Blog

October 2025

International Volunteering—What to Expect

By Rebecca Udman, Bastyr University Graduate Student

I LOVE to travel! I’ll go anywhere and am always up for a new adventure. I am passionate about nutrition education and empowering people to make great choices for their health. And, as part of my program at Bastyr, I need 150 hours of volunteer hours focused on nutrition. International volunteering seemed like the perfect way to combine both passions and accomplish a school requirement. I had the privilege of spending two months of my summer of 2025 volunteering in Arusha, Tanzania. It was a beautiful summer full of fantastic experiences and learning. This blog post provides an overview of my experience and information to help you determine if an experience like this could be a good fit for you.

My trip was split between volunteering at two organizations. The first three weeks were spent working with a dietitian at Mt. Meru District Hospital. I worked in different areas of the hospital, including the diabetes clinic, post-partum, and the NICU. In this rotation, I interacted directly with patients, learned about the healthcare system in Tanzania, and witnessed how medical professionals practiced with resources different than those in the U.S. My second placement was at WEHAF Foundation, which supports women in need, provides food and nutrition packets, teaches skills-based courses and entrepreneurship, and provides health and wellness education. In this rotation, I felt like I helped enable women to provide for their families in a self-sufficient way. This rotation was very emotionally demanding for me in seeing and hearing the deplorable circumstances facing these women, but it is among the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in my life.

What to Expect/Tips for Success

You may not have the same resources you are accustomed to. You can bring your own expertise and knowledge, but your host organization may not have the resources available to implement your way of doing things. Making quick adjustments to local practice will support your success.
Be realistic about the impact you can make. Keep in mind that the people in the country you are visiting do things in a way that works for them and aligns with their cultural norms. You will be there for a relatively short period of time, so you aren’t going to overhaul a system or way of practice. Ask questions, lend a hand, jump in where you can to support the local team.
The language barrier is real. I recommend learning some basic words in the language of the country you are visiting. My program provided a Swahili tutor for one night during my first week, and I learned some more helpful phrases from other volunteers and medical staff. In Tanzania, some locals speak basic English, and most professional staff (doctors, nurses, social workers) speak English well; they were all thrilled when I greeted them in Swahili. They appreciated my effort even if I didn’t pronounce words correctly or didn’t respond correctly to their greeting.
Get out and enjoy your host country. Make friends with local people and spend some time where they spend time. You’ll learn more about the culture this way rather than sticking to the places in the tourism guide.
Learn and respect cultural norms. In Tanzania, they think about and manage their time and communication very differently from how we do in the U.S. Hakuna Matata is a way of life, not just a song in The Lion King. They tend not to worry about things, and they manage their time very differently than what I am used to. This took some getting used to, and once I did, I was calmer than usual.

Ready to volunteer?

I started my journey by looking at https://www.volunteerworld.com/en. This site is for all types of volunteering from wildlife rescue to many healthcare-related fields. You can filter by project type and/or country or region of interest. I filtered down to Nutrition and Food and found one for a Nutrition & Dietitian Assistant with MediTrip. There are other organizations that others I know have used – Plan My Gap Year and Health Volunteers Overseas are two of them. Make sure to use a well-established organization.

Not ready to travel abroad, but want to make an impact?

There are plenty of meaningful volunteer opportunities in our own backyard. You can find opportunities across different sectors and in different communities at the following sites:

Another meaningful way to make an impact is to learn about available social programs and how to apply for them so you can refer patients to them.

If you have any questions or want to hear more about my experience, feel free to reach out to me at Rebecca.udman@gmail.com.

Rebecca Udman is a second year student in Bastyr University’s Master of Science in Nutrition/Didactic Program in Dietetics program.