How To Take The Most Meaningful Vacation of Your Life - w/ Kimberly

We are all about short-term service projects that allow people to meaningfully interact and engage with local communities on projects. As a solo traveler, right, I want to go to a place, experience it, not just as a tourist, but much more immersive experience. experience. One of our biggest challenges that might surprise people is managing the cultural differences between the community and the volunteers. I'm Naman Pande. This is the Ready Set Do podcast. And in this episode, my guest is Kimberly Haley Coleman.

guest is Kimberly Haley Coleman. Kimberly is the founder and CEO of Globeaware, which is probably the most interesting volunteering organization that I've ever heard of. Globaware offers volunteers to go to remote parts of the world and carry out 7-day long projects in a way that is extremely organic and benefits the local community while also immersing the volunteer into the new land that they're in. And we are looking for smallcale simple projects that we can finish in a few days time that are safe, interesting and genuinely meaningful for this needy community.

meaningful for this needy community. It's going to be like a man versus wild situation. situation. At Jaipur, we're more reactive to the specific conditions and the specific time of whatever's happening between our coordinator and that community. In line with our theme of learning from somebody that's just a few steps ahead, my goal with this episode is to join Kimberly's mission to make this aware for as many people as possible out there that this is such a unique way to volunteer. And if you're looking at something of this nature, it's a no-brainer to check out Globeaware. This is the Ready Set Do podcast. Subscribe for weekly episodes on YouTube and daily clips from those episodes on YouTube and Instagram. And now, without any further ado, here's Kimberly.

Kimberly. Welcome to the only podcast in the world featuring stories of high agency individuals who are just a few steps ahead of us. Kimberly, welcome. Thank you so much N for having me. I'm really excited about talking to you. Yeah, honestly since we first synced um I was just completely blown away by what you shared about the incredible work that you do at Globalware and honestly just the concept of volunteering but in a way where it's super accessible. you don't have to uproot your life for you know like five years and devote yourself to like the specific call. So yeah um really just wanted to kick off Kimberly by if you can please share with us a little bit about what Global Bear does and the type of um impact that you've been so far.

been so far. Sure. Well thank you so much. We are all about uh short-term service projects that allow people to meaningfully interact and engage with local communities on projects that are important to them. And we have projects and programs all over the world. They're usually weak and people are having fun, too. So, we're working 30 to 35 hours a week, but we know people aren't going to want to go to Peru and not see Machu Picchu or go to Cambodia and not see Anger West. So we include all of that as a part of the week, but really the the most important part of it, the beating heart of it all is really that service

heart of it all is really that service component that standing side by side with local communities and getting to see and understand their culture uh more intimately from the inside instead of looking at uh a community or culture as an other or as a tourist or as a consumer. So that's really what we're about. That's really cool. Yeah. And it's such a cool idea right off the bat because I'm thinking of myself say as a solo traveler, right? I want to go to a place, experience it not just as a tourist but in kind of like looking at a more much more immersive experience and I can think of very few ways at least you know before I ran into you and the

you know before I ran into you and the incredible work that you're doing of being able to do that in a super organic way which is kind of you know not super high takes and I especially love what you said about um that that the volunteers here are not you know messiahs like they're they're not you know the um you know harbingers of solvers of all problems that exist. So actually can you share a little bit more about why that is like why did you design it to be that way?

design it to be that way? Sure. Yeah. And you know as you said so we we aren't superheroes. We're not swooping in with capes. That's so true. Well, you know, so really, you know, the word you used organic was a really good appropriate word that captures a lot because, you know, if the local community has chosen a project that is important to them, it allows a participant in the program to see the real beauties and the real challenges that they're facing instead of just assuming they know what those are. You know, I think a lot of people, you know, they might go to a place like Guatemala and uh if they're just seeing uh locals at Tikk Ruins, they without knowing much about their lives, you know, they might think, "Oh gosh, are there I don't know,

