A local nonprofit is seeking volunteers to host interns on a 2-week exchange program from various small Russian cities. Most of them are employees of nonprofits serving the youth community. It’s a cool program; I’ve known some of their staff in the past, and years ago went on an outing with a batch of newly arrived interns (that bunch were for-profit businesspeople, of somewhat less interest to me). So help me sort out the pros and cons. What I have so far:
Pros:
It’s a really cool idea! (International exchange and all that.) I can do something nice for someone, promote internaitonal understanding, all that good stuff.
Learning about what obstacles Russian nonprofits face; I have a general idea, but the specifics are surely educational.
A major barrier for the host organization is finding host families for participants who speak little or no English (half of this batch). I speak Russian, so no problem.
The only specific responsibilities are providing the person with a place to stay and keys so he/she (in my case it would be a she) can come and go freely. They are provided pocket money, a full schedule of activities, and interpreters for their internship assignments by the host organization. But you can take them around on additional activities if you want.
One of the non-English-speaking participants lists on her profile that she is a big choral music lover. So am I. This could be fun!
Cons:
Having to feel like I’m “on” all the time, including speaking Russian exclusively after a long, frazzling day of work.
Having a rommate without an extra bedroom; she would have to stay on the sofabed (but hey, it’s only 2 weeks, and most Russians are used to living in much less space than most Americans are because of the immense housing shortages there).
All the other stuff that comes with having a roommate, like keeping the sink clean, sharing the bathroom, etc. (it’s been quite a while since this was an issue for me).
What else am I forgetting, both on the pro and the con side?
