The Long Run Impact: Interpersonal Skills

Spending 6 months to a year volunteering isn’t for everyone. Especially doing it in a different country. It requires a selfless desire to positively impact communities as well as a willingness to see growth in oneself during the process. It might take weeks to remember that one left-turn to get to your volunteer site or to adjust to the culture shock from being far away from home. And yet, time and time again volunteers have found it all to be worth it. Long-term volunteering is an irreplaceable experience that is characterized by the impact on all parties involved from the volunteer themselves to the volunteer organization. But don’t just take our word for it!

The International Cultural Youth Exchange (ICYE) conducted in-depth interviews with 10 long-term volunteers and 16 volunteer organization staff to study just what kind of impact volunteering abroad can have. The project is named “Skills and Competences for a Global World”. On the surface, the sample size may seem small but don’t let it fool you. It makes for more rich answers that lets us inside the minds of those who have spent the past 6 months to a year making a positive impact on international communities. The findings of the study are too vast to relay in one blog article which is why this is the start of a new blog series, The Long Run Impact! The published report from ICYE categorizes the impacts and this installation will focus on the growth of hard/soft skills and knowledge in volunteers.

Practicing language in another country

According to the study, language skills were the most frequently cited seen to have significant improvement. Living in a country full of native speakers is the key to immersing yourself with an environment key to learning/improving upon another language. Here’s one of the interviewees from the study:

“’I would say I’m like I basic level, but I consider that a huge improvement because it’s a really hard language.’”

Volunteering in another country will naturally be the greatest classroom for learning a language. Not only by improving conversation and comprehension, but also discovering different nuances of culture you might find in language.

Developing Patience:

Patience is more than just a trait. It’s a skill that can be developed over time. ICYE has found volunteers to see enhancements in patience during their time volunteering abroad. When jumping into something completely new, patience is a key aspect of taking in every moment with grace. Volunteering abroad may require patience at first, perhaps something goes wrong or it’s a hard adjustment to a different culture. In the end, it all seems worth it. This volunteer from the study learned about how time holds a different weight in other cultures:

“‘Because I had this different idea about time. And I have to convince myself that if I’m waiting for something for two hours it’s not because someone doesn’t respect my time or something like that. It’s just a different culture, and I need to accept it.’”

Communication:

Another skill ICYE has seen improvement in is communication. It directly ties in with the improvements in language as mentioned before. This particular form of communication, however, goes beyond what’s spoken.

“’I had to learn to communicate differently myself. To be a lot more empathic and listen to more to the body language [than] to the spoken language.’”

Many of the problems and conflicts in the world is a result of miscommunication. Between two different human beings with two different backgrounds, miscommunication can be commonplace. Long-term volunteers abroad have been able to work on the skills that allow two very different people to communicate and find a common bridge.

Katherine Stievater, Founder of Gap Year Solutions, stated that “Students need to recognize that they’ve often been sheltered from other points of view, either because of their local demographics, their friends, family and other influences including at their school. They ‘don’t know what they don’t know’, so it is important that they put themselves in other people’s shoes, and learn to welcome different perspectives. Differences can be challenging, but learning to listen and respect differences is a huge life skill that we suggest our students focus on in their Gap Year.”

Managing Conflict and Stress:

Long-term volunteering is such an immersive, rewarding journey that will create memories that last forever. Along with it, the highs and lows of traveling abroad. Managing conflict and stress is a direct result of getting out of your comfort zone.

“’I learned to let things go and don’t make…I let things go…They’re things that are independent of me, that is, there are things that do not depend on me.’”

Boost Your Self-Confidence:

“'[The volunteering] increased my self-confidence in a different, different country and alone from my family, environment, because I am here, alone and it’s a, it’s my first time in [a] different country, it’s, I’ve never been to any other country before.’”

Some people might be used to volunteering abroad, for others it might be the first time traveling outside the country. Either way, you’ll likely by stepping outside your comfort zone at some point. It is because the act of volunteering abroad stems from self-less goodwill and results in experiential self-growth. You will realize a lot more things about yourself. One of those things may be how capable you are of knowing your way around the city, or taking culture shocks in stride, or making an impact on other people’s lives, including your own.

ICYE was created 70 years ago to build bridges between the U.S. and Germany after WWII. They have been United Planet’s partner for 16 years of 6-12 month exchanges.

Learn more about United Planet’s 6-12 month volunteer abroad programs!