Q&A:
* What attracted you to volunteering in these countries?
Going to places that I haven't been before; being able to travel and seeing parts of the world you wouldn't be able to see otherwise and being able to help people.
* What are some of the greatest challenges these communities face?
Day-to-day subsistence. If you are living in a rural area, you basically have to grow what you are going to eat, there are no sources of income in rural areas.
* For people living on a day-to-day basis, how hard is it to start thinking of profits and commercial agriculture?
It's hard to break that mindset because that has been inculturated in them all these years.
It's trying to get them to think outside the concept of I'm growing for my family first, can I grow something else ... where I can get cash now to buy tomatoes. But again, this whole concept of risk, it's just too great for them.
* What are some of the recommendations you've made?
In Mozambique, it was pretty much on the production side, the quality was an issue. They had the ability with the weather to produce year round, but they had stuck to the traditional planting cycle. We recommended looking at different things to plant. They didn't have any money for chemicals or fertilizers, so there was a recommendation that the next volunteer was very familiar with growing organically.
* When you are done with the assignments, what do you hope you've accomplished?
Fulfill the list (of goals) and try to find somewhere to stay in contact with the host organizations so at least you are getting some feedback on how well they are doing.
* What do you hope people get from your expertise when you go on these assignments?
One would be perhaps a different mindset of: There is the problem, is there a way to solve the problem in ways I haven't thought of before? Hopefully, some educational aspects of things they haven't been exposed to before.
* What do you get out of these volunteer experiences?
An intrinsic satisfaction that maybe you are helping a little bit and the aspect of being able to go to places you would never be able to go because, when you go on tours of countries like this, you stay in the big cities and see the museums as opposed to walk in the markets and visit with people.
* How have these volunteering opportunities changed your perception of the countries?
The biggest shock was southern Sudan. They were truly mud houses, making the bricks, building the houses. I didn't know what to expect, but it was more stark poverty than what I did expect.
You have a mindset, a mental image of something, then you go in and usually half of it it's true and half of it it's not.
*How beneficial do you think these projects are?
I think they are, in total, very beneficial. I think going in there and leaving, it's not very beneficial, but if there's a constant presence, I think it is.