Beyond Volunteering
ACDI/VOCA volunteers share their expertise and their time selflessly. They leave the comforts of home to travel around the globe to unfamiliar places with simple living conditions where they work long hours helping their hosts tackle tough issues. But ask any of them, and they’ll tell you just how much they love it. In fact, forty-five percent of the people who volunteer with ACDI/VOCA have been on more than one assignment, and some have traveled overseas more than a dozen times to share their knowledge and skills. For many volunteers, it doesn’t stop there; they want to do more and continue to provide guidance and support with their own resources long after their assignments end. This article features three such volunteers and the ways in which they contributed above and beyond their volunteer service.
Kay Rockwell: Raising Funds for Farmers’ Association and Organizing Educational Tours to Uganda
Kay Rockwell, Professor Emerita at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), has taught cooperative extension faculty program planning and evaluation principles for 25 years. She first volunteered for ACDI/VOCA in 2001 in Russia where she taught extension programming for an international agriculture degree program at the Moscow State Agro-Engineering University. Several years later ACDI/VOCA contacted her again about developing a curriculum for extension link farmers to teach better farming practices in Uganda. “Uganda was never on my radar, but when ACDI/VOCA called about this volunteer opportunity, I felt it was a good match, and it would be a very interesting and worthwhile activity.” The three-week assignment with the Kamuli District Farmer’s Association (KDFA) had a profound influence on Kay. “By the end of my assignment, they were more than just people I designed teaching materials for: they were my friends and I wanted to do more for them. I also wanted my family to meet them.”
As a professor at UNL and a member of Friendship Force International (FFI), an organization that organizes international exchange programs with a focus on introducing people at the personal level through home hospitality and cultural understanding, Kay put together a project to take students, university educators and FFI members to Uganda. As a result, a group of 19 Americans, ranging in age from 13 to 80, returned to Kamuli in October 2007 on a study tour to learn more about the Ugandan way of life and provide resources for local farmers to improve their farming practices. Prior to departure, the group collected over $2,500 for the KDFA. The association had indicated a need for a motorcycle, a digital camera, 40 office chairs and training materials; a small amount was also donated to a rural clinic one family was building. “During the four-day visit to Kamuli, the farmers enriched our lives with their friendship, love and generosity. They helped us learn how we can work together to help them enhance their community and enrich our own lives,” explained Kay.
Since returning home, some members of the delegation continue to help the farmers with projects inspired by Kay’s original ACDI/VOCA assignment in 2005. They have sent another $4,300 to help build and supply a rural school, and more fundraising activities are planned for other community needs. Another group member has recently become an ACDI/VOCA volunteer. Additionally, several group members have established contact with a women’s group in Lukaya, Uganda and plans to purchase supplies for crafts that can be sold to supplement incomes are under way.
The donations have helped the members of the farmer cooperative in Kamuli improve their mobility, production and training abilities. Kay’s generous support and connection with the farmers have fostered additional projects to improve the community. They started construction on a school, purchased school supplies and increased access to training for more farmers in the area.
Thomas Dobler: Increasing Dairy Production in Africa through Improved Training and Equipment
Dairy farming is challenging. It requires knowledge, experience, resources and a lot of hard work. In developing countries this is especially important for ensuring healthy, productive animals. Thomas Dobler knows what it takes to run a dairy: he has been raising dairy cattle on his ranch in Burlington, Colorado since 1968.
In 1990 Tom volunteered with VOCA on a project to teach artificial insemination and dairy management at the University of Loja in Ecuador. From his first assignment Tom realized the power of hands-on teaching and training when he saw that his instruction led to increased dairy production and improved the quality of life for people in need. Since 1990 Tom has completed 11 assignments in 6 countries through ACDI/VOCA’s Farmer-to-Farmer programs. With each project Mr. Dobler has helped farmers capitalize on existing resources, explaining “You have to go into a country and work with what’s there, you can’t just go in and throw technology at them. You have to work with what they have.”
When Tom went to Kenya in 2005 to work with dairy farmers, he realized that they were lacking experience and equipment to provide proper nutrition for their cows. The farmers had no access to silage cutters that could enable them to produce quality silage and increase milk production.
When he returned to Colorado, Tom went to work researching equipment that could be purchased and shipped to the farmers in Kenya. On his own time, Tom traveled throughout the United States looking at equipment that was suitable and affordable for the farmers. He found what he was looking for in Pennsylvania and arranged for silage cutters to be sent by freight. After the farmers received the shipment, Tom went on a follow-up assignment to teach them how to use the equipment. With the proper tools for silage production, their yields and incomes increased dramatically. Soon the Kenyan farmers were asking Tom to help them find additional equipment. In June 2008 Tom arranged for a shipment of 3 cargo containers with over $100,000 worth of equipment to be delivered to Kenya. Seeing the impact he has had gives Tom the motivation to continue volunteering. “When you visit these places and help these people, you truly do make a difference.”
Gerald Nolte: Providing an Opportunity for Educational and Cultural Exchange in the United States
After 30 years teaching agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls, ending with a stint as department chair, Dr. Gerald Nolte began his "second career" in 2000 with a volunteer assignment in Ethiopia helping to develop cooperatives. He has since completed 11 more ACDI/VOCA assignments.
In April at the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, Mr. Nolte, of St. Paul, Minn., was awarded the President's Volunteer Service Silver Award, which is reserved for those who have served 250-499 volunteer hours in a year. (Click here for more information about the award.)
In addition to his prodigious record as a volunteer, Gerald has extended his generosity to ACDI/VOCA–Paraguay staff member Amelia Moro.
Gerald knew from three assignments in Paraguay that Amelia, who was studying law with the intention of helping abused women and children, was looking for practical experience to round out her education. Back in St. Paul, the professor scouted for leads until he met a city council candidate with connections to the Harriet Tubman Family Alliance (HTFA), an organization that runs multiple Minneapolis shelters and transitional housing units to provide safe haven to women and children in crisis.
Not only did Gerald manage to arrange an internship for Amelia, he also offered her room and board. And that’s how Amelia Moro managed to secure a rewarding U.S. internship that has put her into position, working with her pastor-father and other clergy, to begin organizing a Paraguayan NGO modeled after the HTFA.
As an interesting side note, one of Gerald’s neighbors had two college-age boys who were adopted as infants from Paraguay. When the boys heard Gerald’s and Amelia’s stories about Paraguay and received gifts of Paraguayan flags and t-shirts, they developed an interest in their birth country. As a result they are traveling to Paraguay this summer where, through Amelia’s efforts, they will be teaching in a music program that focuses on disadvantaged youth.
Gerald says he grew up without advantages. He adds, “I remember when little acts of kindness were done to me and how much they meant. I feel good about being able to help Amelia with her lofty goals and now being able to help get the boys connected to their ethnic roots.”
For more information about ACDI/VOCA's volunteer programs, click here.