Do you ever ask yourself what is peace? In my definition, peace is living harmoniously with other people and once it is obtained, we will be able to reduce crime-rate and violence. Hence, to contribute to SDG 16, I would choose global volunteer as an effective way to protect peace and raise people’s awareness of justice and their role in building a strong government.
Now that I’m working in AIESEC which is an organization aiming at sustaining peace and developing humankind’s potential, I am profoundly touched watching them working so hard and dedicatedly to give youth a chance to contribute to sustainable development goals and create a positive impact on society. AIESEC was founded after World War II when a group of young people determined that cross-cultural understanding was essential to prevent similar conflicts. That means from the very beginning, we have always been striving to defend peace in a variety of ways, especially volunteering. We work to provide the youth with information on the benefits of global volunteer, as well as volunteer projects we have, and guide them to apply for those projects. We provide exchange participants with a wide range of projects in different countries such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, etc and they will have 6-week travelling to other countries to join different volunteering activities like teaching children, protecting the environment, healthcare, tourism, sustainable entrepreneur, etc (according to 17SDGs).
Each project has its own different objectives, but there is a similar point - to contribute to peace through meaningful actions. By going on global volunteer, exchange participants will have a chance to acknowledge the differences between cultures of their countries and those of other countries they choose to volunteer in and collect more social knowledge. I learned from one of my returnees from Myanmar that surprisingly, in Myanmar, patting children’s head is not a nice compliment or behavior, it is rather considered to be discourteous as Myanmar people see one’s head as the utmost venerable place that others can not touch. Since we often group several exchange participants from different countries together in one project, participants will have spaces to interact with not only local people, but also with friends from other continents as well. Besides, participating in volunteer projects also helps the youth become more sympathetic to the disabled, poor children and others who are in reduced circumstances and thus, gradually, there will be more motivation for them to take action against poverty, violence and corruption.
Above all, global volunteer brings about a change in mindset in both participants and local people. About 40 years ago, due to some misunderstanding between Vietnam and Cambodia, a lot of Cambodian hated Vietnam. Because of that prejudice, volunteers from Vietnam coming to Cambodia were quite worried that their journey would end up in a mess and they might be disappointed by their choice. It turned out, luckily, that most of the Cambodians, however, were really friendly and kind. One returnee told us about her story, as the bus between the school she taught and Phnom Penh, which she must take, was 2 hours late, she had to wait outside a small grocery at night. Not only did the grocery store’s family owners accept to inform her when the bus arrived, they also gave her some apples, apologized for the bus being late, prepared a bed, hung mosquito net, provided her with fans and told her to sleep a little bit before the bus arrived.
Their kind acts changed her thoughts about Cambodian completely. She also taught English for Cambodian students during her stay which helped her understand why education, peace and strong institutions were so important in this country. In the past, an estimated two million people perished under the regime of the Khmer Rouge, most of them were the educated. The regime’s ruthless attack on education was irreversible, destroying an estimated 90 percent of schools.
Today, in Cambodia, the poor population are still largely uneducated, they still suffer the pain of war and violence, they need help, they need guidance. Reading a letter expressing one student’s happiness and gratefulness for being able to come to school and study, my returnee almost cried. After the volunteer journey, every returnee has their own memories and experience but they all share the same result: emotionally stronger and more mature. They all realized their important role in protecting peace and the need to inspire their stories so that more people would understand and take action. Besides global volunteers, we also have other on-spot projects, workshops, and campaigns to raise people's awareness of justice and effective government models.
We - the AIESECers are proud to provide youth with such life-changing experience. We work for no salary, but we have our biggest rewards in mind: peace and sustainable development of every country in the world.