think, "Oh gosh, are there I don't know, are there are there clothes of a different make? Do they not have the latest iPhone?" And these things that are really not important. Don't say nearly as much as what is their access to health care like? How much time do they get to spend with their friends and family? Are they eating fresh and organic food or are they eating fast? You know, and if you're working side by side with someone, then you do start to see those things. You really do start to understand what do they see as a challenge. Do they see using a 5-year-old bone as a challenge or do they see the fact that um it might be a 2hour uh hitchhiking journey to get to the closest clinic because there's no uh you know transportation. And so it it allows our volunteers to uh peak on the

allows our volunteers to uh peak on the inside. And also uh you know even with cuisine uh from our perspective eating and cooking are a real window into again the joys and culture uh of a a country. and just buying from a restaurant as opposed to, you know, learning how do they make the the tortillas in Guatemala and how are they buying the uh cornmeal? What does that look like? Getting um a real direct view of that. Uh that's really what changes your your mind space, your perspective in a global citizenship way that again on on just a a traditional tourist experience, you're not likely to get. Yeah. There's just no way. you half the time is just spent I don't know clicking Instagrammable pictures for most people and that's it right but you're very right in that there's a big and growing

right in that there's a big and growing chunk of population that just doesn't want to do that anymore that for whom travel is not just about five new Instagram posts but a truly life-changing experience in a way that also benefits the community that you're visiting and yeah that's that's so special um I want to shift the focus on you for just a little bit here you obviously had a corporate career. You you were you know living your life. You you know just like doing your thing.

you know just like doing your thing. What prompted you to get into this type of this industry and you know doing this type of work like why did you do that? Yeah. So I certainly wasn't setting out to do it. It wasn't something that was my life's ambition from my 20s. uh because as you said I was having a more traditional corporate career and I was always traveling a lot both personally and um within my work and so I would find myself on these uh in these wonderful locations where I'd already seen uh the touristy sites and so found myself that I'm not um I can go to the beach but not for long. after a few hours, I kind of I'm over it. And so,

hours, I kind of I'm over it. And so, uh, more out of boredom and less out of some, uh, humanitarian, uh, goal. I mean, I really just have to be, uh, transparent and frank about that. It's not like I went into this saying, "Hey, I want to be a hero." It was more like, "Hey, I've got time to fill. Let me make it meaningful and efficient. Let's get something done here." I didn't realize what it was going to do for my heart and joy and connectedness when I did this. So it was a great outcome and a byproduct that continually happens but it wasn't the goal. And so when I went on location uh and then trying to find you was habitat

and then trying to find you was habitat humanity or is peace corps ever do you know shorter earth and you know I just found that local grassroots organizations are not in a position to host people short term because the amount of time it takes to train oversee and supervise them. And so it was at that stage that I started uh asking directly to people in communities, what can I do? What can I plug in here? And uh and it so it really grew from that. That's how it happened.

grew from that. That's how it happened. It was it was uh I didn't start out with that goal. So and I I know I'm not unique in that it was a very ciruitous path and it took me a couple of years after that. So that was in the year 2000 it was 2003 before I did this um exclusively. Right. So uh so it was accidentally as I think so much of life can happen. I I did always have an interest in other cultures but uh but in terms of devoting myself to this it was it was accidental. Our volunteers again they're they're they're non-heroes so they're learning. They're having to come into an environment that's safe and structured. Uh so that also is a part of

structured. Uh so that also is a part of what uh helps us figure out where to land. So that was a long answer to your your short question about you know how did we find those communities? How did they start out? And really uh there's been an evolution over time uh because now so many people come to us. It wasn't always that right. Yeah, that makes total sense. And for our listeners, can you share maybe a couple examples of the type of projects that you were Yeah, they added a flavor.

