How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas

"Volunteering overseas can be a rewarding and enriching experience. But that requires sympathy, reciprocity, willingness to learn as well as to give, and an understanding of the problems and opportunities, which are many and complex. This book is a wonderful guide -- informed, sensitive, comprehensive. A most valuable contribution."

---Noam Chomsky, Author of Manufacturing Consent

"This remarkably comprehensive handbook is what so many of us have long been waiting for: it truly tells it like it is. After six years of research and many more years of immersion in their subject the authors seem to know everything about volunteering overseas and are generous and direct in sharing their knowledge. Anyone who has even considered volunteering abroad--whatever their age, interests, or abilities-- will read it with delight and appreciation."

---Clay Hubbs, Ph.D., Editor and Publisher, Transitions Abroad Magazine.

"This is a very, very important book for international volunteering. Collins, DeZerega, and Heckscher have provided a new vocabulary and set of ideas for the entire field. They hit the nail on the head again and again, educating people about the basic, and also the very advanced and subtle, concepts of volunteering abroad. The field of international volunteering has just taken a quantum leap forward."

---Steven C. Rosenthal, Executive Director, Cross-Cultural Solutions.

"Realistic and practical advice on the opportunities and pitfalls of international volunteering, told through the voices of global volunteers and in-country activists, and synthesized by an authorial troika with first hand experience and a savvy world view."

---L. Peat O'Neil, Washington Post news staff. Author of Travel Writing: See the World-Sell the Story, Writer's Digest Books, 2000.

"The voice of experience speaks clearly in this essential resource book. Years of overseas work have taught me many of these same lessons the hard way- a person would be wise to acquire that same knowledge via this volume, and in so doing become that much more effective and learn that much more while making a genuine contribution and enjoying the experience abroad."

--- Steven Jacquier, Assistant Professor, University of Alaska, Fairbanks;
Model United Nations of Alaska Faculty

"The events of September 11th underscore the necessity of learning first-hand about the lives and struggles of people with other histories, religions, languages, and cultures. Gaining this experience early in our lives instills in us an appreciation for the challenges of making a better world. How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas will help prepare aspiring volunteers for these mind-expanding experiences and for a lifetime of contributions towards creating a more humane global community"

---Louis W. Goodman, Dean, School of International Service

"This comprehensive guide is an essential resource for anyone considering a volunteer experience overseas. I will definitely have a copy on my bookshelf and will continue to recommend it to people I know. It's It's hard to imagine why such a book hasn't been published before."

---Heather Gardner, Peace Corps Volunteer, Nicaragua

"This is a goldmine for anyone interested in figuring how how to volunteer abroad. It is so full of useful information and so well organized that a reader can selectively choose the most useful parts. I suspect most people will end up reading the whole book!"

---Barry Bem, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and former Peace Corps staff member

"This book will be immensely useful to readers, not only because of the wealth of practical information about volunteering but also because of the concrete suggestions about how to get involved in organizing for social justice on a global level. The section on staying involved internationally after returning home will prove to be a much-used reference for anyone interested in working for international development, fair trade, or human rights."

---Dennis Brutus, poet and activist, former political prisoner on Robben Island in South Africa

"I truly wish I had read this book before I went overseas. I would have been able to get so much more out of my experiences. As I read the book, I kept thinking to myself 'If only I had known...' If only I had known the practical tips for cultural immersion, the no-nonsense ideas for effective volunteering, even the detailed suggestions about dealing with reverse culture shock when coming home -- this information would have really enriched all of my volunteer experiences, in addition to my travels and studies overseas. The analysis of the pros and cons of the Peace Corps and the evaluations of other volunteer programs just aren't available anywhere else. For anyone considering volunteering or working abroad, this is a priceless resource. I know I will use it the next time I go overseas."

---Ilisa Gertner, volunteer in Guatemala, Israel, and Korea

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