Kelli Schlegelmilch is still fresh from Hanoi, Vietnam, where she spent three weeks volunteering with UBELONG in the “teaching English” project there. She recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She has been in love with Asia since she spent a semester in Thailand in 2009. After that, she went back to tutor students in China for six weeks, and has since traveled through Cambodia, Laos, India, and Nepal. At home, she stayed engaged in volunteering as a mentor in a program for Hmong youth in Wisconsin. “I’d love to work with refugee communities in the future”, says Kelli. Here is the interview with this passionate young woman who wants to devote her career to international affairs.

What motivated you to seek a volunteer opportunity in Hanoi?
The timing was perfect after graduating from college. I wanted to settle for a little bit in a city in Asia. Volunteering allowed me to experience the Vietnamese culture in a different way while also making a contribution. I also wanted to complement and reinforce my previous experience in the region and learn new things I can use in my future career.

What was most frustrating or challenging to you during your volunteering placement?
The first challenge is the language barrier. At first it was difficult, but it is easily overcome once you make the effort to get used to it. You develop nonverbal communication skills that you can use to get your point across. This experience also challenged my preconceptions of what a classroom experience must be like. I had to adapt to teach the students in a way that they could understand. Having traveled so much in Asia I realized that, although there are cultural similarities, things in Vietnam are not the same as in China or Thailand. You have to start all over again in order to understand a new country.

From what you observed during your experience, what were the three most important characteristics of a successful international volunteer?
You have to embrace your opportunity with an open mind. You have to give everything a shot. A different culture is not weird; it’s just different. Everything makes sense at the end if you give it time and the more you open yourself up to a new culture, the more it will open itself up to you.

Second, patience is really important. You are there to help and you have to understand the pace of your host culture in order to effectively do so. The Vietnamese sense of efficiency and concept of time is so different from what I am used to, and you have to be patient to adapt to their schedule and way of doing things.

Finally, it seems cliché but you have to be flexible. For example, in my placement the plan changed every morning, so you have to be on your toes and adapt to changes on a daily basis. It’s a learned skill that you can apply later in life. You are out of your comfort zone every day, but maintaining a high degree of flexibility will allow you to make the most of each day.

What kind of impact did you have on the community?
I’d like to think that in my role I helped students make progress with their English. I hope I inspired them to remain interested in learning English and to see its usefulness. They were so excited to communicate with me and they obviously had to speak English to do so. I also talked to them about the U.S., which is as different to them as Vietnam is to me. That exchange created a sense of community at a broader scale as we learned about each other’s worlds.

How did the people in your host community perceive the role of international volunteers like you?
The students enjoyed having me there. The younger ones saw me as a visitor and they never failed to be excited. Older students saw me as a teacher who helped break the routine with new things. The teachers were really open to me also as they found my skills useful.

What did you learn about yourself during your experience?
One of the most important things for me is realizing again that I can navigate and thrive in a very new environment. I love the feeling I get from it. You can make home of anything and anywhere and serving in a new country helps me build a new level of confidence every time. It confirms to me that I want to continue with an international approach to whatever I end up doing in my career. Working with other cultures is so rewarding. The relationships with other volunteers and locals are also important. I was open to all opportunities and I created valuable networks and friendships throughout the entire process.

Click on the pictures above to enlarge them. Photos courtesy of Kelli Schlegelmilch.

To see more pictures, like the UBELONG Facebook page.