Yeah, they added a flavor. Yeah, you know, in Kenya, we're building waddle and do style homes. They look like an adobe or plaster style home. In uh Cambodia, we're assembling and distributing wheelchairs for landmine victims. Um in Guatemala, we're installing concrete floors in the homes of single moms. And these are these are moms who usually, you know, have no access to running water, flushing toilets, electricity. They're usually open earth uh homes. Now, you know, so our our projects really vary depending on the country. Um, our accommodations for our volunteers are more traditional in that they do have running water, flushing, toilets, and power. They're not the Ritz Carlton. They're not, you know, five-star hotels, but but relative to the communities where they're helping are quite comfortable. we would consider

are quite comfortable. we would consider them, you know, uh moderate range uh hotels where we try and find accommodation that feels the local flavor and doesn't just feel like um a nondescript western style uh you know hotel. We try and find things in between. But anyway, so the projects really vary and then in some like uh Costa Rica where uh we might be building emergency shelter after a flood. We've been community center. We built um a changing room for a soccer field. We try and do things that are kind of central to the community and the community will in some cases where we're doing this same project like in Kenya where we're always doing that or in Ghana we're frequently doing hygiene stations but in a place like Costa Rica our local staff coordinator coordinator works with the local community to make

works with the local community to make sure that whatever projects we're working on are the ones they're still wanting and needing. And because we continually have groups of people in that community, we've got that touch point always going on. Is is this still working? Is this still happening? Are people still using the the library, the school, the classroom, the houses that we built two years ago? Uh or do we miss the mark? And and you know, we do have examples where there were projects that turned out not to be good uh as an ongoing project and we've just had to learn, you know, over time. But yeah, lots of different kinds of examples, but usually small scale. We're not building hospitals and roads.

hospitals and roads. Yeah. No, that's super helpful. What goes into managing an organization of such a big scale like when you were just sharing just now about essentially you were describing quality control of something that happened a year or two years ago to I feel like there must be so many management lessons that must come out of your experience while doing this. So yeah, what what are some of the I guess difficult challenges that you have to face from a more you know keep keeping the lights on slashmanagement point of view when it comes to running something of this big scale. So uh we've had a lot of challenges and some of that

had a lot of challenges and some of that changes over time like COVID was a huge challenge for us and um you know having borders closed and uh testing requirements coming into a country leaving a country uh there were so many issues issues but and then we also are dealing uh with the value of currency changing dynamically between when somebody registers and when the program happens and having to plan for that.

and having to plan for that. You know, one of our our biggest challenges that uh might surprise people is the managing the cultural differences between the community and the volunteers. And you know, when we have volunteers that come from North America, they will often have a very productivityoriented productivityoriented headspace. headspace. Um and then we will be working in countries where that may not be the most important guiding principle. We want our volunteers to be meaningfully engaged.

volunteers to be meaningfully engaged. And let's take a country like Costa Rica where if we are working outside on a project and it starts to rain, the local community members will often stop and have a coffee and go inside and they're not stressed about this. this is just a part of normal life and that communicating with one another, taking the time to have coffee is just as or more important than how many bricks were laid in the day and our volunteers often don't have that mentality. So, we're having to try and meet between them. So, both set expectations with our volunteers and then also try and uh communicate with the local community to show how important it is why our volunteers have taken this time off and that they want to achieve. So you know those are the kind of

you know those are the kind of challenges that uh they vary based on the country. Do you ever have repeat volunteers like somebody enjoyed an experience so much that they now want to either go back to the same place or you are placed? So more often than not people go to a different cartoon program every single time. But we do have volunteers that continue to return to the same location over and over. Um, and Don Germa, if you're listening to this, you're one of the ones I'm I'm talking about, right?

the ones I'm I'm talking about, right? Uh, Hill Tribes in Thailand is one of his favorites. So, both happen, but um, I would say most people the first time they go on a program, they're nervous, you know, am I going to feel safe? Am I going to like the food? Is it going to feel structured enough? enough? Going to be like a man versus wild situation building and eating. I don't know. And what is going on? Yeah.

