Q2e Listening & Speaking 5: Unit 2 Video Transcript
Volunteer Tourism Transcript
Jean: Bud and Michelle, good morning.
Michelle: Good morning.
Bud: Good morning.
Jean: So, you thought you were going on a honeymoon to the Caribbean, a
cruise or something, I think, right?
Michelle: That's right.
Bud: Right.
Jean: You ended up in Guatemala working on an irrigation1 system.
Michelle: Right.
Jean: What made you come up with this idea?
Michelle: Well, Jean, it was 1979, late 1979, and that was a time of a mass exodus2
of Vietnamese boat people.3 The network news was filled with images of
people fleeing their country in rickety4 old boats. And as we were
planning our honeymoon, it occurred to me one day that we were about
to spend a lot of money to float around in the same waters that people
were dying in. And, so, it just didn't seem right for some reason. So, Bud
and I talked about it, and we decided that we would try to do something
a little bit more meaningful to start out our life together.
Jean: Did you know, Bud, that your life would change to the extent that it did
when you met Michelle?
Bud: Oh, yeah.
Jean: You're thinking sun, piña coladas, beaches someplace.
Bud: When I first met Michelle, I knew that if we were ever married, my life
would never be the same.
Jean: Well, tell me about Global Volunteers. What is it about?
1
irrigation: supply water to an area of land with pipes
2
mass exodus: situation in which many people leave a place at the same time
3
boat people: people who escape their country in small boats to find safety in another country
4
rickety: likely to break
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Q2e Listening & Speaking 5: Unit 2 Video Transcript
Bud: Well, we send short-term volunteers to 19 countries around the world.
We're a nonprofit organization, and the volunteers pay to do this. They
work on a wide variety of projects at the service of local people.
Jean: A wide variety of projects. That includes irrigation systems, that includes
building villages, homes, schools …
Bud: Right. We do a lot of building … health clinics, classrooms, community
centers. We care for at-risk kids, teens, infants to teens. We teach
conversational English. It's becoming the international language of
commerce and technology. And the needs are amazing. It's truly amazing
the amount of need there is in this world today.
Jean: You have had 2,000 volunteers today. Thirty percent are return
customers. What kind of person would you say does this?
Michelle: Well, it's interesting. I think you'd be surprised to know that virtually
everybody volunteers with us, people as young as eight. And our, I guess
our oldest volunteer was 92.
Bud: Ninety-two.
Michelle: Yeah.
Bud: Yeah. And they come from every walk of life—teachers and lawyers,
doctors, nurses, physicians, homemakers, businessmen/women,
everybody. Journalists have volunteered with us.
Jean: I've actually thought of it.
Bud: Yeah.
Jean: In fact, I saw the article.
Bud: You’d be great.
Jean: I would be interested to see it myself.
Bud: Yeah.
Jean: What do people say to you when you talk to them about why they do it?
Why would they trade in a vacation on the beach…
Bud: Yeah.
Jean: … to go do hard labor with you, and pay for it?
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Q2e Listening & Speaking 5: Unit 2 Video Transcript
Bud: Right. Well, we call this travel that feeds the soul. People are hungry for
meaning in their lives today. They want to give something back. They
want to make a difference, and Global Volunteers allows them to do that.
They can make a difference. And for some, it's transformational5 in their
life.
Jean: You were just in Romania. Tell me about your experiences there.
Michelle: Oh, well, it was wonderful. We took care of babies. We worked in a
hospital ward. I was with a team of ten people from seven states around
the country, and we assisted staff in a hospital ward that’s specifically
there to, it's a failure-to-thrive ward, specifically for children who are
either underweight or have special needs. We cared for them. We
nurtured them. We played with them. We assisted the staff. And, in fact,
they told us that it's amazing the improvement, that, the lives of these
kids that the volunteers make just with the day-to-day care that we gave
them.
Jean: You really work as a team. You're a lawyer, journalist. What is it about
this that has changed your life?
Bud: Oh, the opportunity to give to others, to share. We're deeply committed
to offering opportunities to change, for people to make a difference, and
to change their lives, both the volunteers and the local people. And it’s
extraordinarily enriching.6 It far exceeds any law practice anyone would
ever have. It's been great for our family. And we have the best jobs in the
world. I mean, it's just been a great experience for us.
Jean: It sounds like it. Global Volunteers … I'll come along one of these times,
maybe. Would you have me?
Bud: We'd have you in a minute.
5
transformational: causing a complete change in someone
6
enriching: improving the quality of something
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