Volunteering in Africa

[lilyercs]

Has anyone taken their U2 fandom to the next level and toured/volunteered in Africa? I feel that kinda tug in my life now and would love to discuss with someone else who has made that leap.

Chris Lilyerd

[lilyercs]

...

[mdmomof7]

Just saw this. I personally have not, but several members of my church have, from teens to middle age. A Hopkins ENT and his wife routinely serve in clinics several weeks of the year both there and in South America. Another friend has started local business initiatives in Ghana. Others have volunteered in Kenya.

You can PM me if you'd like me to put you in touch w/ them.

[Droo]

Pretty much every country in Africa would try to imprison or murder me for being who I am, so I don't plan on ever going there.

[theocean]

Pretty much every country in Africa would try to imprison or murder me for being who I am, so I don't plan on ever going there.

I know, although it would be  a wonderful idea to help, those rebels are scarey...

[jick]

Coming from a country where around 80% of the people live below the poverty level or earn less than minimum wage a day, I find ways to help closer to home.

However, on the occasional U2 product I splurge on or even for other brands - there are some fine print that say proceeds of the sale will go to some charitable foundation benefiting Africa.  That is how far I have gone.

Cheers,

J

[Streets]

Long-time lurker here coming out to say, yes I did. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was watching one of Bono's speeches, and thought, "I want to go to Africa." It took some planning to sort out the logistics, but I went. Scariest thing I've ever done, as I was going by myself to a very remote place I frankly knew little about, but, as cliche as it sounds, it is indeed a life-changing experience, and I would highly recommend everyone do so. If it's not financially feasible, find a way to make it happen. After a trip to impoverished regions like in Africa, you do see the world just a little differently.

[Tumbling Dice]

Long-time lurker here coming out to say, yes I did. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was watching one of Bono's speeches, and thought, "I want to go to Africa." It took some planning to sort out the logistics, but I went earlier this year.

As cliche as it sounds, it is indeed a life-changing experience, and I would highly recommend everyone do so. If it's not financially feasible, find a way to make it happen. After a trip to impoverished regions like in Africa, you do see the world just a little differently.

What did you do over there?

[Streets]

Long-time lurker here coming out to say, yes I did. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was watching one of Bono's speeches, and thought, "I want to go to Africa." It took some planning to sort out the logistics, but I went earlier this year.

As cliche as it sounds, it is indeed a life-changing experience, and I would highly recommend everyone do so. If it's not financially feasible, find a way to make it happen. After a trip to impoverished regions like in Africa, you do see the world just a little differently.

What did you do over there?

It was a medical trip to a remote village in Madagascar. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, so I was just one of the support people and ended up relegated to the duty of directing people around, and as I had scrubs on, they would approach me first asking for medicine and showing me various injuries and diseases. A lot of people were treated, but a lot were also turned down because they could not be treated, and it was heartbreaking and frustrating.

I don't want to go into details here or give some impression that I'm showing off, but I just posted here just to say I highly recommend going to Africa if you can, even if just once for just a few days.

[Tumbling Dice]

Long-time lurker here coming out to say, yes I did. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was watching one of Bono's speeches, and thought, "I want to go to Africa." It took some planning to sort out the logistics, but I went earlier this year.

As cliche as it sounds, it is indeed a life-changing experience, and I would highly recommend everyone do so. If it's not financially feasible, find a way to make it happen. After a trip to impoverished regions like in Africa, you do see the world just a little differently.

What did you do over there?

It was a medical trip to a remote village in Madagascar. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, so I was just one of the support people and ended up relegated to the duty of directing people around, and as I had scrubs on, they would approach me first asking for medicine and showing me various injuries and diseases. It was heartbreaking to keep telling them to wait in the line that stretched around the building, where those in the back would have almost no chance of being seen that day, so they'd spend the night on the ground in that line.

I don't want to go into details here or give some impression that I'm showing off, but I just posted here just to say I highly recommend going to Africa if you can.

I'd imagine it's not for the faint hearted.  The daily reality of what the medical volunteers and their helpers have to face can be very grim.

[Streets]

Long-time lurker here coming out to say, yes I did. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was watching one of Bono's speeches, and thought, "I want to go to Africa." It took some planning to sort out the logistics, but I went earlier this year.

As cliche as it sounds, it is indeed a life-changing experience, and I would highly recommend everyone do so. If it's not financially feasible, find a way to make it happen. After a trip to impoverished regions like in Africa, you do see the world just a little differently.

What did you do over there?

It was a medical trip to a remote village in Madagascar. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, so I was just one of the support people and ended up relegated to the duty of directing people around, and as I had scrubs on, they would approach me first asking for medicine and showing me various injuries and diseases. It was heartbreaking to keep telling them to wait in the line that stretched around the building, where those in the back would have almost no chance of being seen that day, so they'd spend the night on the ground in that line.

I don't want to go into details here or give some impression that I'm showing off, but I just posted here just to say I highly recommend going to Africa if you can.

I'd imagine it's not for the faint hearted.  The daily reality of what the medical volunteers and their helpers have to face can be very grim.

LOL, you keep catching me before I've edited my posts!  But yeah, this is true. Before I went, I wasn't really sure what the heck Bono was going on about and why he'd spend all the time that he did on something like Africa when he should be making a new U2 album, but now I know. It's just something that can't be read about or even seen in pictures and videos. You have to go there yourself and actually talk to them and live among them.

[Tumbling Dice]

Long-time lurker here coming out to say, yes I did. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was watching one of Bono's speeches, and thought, "I want to go to Africa." It took some planning to sort out the logistics, but I went earlier this year.

As cliche as it sounds, it is indeed a life-changing experience, and I would highly recommend everyone do so. If it's not financially feasible, find a way to make it happen. After a trip to impoverished regions like in Africa, you do see the world just a little differently.

What did you do over there?

It was a medical trip to a remote village in Madagascar. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, so I was just one of the support people and ended up relegated to the duty of directing people around, and as I had scrubs on, they would approach me first asking for medicine and showing me various injuries and diseases. It was heartbreaking to keep telling them to wait in the line that stretched around the building, where those in the back would have almost no chance of being seen that day, so they'd spend the night on the ground in that line.

I don't want to go into details here or give some impression that I'm showing off, but I just posted here just to say I highly recommend going to Africa if you can.

I'd imagine it's not for the faint hearted.  The daily reality of what the medical volunteers and their helpers have to face can be very grim.

LOL, you keep catching me before I've edited my posts!  But yeah, this is true. Before I went, I wasn't really sure what the heck Bono was going on about and why he'd spend all the time that he did on something like Africa when he should be making a new U2 album, but now I know. It's just something that can't be read about or even seen in pictures and videos. You have to go there yourself and actually talk to them and live among them.

Just as long as people are going out there to be useful and not just sightseeing or going to feel good about themselves.

[Streets]

Just as long as people are going out there to be useful and not just sightseeing or going to feel good about themselves.

It's about what you want to get out of it. If they go to Africa to sightsee, I'm sure they'll have a great time. But whether they go to help out or not, it's an experience. But I think you see even more if you are more open-minded to the poverty as well as the richness (beauty) of the continent.

Have you been there before, TD? You talk like you have some experience.

[Tumbling Dice]

I've been to Tunisia.

[Streets]

I've been to Tunisia.

What was that like? I'm curious because I've read a lot of stories of similar experiences in Africa, so I'm interested to know what was the same and what was different for people.