what is going on? Yeah. Right. Are there gonna be big scary, you know, spiders that crawl on me at night? You know, all those things. And once they've done it the first time and and realize how we work and that we're wanting to put people in environments where they're going to want to keep coming back, then they get braver and bolder and tend to go. So, you know, whereas somebody somebody from uh you know, Arizona might start out going to Mexico and end up four years later they're going to Zimbabwe. But uh and when we get calls uh with people saying, "Hey, you know, I've never done this. Interested? I just don't even know where to start and what to do." We will talk through that with them. Are there particular uh is there a heritage that you'd like to reconnect with? Is there a

you'd like to reconnect with? Is there a language you grew up with? Where have you been to? So, those are all factors that really help determine where somebody start and where they go back to. to. Gotcha. Wow. And so I'm sure we have a at least a few listeners right now that must be wondering about the flow here, right? So I'm assuming like I when I say flow I mean the entire experience as it unravels in real time. So I'm assuming there's a website right where you can probably register find out more about live projects that are going on and you register online. Is is that right?

register online. Is is that right? I mean it is you know it is somewhat equivalent in terms of the planning process to going on a cruise and if someone goes to the website and they pick which country do I want to go to and on what date you know it's that that uh that straightforward although um we encounter this frequently where people are wondering what how do I go about this now there are a couple of components so once somebody's done that they say hey you know I want to go to uh uh Peru in March and they register. So then we immediately start sending them all the okay if there are any vaccines they need to have and any visas. These are the two top things any sort of entry

are the two top things any sort of entry requirements. So we start sending all that to them. Now we have weird and started really that's what it comes down to. And then we send all the materials to help people know what's the weather going to be like, what is the local community like? What kind of currency are they using? Do you need any? Usually we tell people it's good to have a couple of $100 extra US equivalent wherever they go for.

equivalent wherever they go for. Yeah. whether it's uh souvenirs or they forgot their sunscreen or whatever. So, we we have all these materials we give them. We have podcasts and YouTube videos, but we find gosh more and more people won't read the the orientation. they'll just listen to the podcast or they'll show up and really as long as they've taken care of any sort of health and entry requirements. It's designed so that our coordinator picks you up when you get there and shepherds you through the whole week. So even if you don't know uh anything about that project, the program or the culture, that's what the coordinator is there for. They take you through that. So we do find u there's sort of this tentative hesitancy this fear of people first starting out on experience like what am I going to have

experience like what am I going to have to do and uh and this is a part of why uh you know that that fee to participate is what pays for the coordinator and the foremen that are there on the project making sure for example that the moisture content of the concrete you're mixing is correct. We know the volunteers aren't experts at this. We're not expert that. We're not trying to replace paid jobs locally. And so it's that participation fee that goes toward that. It is it's as a bonus. It's a taxdeductible expense against income. No one ever does it for that, but it's a kind of nice perk. Um but the funds people pay to participate pay for that.

people pay to participate pay for that. They pay for the materials, the accommodations, but also all of the uh human capital it takes to make these things happen. Gotcha. Yeah. And when it comes to these experiences, has there ever been any um incident that is concerning, you know, like maybe somebody being rogue or or like I don't know, anything that made you raise your eyebrows and be like, "Yeah, that should not have happened." And we probably shouldn't take this certain type of person or personality that doesn't do as well with something like this.

well with something like this. Do we I have a few examples come to mind. Um and one in particular um this wash probably 20 years ago was in San Pedicosta Peru way up high in the Andes we had um and our groups of volunteers the typical group is you know 10 people although we'll have corporate groups that are 150 250 which age range when you say 10 we've had 2-year-olds and 90 year olds but uh and you know when they're corporate groups the corporation like a lot of the solo groups they'll between the ages of 20 and 35 and then we'll have the school groups where they're between the age of 15 and 18 and then we'll have family reunions where they're you know so really it's it's a strange spectrum. It really is a wide variety.

