February 20, 2005: Headlines: Alternatives: 2 the advocate: Peace Corps' two-year commitment is far more than most people are willing to make. Two weeks, though, is another matter. That's why Krishna Paudel and Mohan Adhikari created Global Crossroad
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February 20, 2005: Headlines: Alternatives: 2 the advocate: Peace Corps' two-year commitment is far more than most people are willing to make. Two weeks, though, is another matter. That's why Krishna Paudel and Mohan Adhikari created Global Crossroad
Peace Corps' two-year commitment is far more than most people are willing to make. Two weeks, though, is another matter. That's why Krishna Paudel and Mohan Adhikari created Global Crossroad
Peace Corps' two-year commitment is far more than most people are willing to make. Two weeks, though, is another matter. That's why Krishna Paudel and Mohan Adhikari created Global Crossroad
Working around the world
BR organization places volunteers in 18 countries for educational and service programs
By GEORGE MORRIS
gmorris@theadvocate.com
Newsfeatures staff writer
Caption: Global Crossroad's in-country coordinator, Abha David, kneeling in back, poses with several local women at a women's center in India. Photo provided by Global Crossroad
Natives of Nepal, Krishna Paudel and Mohan Adhikari have seen how Western volunteers make an impact around the developing world.
"You may or may not realize, but the impact of the Peace Corps is very tremendously positive in developing countries," Paudel said. "It's a wonderful thing Americans have done."
What they realized, however, is that the Peace Corps' two-year commitment is far more than most people are willing to make. Two weeks, though, is another matter.
That thought process led them to create Global Crossroad, a Baton Rouge-based organization that provides volunteer opportunities in 18 countries. It started in June 2003 and last year placed 600 people in teaching, cultural immersion, educational and service programs.
Though headquartered on Quarters Lake Road, virtually all of Global Crossroad's business comes from other areas. Except for three local volunteers who recently traveled to Sri Lanka to perform tsunami relief work, Global Crossroad has gotten its customers from elsewhere in the United States and overseas. Most American customers come from the Northeast or West Coast, said Paudel, Global Crossroad's director. Adhikari manages the office, which includes program managers Dana Oliver, Roxanne Dill and Maggie Doyle.
"You have people coming from New Zealand and Australia going to China to teach English," he said.
Global Crossroad offers trips to Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mongolia, Nepal, Peru, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet and Togo, and Paudel said he is looking to add Mexico and Russia to the list.
The company offers opportunities for volunteers to work in orphanages, teach English, work on health projects, participate in conservation activities, assist in AIDS/HIV education, work with disadvantaged children, help with historical preservation and build homes. Medical volunteers need to have qualifications as a health professional or medical student. Programs last between two and 12 weeks. Some programs, such as teaching English, require a minimum commitment of two months.
Global Crossroad also has programs for paid teaching work and travel packages that include sightseeing or adventure trips in addition to volunteer work.
When the company began, it dealt only with Nepal. Afterward, Global Crossroad booked trips to India. Countries were added as Paudel was able to hire residents to serve as in-country coordinators. Since pay scales in developing countries are well below those in the U.S., that makes Global Crossroad's services more affordable than other organizations', Paudel said.
While overseas, travelers stay with host families so they will have a more authentic cultural experience. Host families speak only a little English, Paudel said.
"If you volunteer in Nepal and know a little bit of their language and a little bit of the culture, you are going to be accepted more easily than a person who is just, like, 'I'm not going to learn your language, and I'm not going to accept your culture,'" Paudel said. "We have very tough rules. When we send volunteers there, we say respect their culture. You cannot go stay with a family and start drinking and create a problem."
There is no upper age limit for the programs. Those ages 16-17 must have a parent's written permission, and those younger must travel with their parents.
A large percentage of Global Crossroad's customers are college age or in their early 20s. Oliver attended the National Association of Foreign Students Abroad conference last year and said she saw a lot of interest in going overseas.
"They get a lot of questions from their students," Oliver said. "Where can I go? I want to give something back. I want to go somewhere out there where they need me. There's definitely a market for our services."
Global Crossroad avoids countries that are experiencing violence or political strife, Paudel said, or areas where westerners may not be welcome. For example, volunteer activities in Kenya avoid the more predominantly Muslim northern region.
"We are sending Americans, so you have to be careful in a lot of these countries," he said. "We're sending people from all the world, but the time is a little bit sensitive."
When this story was posted in February 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state. |
| Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week. |
| Peace Corps Calendar:Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments. |
| WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service. |
| Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress. |
| RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service RPCV Groups mobilize to support their Countries of Service. Over 200 RPCVS have already applied to the Crisis Corps to provide Tsunami Recovery aid, RPCVs have written a letter urging President Bush and Congress to aid Democracy in Ukraine, and RPCVs are writing NBC about a recent episode of the "West Wing" and asking them to get their facts right about Turkey. |
| Ask Not As our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." |
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