{"id":2459,"date":"2017-10-02T18:46:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T18:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sosvolunteertrips.org\/?p=2459"},"modified":"2021-10-10T05:46:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-10T05:46:57","slug":"five-reasons-youre-going-on-an-outreach-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentsofferingsupport.org\/five-reasons-youre-going-on-an-outreach-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Five reasons you’re going on an Outreach Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Venn<\/strong><\/p>\n

And there I was, still so young and naive that buying textbooks with the intention of actually reading them was about as conscious a decision as willingly sporting Osiris\u2019 was.<\/span><\/p>\n

First-year university is the cat\u2019s hairball of life. It\u2019s soft, cozy and deceivingly cute. But also has hair in weird places, probably smells and is almost as confusing a thing as uncomfortable parents explaining where babies come from for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

SOS\u2019 Outreach Trip was the binder to my scrambled papers in first year. Since on a daily basis, my mind contrived three thought waves:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I\u2019m a failure already,<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. What am I doing with my life,<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Does Metro have the $ .99 chocolate milk on sale?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    SOS was there to help me understand two of those three things a little further.\u00a0<\/span>I still haven\u2019t a clue what I\u2019m doing with my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As the trip hurried to home-time and the post-trip mental throbbing stymied the ol\u2019 noggin\u2019; understanding the effects the trip had on me transformed unidentifiable feelings into a state of productive and tolerable reverse culture shock.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This lead me to a virtuous epiphany of why anyone would hop on a plane with 10-plus strangers, united by SOS.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Even if all of these reasons don\u2019t smack you in the face with truth, at least one of them will. That\u2019s the glory of these trips: multiple people chasing success through one common goal – helping others.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Professional Goals<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Regardless \u00a0of your desired industry, you will encounter things that will indirectly influence you professionally.<\/span><\/p>\n

      First off: if you think you know what you want to do with your life – that\u2019s cute. There is a very good chance an Outreach Trip might throw a lovely, constructive wrench in your plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

      It would be inaccurate to say that the trip entirely changes ideal career paths – but rather helps them flourish into a multi-faceted path which can encompass more than one may have thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cThe SOS trip made me realize that I really like interacting with people,\u201d says Cathy Li, an SOS Outreach Trip participant who travelled to Costa Rica in May 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Cathy majors in sociology and environmental sciences at the University of Toronto. She said that before the trip, she really wanted to be a politician to change things, but after experiencing the trip, she realized that she can change the world by utilizing different tactics.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cMy goals are more aligned to global projects rather than just politics,\u201d she continues, \u201cI want to be able to plan for projects and invest time and energy into the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

      Although Cathy admits that various experiences can provide you with a professional epiphany; she still reflects on lessons learnt on the trip, \u201cAny profession that allows me to care about something so much is a profession that is worth changing [for].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Challenging yourself<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u201cYou are mentally and physically pushing yourself to an extent that is generally out of the norm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

        Recent graduate Vyishnavy Venkatesh went on an SOS Outreach Trip at the end of her fourth year at Ryerson. She sums up the challenges and recognizes the obligatory perseverance perfectly:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u201cYou are surrounded by a bunch of strangers with no furniture,\u201d \u2026. Accurate.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Aside from the obvious challenges, such as language barriers, physically demanding work and other obstacles with the new community and culture, Vivi touches on what it\u2019s like to live and deal with the other trip participants:<\/span><\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n

        \u201cLiving with 14 individuals was very challenging. I\u2019m an only child. You can hear the clock ticking in my room, that\u2019s how silent I am. [On the trip] there is not a moment in the day where there was pure silence,\u201d (probably talking about me).<\/p>\n

        \u201cI remember I was trying to meditate one night and all I could hear was a heated discussion about religion,\u201d<\/p>\n

        Th<\/span>e trip made Vivi think on a deeper level about the life we live in Canada: \u201cWhen I came back it helped me change how I saw and reacted to things. Things that usually aggravated and annoyed me didn\u2019t seem like an issue anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

        \u201cWhen you\u2019re in a community like that, you can\u2019t act or think the way you would in Canada. It just wasn\u2019t possible,\u201d She continues attempting to explain the phenomena, \u201cI don\u2019t know how to put it in words. It just didn\u2019t seem like an option.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

        It all boils down to this – \u201cI was put in a situation where I had to adapt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Social Satisfaction<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          This one is all about the main goal of SOS Outreach Trips, which is to build educational infrastructures through their 360 model \u201cRaising Marks. Raising Money. Raising Roofs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

          SOS thrives on the idea that national and global prosperity is dependant on quality education for the youth of our world. So many volunteers take this chance to join Outreach Trips because they feel like they need to do \u201ctheir part.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

          Just helping the people of developing countries is a very rewarding accomplishment for the citizens in more developed\u00a0nations. Evidently, being able to watch the children play, learn and grow in a place you are currently working to help better, is truly a noble experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

          During my second Outreach Trip I visited <\/span>Escuela de Quizarr\u00e1<\/span> in Costa Rica. The lovely people of Quizarra threw us a ceremony and treated us to a dinner with the community following our hard work on the classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/p>\n

          As we were standing with the national anthems of our respective countries, Principal Freddie and his colleagues handed out tokens of their appreciation, such as pieces of thin wood, carved into parrots and other wildlife found in Costa Rica. Following a speech by Principal Freddie, were students of every grade sauntering over to the volunteers to give us hand-drawn pieces of anything their budding minds could surmise.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \u201cWe have a saying here: our army is not made of soldiers, but of children going to school,\u201d said Principal Freddie through our NGO and translator, Sterling.<\/span><\/p>\n

          The slickest thief in the world couldn\u2019t rob that moment from me or any of my fellow participants.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Identifying yourself<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            \u2026. The number one chore on everyone\u2019s to-do list – just beating out handing in that term paper that was due five minutes ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

            I can\u2019t quite place my finger on what triggers the\u201cfinding yourself\u201d portion during the Outreach Trips – but it is essentially a constantly developing aura of spiritual puberty.<\/span><\/p>\n

            It varies from one individual to another. So whether it\u2019s temporarily residing in the middle of a rainforest, walking outside your front door to a street musician greeting you with song or even wondering why you haven\u2019t pooped in four days – it seems to make life a whole lot more tolerable.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \"\"<\/p>\n

            \u201cYou can discover yourself, you aren\u2019t playing by society’s rules.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

            Trip participant Tamish Multani was able to see another way life can be lived – aside from the rules he thought he had to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201cI had the mindset that there was one way to do things,\u201d he says, \u201cIn Costa Rica I saw a whole new version of how something could be run.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

            Tamish had to accompany another participant on a journey to the hospital to aid an injury. When they arrived, he couldn\u2019t help but to be astonished by his surroundings.<\/span><\/p>\n

            After opening up to the strange setting, he discovered how amazing, talented, intelligent and kind the people in the hospital were.<\/span><\/p>\n

            Understanding that not everything needs to look a certain way to be accepted and prosperous was his lesson: \u201cBe open to whatever you\u2019re going to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

            In addition, he identified a special component of his personality that was hard to untangle from his own inner webs, \u201cI found out that all I have to do is get started on something and then I\u2019ll be able to do it,\u201d he finishes off, \u201cOnce you get started on something, nothing can stop you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

            So hey, maybe I was wrong \u2026 it\u2019s the constipation as well as seeing hospitals. Point is, you never know what will do it for ya\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. An introduction to the adventurous life of a travelling nomad<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              For first time travellers with the itch for getting away from reality for a bit, the Outreach Trip is practically a one-stop shop for all the necessary goodies of travelling.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The trip has:<\/span><\/p>\n