Meyers, RN (Miami), Betty Millard (New York), Rick Respecio (NY/Philippines), David Retor (NY/Indonesia), Aki & Fumio Satoh (Japan/NY), Grace Sartono (Jakarta), Stella Sumlang (Jakarta),* Ruben Tendean, Drs. (Manado, Indonesia), Ing. Sonny Retor (Jakarta), Stein Retor (Remboken, Indonesia), Romy Tarar (NY/Pakistan), Drs. Albert Tendean (Bali), Alex Tendean (Manado),* Drs. Jeff Tendean (NY/Indonesia), Dra. Epi Tendean (NY/Indonesia), Dra. Julian Tendean (Manado), Karel Tendean, Esq. (Manado), Meggy Tendean M.D. (Bali), Rina Tendean (NY/Indonesia), Rini Tendean (NY/Indonesia), Rita Linda Tendean, Dra. (Manado, Indonesia), Rev. Winda Tendean (Jakarta), Yet Tendean, Dra. (Manado, Indonesia), and Lola Umboh (Remboken, Indonesia). *deceased |