spectrum. It really is a wide variety. thought um on on this program a local uh group had invited our volunteers to come and participate in this ceremony and at the end of it they passed out um uh food that it was it was dog and they were they had cooked dog and um a couple of our volunteers were very active in PETA and found this um understandably very disturbing and um it really taught us that we really try and make sure we understand. We're not there to tell uh culture what's right or wrong, but we need to make sure we have expectations set so that we don't have that kind of thing happen. Uh we have had um a few

thing happen. Uh we have had um a few instances of petty theft where somebody put their cell phone down and it got stolen. Um and then the biggest thing we have happen is u you it's not who you think it can be. uh you know our Peru program is at a really high altitude and so our materials all say you know if you've got a breathing issue or asthma you really should talk to your doctor we're not allowed to give medical advice so you need to to but what ends up happening is oftent times the really big macho strong guys who are like I'm fine this is beautiful I'm going to go hiking and have a big drink to celebrate being here and they end up in a clinic so you

here and they end up in a clinic so you know our coordinator and our materials will try and caution people, but we are not um going to keep people from using their free time to do what they want. So, you know, things like that are more likely to happen. Uh I knock on something. We never haven't ever had anybody really physically named by anybody ever. Uh um but you know we have had um and somebody it's funny that you should ask that because it's been a while since it has happened that somebody somebody it last somebody in Quito Ecuador just this last Saturday in their free time was in an area where somebody took their wallet and uh grabbed some well I have to say in most of the communities where we work since they're they have a lot less

since they're they have a lot less materially uh petty theft can be higher even if violent crime is often lower in the communities where we work. And so we just try and caution people this is not the time to wear a fancy watch or to bring your expensive computer. You certainly don't need to dress up at any of our project locations. And you know your your clothes end up kind of getting messy anyway. And a lot of the communities really enjoy uh you know a lot of the communities where we work where kids don't have access to shoes.

where kids don't have access to shoes. like a lot of our uh the programs on the African continent where we work uh kids even if they're muddy messed up tennis shoes they they rather have shoes than no shoes and people will end up leaving their things behind. So um we we do have some of those answers. They're fortunately very few and far between and usually we can predict just by telling people again is not the time to be driven in diamonds. Uh when you're working on a project location as long as people have their uh you know a a uh what I would call a regular dose of uh the whereabouts and this would happen you know my I have a daughter that's in

you know my I have a daughter that's in Chicago. She's had her bike stolen four times despite locking it up. So, you know, these things can can happen and people can step on a nail anywhere in the world. So, we're not allowed to tell anybody that they have to have a tetanus shot, but we let people know that it's not a bad idea to be up to date on your base immunization, you know. Exactly. Yeah. From just a recommendations point of view, yeah, that makes total sense. And when you were sharing that, uh, you briefly mentioned that there's a component of free time. So just I know it will differ from place to place but roughly what percentage of one's day can one expect to be you know working on the project versus having free time to do as they please.

please. So I'd say in a 7-day program which is our standard program except for our goalpost program which is longer uh we work roughly 30 hours. There are times when volunteers will finish something much faster than we expected. And then there are times where we finish a project and people want to keep working, which always often surprises our local community when that happen. Well, that happens more frequently than you'd think because our volunteers will say, "Hey, well, this uh single mom could also use XYZ and these kids could use I'm going to go get a soccer um net goal for them." Um, and you know, people when they see the situation are often far more generous than you'd ever imagine.

more generous than you'd ever imagine. Uh, and we'll just do things on the spur of the moment. Uh, and then play soccer with the kids even if it wasn't on our schedule, you know. So, we really try to adapt because we have small projects and small teams. We are able to uh shift depending on how the day goes. So, usually we're going to spend uh roughly 30 hours during the week during service and but we are considering on top of this because we have cultural exercises that we do. We have all sorts of activities designed to really promote cultural awareness and this is just as much a part of our mission. Um and so that is a part of of what we're doing.

