In the rather small town where I live, volunteering has grown more to be thought of as helping at a church, the local hospital, or any one of the numerous other local volunteer organizations. Several volunteer organizations seem to always be clamoring for your time and energy. When I hear about an opportunity to volunteer for education, I typically think of helping out at a private or public school. There are several other ways of volunteering in the field of education.

I can still remember a time when I was growing up, when to me volunteering usually meant that you would travel to a foreign country and help out the citizens there by being a volunteer for the Peace Corps. Even country singers have shown examples of this type of volunteering in videos. Sure I knew that some of those were helping the people learn, but that never seemed like volunteering for education to me. Boy was I ever wrong!

In fact, one of the biggest programs of the Peace Corps involves teaching the English language. The opportunities do not end there. They also have a need for quality teachers in many different areas of English, math, and science. Some of the duties may range from helping to set up a resource center, helping train teachers, and helping to develop educational materials.

The volunteers are integrated into the existing society. They become part of the community and help to fulfill the needs of the community in a variety of ways. If the community needs a library, they may have the opportunity to learn how to help supply it from building the building to acquiring books to fill the shelves. This allows them to learn new skills and abilities that they may never before have considered being a part of their future.

It doesn’t matter if you are fresh out of college or a retired person looking for a way to make a difference. Even married couples can find a place in the Peace Corps that will allow them to extend their hand to those in need.

The volunteer receives a stipend intended to provide the volunteer the opportunity to live at the same means as those that they help. The Peace Corps provides the necessities such as medical and dental care and transportation. The true reward of the experience is the personal growth of seeing that you can do things that you may not have realized you could do and seeing the impact you can have by helping others.