The overseas experience

The tradition of sending Canadian volunteers to the A volunteer placement in the developing world can developing world formally began in 1960 with the be profoundly affecting and life-changing. [...] They represented 95% of the total sample of 647 respondents The Overseas Experience: A Passport to Improved Volunteerism 9 Table 3: Characteristics of interviewees Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering % n and Participating Gender To see how the behaviour of returned overseas Female 55 22 volunteers differs from the behaviour of Canadians Male 45 18 in general, we compared some of the results of o [...] I wanted to volunteer and I just like The overseas experience ingrained a volunteering.” confidence, I would say, that volunteering does make a difference.” Some returned volunteers who responded to the survey, and about a third (12) of the interviewees,. [...] For this reason, since my return, I have declined involvement in “I had a profound realization of the impact international development work.” and the importance of ‘community’ and the power of giving back to community.” “One wise African man said to a bunch of us who wanted to help ‘go back and figure “Seeing how people lived when they out how it works in Canada and then we can expected to spend a [...] However, this variation in volunteer activity may be Although the 25-34 age group had the lowest more a reflection of the age of the volunteers rather volunteer rate, those in this age range contributed the than the historical circumstances of when they went highest average volunteer hours per year (299).