A little over 10 years ago, Krista and I sold or gave away most of what few possessions we had, said good-bye to our families and friends and moved to Bolivia to serve a three-year term of volunteer service with the Mennonite Central Committee. I began making mistakes almost immediately. Of course there were the usual linguistic faux pas and cultural gaffes that contribute today to my repertoire of comical stories to tell at gatherings. But there were other more serious mistakes as well. I arrived with an overblown sense of my own nobility and preparedness. I also deeply underestimated the cultural baggage I unwittingly carried everywhere with me. I arrived more naïvely under-equipped for the responsibilities given me than I like to remember.
In this, our fourth edition of The Global Citizen, we have arranged a collection of essays from young service volunteers who have learned rich lessons in the fi eld school of service and global citizenship. We know that an essay is no substitute for personal experience and that many of these lessons can only be truly learned the hard way. So consider this a sort of companion reader for the curriculum of experience as a service volunteer and life as a global citizen.
SERVICE 101 - Lessons from the Field.
Alisa Bright and Nathan Brouwer draw similar lessons from very diverse experiences: Alisa served in post-Katrina New Orleans and Nathan taught agriculture students in The Gambia. Both articulate how being present to people and valuing the relational foundation of service is at least as, if not more, important than the tasks described in our job description or terms of reference. Overvaluing the importance of our work puts us at risk of overlooking the people we intend to serve. On a different note, Judy Naegeli describes how her experience in Vietnam helped her to understand something she heard at a workshop at the annual conference of the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship: "In order to be sensitive to another culture, you have to be sensitive to your own culture."
SERVICE 201 - Sustaining Service.
Becoming a global citizen means learning how to sustain a life-long ethic of service, civic engagement and global understanding. However, many young service volunteers experience the threat of burn out. Sarah and Nick remind us that "you can't pour from an empty cup" and that it is critical to ground service in something life affirming, rather than draining. For them, sustaining service requires recognizing the elemental solidarity between those who serve and those who are served. As part of the same troubled global community in need of solutions, our liberation is truly bound up together.
David Uhl and Rachel Grassley describe how their theological foundations and spiritual traditions helped enable sustainable service for them. David describes how Ignatian Spirituality frames his philosophy of life, service and discernment. Rachel reminds us how rest and renewal are part of sustaining any activity as she describes her journey to the Isle of Iona and experience with the Celtic rhythm of rest. She reminds us that "the need is not the call," something a wise inner-city mentor taught her. Even Christ retreated from need in order to renew his spirit.
Service 301 - Transitions Home and Beyond.
We have said much in this journal about the potential for service experience to catalyze the journey of young adults to global citizenship. As young volunteers transition home and begin refl ecting on what their experience means as they move forward in life - perhaps going back to school, perhaps starting a family - they often find themselves in a period far more difficult than foreseen. Five pieces are pulled together for those who have completed a period of volunteer service and are fi guring out what's next and how to move forward.
Service 480 - Peace Studies Seminar.
The final set of essays brings together a seasoned world diplomat, Norwegian Ambassador Knut Vollebeak, a young volunteer recently returned from East Africa, Kirk Harris, and Krista Foundation Board Member and Physician, Karlene Arguinchona. Like any good seminar, the subject matter is specific, the perspectives broad, and the thinking advanced.
I hope you enjoy all of the essays in this edition, our companion reader for global citizens in formation. May they aid your understanding and encourage you on your journey.
Aaron Ausland
Senior Editor
