Volunteering in the Middle East…

Since yesterday was the International Day of Volunteering, many articles from around the world were published on the importance and joys of volunteering. I have been very lucky and grateful to do a significant amount of volunteering in the Middle East over the past five years while living in Lebanon and the Sultanate of Oman. While much of the media on the Middle East highlights the discord, dysfunction, and divisions in the region, I have been fortunate to witness a different reality on the ground.

I have been profoundly humbled and transformed by my experiences of joining with others in the Middle East to help the most needy. I have had the opportunity to serve Ramadan dinners to Syrian refugees, teach yoga to Palestinian refugees, teach English to Sudanese migrant workers, run youth disability workshops, play with kids with cancer at St. Jude’s in Beirut, raise awareness about mental health in high schools and universities, and co-direct a medical drama initiative in Oman. In the daily deluge of bad news, what is lost is all of the good work being done in the Middle East to help the sick, the poor, the disabled, and countless refugees.