that is a part of of what we're doing. you know, whether we're um helping the mothers and the co-op uh prepare tortillas for the afterchool kids thing. Um and some people don't think of that as work, but it is it is. And you're learning at the same time. In all of our instances, you're learning, you know. Wow, that's so fascinating and honestly so wholesome to learn that despite being done quote unquote with the work, you know, people are still willing and encouraged just intrinsically just out of their altruism to continue to do good work and that's there's just something so special and you know fuzzy about that. Uh in terms of the places that you were laying out where you have operations or obviously I had bunch of

operations or obviously I had bunch of South America, I heard Africa I heard some Southeast Asia u do you have any presence in like South Asia, maybe India or anywhere in your little program in Jaipur in India. We probably are you know when we are looking at locations where you know I'd mentioned that we're wanting communities that are already well organized and know what their uh challenges are and how they want to address them. We also want there it to be a rich cultural environment uh so that people will uh naturally and easily be afforded the opportunity to really get to some juicy bits of that culture. Right. So yeah, we're in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, um, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Peru, Ecuador, Galapagos, Romania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, uh, lots of different, you know,

Africa, uh, lots of different, you know, I should say some of these program locations vary. We, uh, had a program in China until January 2020. and this never reopened for all sorts of reasons. Uh so we we have to respond and react. Sometimes there are uh conditions beyond uh whatever we organize for that we can't overcome either um administratively it's too hard or uh you know in in terms of visas if it's become difficult or really expensive or unwieldy or or even if the appetite uh for going to a country if we're if our volunteers seem less willing u to go someplace well then we will um we we have to respond you know we've got it's got to be sustainable yeah can you tell me a little bit more

yeah can you tell me a little bit more about the um projects maybe singular or plural in Japur just cuz I'm you know from India I'm just curious to learn yeah okay so you know I had mentioned earlier in some countries where we do the same project like in Kenya you're you're going to be building wild style huh our coordinator Raul who has been doing this for I don't know 20 years I would say that a surprising fact about our company is that the average age of our coordinator is probably 58 8 a lot of people will be surprised by that but oh a little younger than that um and he he's a former Mr. India too.

um and he he's a former Mr. India too. Really interesting. But so he's got list of projects. So we're working with I I don't know if you're familiar with the term rag picking children. A lot of people aren't familiar with that. Yeah. So where where we will shore up their homes, shore up the um the schools where we're working. Uh we the projects rotate in India, right? And you know we're dealing with a larger population and more variables changing quickly and we try and react. So in uh Jaipur, we're more reactive to the specific conditions and the specific time of whatever's happening between our coordinator and that community. Um and so it really comes down to basic needs. Yeah. Yeah. And we're not building waddle and top style homes though and uh we're not just doing concrete foundations. It's a

doing concrete foundations. It's a larger rotation of things that we're doing. doing. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's really cool that you have the volunteer leads embedded in the geography going because other otherwise it it's just not going to be as effective as you would hope. Um, so I guess what I'm getting at is how do you recruit these lead leads from each geographies like what the procure behind that? So we several different things. So, uh, we certainly have schools that we've worked with for years where they're, uh, service abroad programs where they will contact us, uh, and churches that are already interested in doing, um, international service. We have a real growing list of corporation and this is new for us in the last roughly 12 14 years where companies are

roughly 12 14 years where companies are employers employers are allowing their staff to use contribution matching to pay for this kind of experience. So the staff member will pay half and then they'll apply for their you know Microsoft Salesforce uh whatever will pay the other half or where they're allowing them to take uh volunteer paid days off where they're not actually having to take their vacation days. So they may get 10 days paid vacation and then five paid if they're doing it serviced. in terms of uh recruit isn't as much a word we would use as uh just a presence so that people can see on you know Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, our YouTube channel and so on and and another way that happens our um YouTube content we have a lot of small

