Photo courtesy of Global Volunteers - Cook Islands
Photo courtesy of Global Volunteers - Cook Islands
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| Greg Kaiser with Roratonga elementarty school students after concluding a landscaping project.
Photo courtesy of Global Volunteers - Cook Islands |
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| Author Beth Kaiser tutors Cook Island student in English during her volunteer work in Roratonga
Photo courtesy of Global Volunteers - Cook Islands |
By Beth Kaser
Special to the Turnagain Times
Exhilarating sunsets, sandy beaches, turquoise water, and warm ocean breezes provide all the ingredients for a tropical vacation when my husband and I traveled from Hope to the Cook Islands to discover the real people behind the travel posters and lent a helping hand.
In late October and early November we were part of a Global Volunteers team working on Roratonga Island in the Cook Islands. The volunteers spent two to three weeks living among local residents and helping with various community projects, everything from tutoring children in reading to clearing nature trails. Global Volunteers is a Minnesota based nonprofit organization that offers short term service programs in 20 countries around the world.
By serving in the island community, they gained an “insider’s perspective” on the Cook Islands and discovered another side of paradise, one in which jobs are scarce and low paying, and health care and education are luxuries. Yet even in the face of these challenges, Cook Islanders greet each new day with dignity and joy.
The lack of resources and opportunities combined with a cultural attitude that is very relaxed (by our standards) create a very transitory population, but the extremely strong family ties, which are enhanced by familial land ownership, pull people back to the island. It’s a continuing tug of war.
I worked as a reading tutor and became especially attached to the students. The children loved spending time reading every day. Their enthusiasm and academic growth was tremendously satisfying to me.
Greg tackled a variety of tasks on the island. He cleared trails and assisted with rodent control in the Takitumu Conservation Area. The main goal is to preserve the Kakerori (Flycatcher) bird that is near extinction. He also worked at an elementary school, with help from the students, completing landscaping projects and building hedgerow fencing.
Both of us believe that understanding the history and general policies of a culture, can help us better appreciate what drives or motivates its policymaking. That knowledge is a better basis for peace and can be ongoing. Ignorance of a culture can lead to misunderstanding and subsequent conflict.
At the invitation of local host organizations, Global Volunteers sends teams of volunteers to sites worldwide to work on projects ranging from teaching English to assisting with health care to construction of community buildings. Global Volunteers is not subsidized by any government or religious agency and holds special consultative status with the United Nations.
Volunteers pay a tax-deductible fee, from $1,595 to $2,650 to cover the costs of the service program. Airfare is extra. Projects are located in 20 countries: China, India, Vietnam, Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Ghana, Tanzania, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Romania, Greece, Poland, Indonesia, Ukraine, United States, and Cook Islands.
For more information, contact Global Volunteers at 1-800-487-1074, 375 E. Little Canada Road, St. Paul, MN 55117 or via the internet at www.globalvolunteers.org .