YouTube content we have a lot of small little videos on this is how you fill out a visa card if you're going to Cuba. This is uh what the bathrooms look like in northern Thailand. That's awesome. Yeah, that's smart. So that people who are looking for something useful but then learn that you can serve a bride at the same time. Right. So we're trying to provide content that will be helpful both to our volunteers that have already registered or to somebody who's just, you know, fishing around for how to go someplace if they're needing tips and tricks to go there. our our our podcasts are the same. And in fact, you know, if there's one big huge change now over 25 years ago, it would be that um our younger volunteers are really open to

younger volunteers are really open to listening to content uh podcasts and not having to get a PDF necessarily to to read through it. We provide it and all of it, but um so that they find us lots of different ways. Um and over time of course uh word of mouth is important to us as well. So absolutely. Yeah. Um just not to randomly start problem solving here but um there is a very simple solution to any volunteers that are not trying to read. Um there are AI tools now that are really good at converting the think of the most um I'm not saying that it is for global aware but just the most blandest boring thing you can imagine written on paper but it will be conveyed

written on paper but it will be conveyed to you in the form of a podcast where two people are talking back and forth. You will hear several I I think we have four or five on our channel that were AI generated where we said here's our orientation materials please put it into a podcast and there were times where they will get stuff off and we just have to kept keep starting over but uh and I'm sure that's getting better day by day but it's shocking how real like even the cadence the male to female voice and uh it's such a different way to draw people in and just fascinate I know it's going to get even better. It really is incredible what's out there.

incredible what's out there. Exactly. Yeah. So, no, I was just curious if you had, you know, dabbled with something like that. And I love what you said about um just providing value upfront in in in form of in the form of content because it's such a golden rule that you know it's it's one of those boring facts that everybody knows but it's very hard to execute and be it a organization like yourself or a podcast like mine. This is what people just a lot of people fail to understand about content is that it's not about us.

about content is that it's not about us. It's not about you. It's all about providing value to the you know whoever is watching and if it works out they will you know like reach out rewarded. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You will get rewarded. So I just wanted to call out that thing that you mentioned which I was definitely not you know expecting to hear validated um you know from you at least in in this conversation. But I think it just goes out to say that there's a reason why blueprints are blueprints right? they just always work.

blueprints right? they just always work. You there is no need to reinvent the wheel, you know, just go down the boring beaten down path except you will, you know, you will be rewarded as you said. Um, what does big picture near future success look like for Globar? Gosh. Uh, you know, it's I feel like we're always hoping for more audiences that don't know you can do this will learn about it. Um, obviously we like seeing the projects uh get done, but the reason I do it is the joy I hear reflected back to me when people do this. And you know, that first few times somebody does it, it's just such a a high getting to know that it's out there. And I know it's amazing how frequently. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, but I I'm shocked. I

Yeah. And you know, but I I'm shocked. I feel like, you know, because we've been around for so long and yet every day I I every day I run across people who don't know that this exists and not just with us. I mean, obviously people know they could do the peace score for 27 months. There are lots of again various spiritual uh institutions that have great service. Um, so, so they may be familiar with those kinds of things or Habitat for Humanity, Doctors Without Borders, but for me, success is finding more and more groups that just don't even know putting it on their radar. Yep. You know, so do you have if if I were to put it in this way that do you have any competitors like do you have other organizations that are doing this or

organizations that are doing this or would you say you're like the only at this scale? I mean not just in one place but a little bit at scale. Yeah. So I you know there are groups like Amigos Americas uh UDA Habitat Humanity which of course is incredible and they also have a a global component. Uh we think of them as peers not competitors. Um there are uh organizations that will work in specific parts of the globe or uh really focus on for example Latin America or a specific audience. Um, one there are also uh organizations that will um they will look like it's service but when you get there it's less organized and I do feel like this is something that uh separates us from u other organizations that are in this space. It's hard to tell if

in this space. It's hard to tell if somebody's just looking at websites if they're actually getting something done or if they're just uh you know somehow staying with a local family and getting busy work. Yeah. Y and this is where you know whether it means talking to other people have gone or trying to look up reviews across lots of different sites or whatever there it it it can be harder and harder in a crowded world to see what's out there and uh hopefully looking for um a deeper longer footprint so you can see what's been said about the organization over time. Uh I I do feel like that's something that really separates us. But um and there all you know we we've seen a lot of groups there. There was an organization called Crosscultural

organization called Crosscultural Solutions that was around forever which um did great work but um you know the pandemic did a real number on a lot of of um service related organizations. It's really hard to survive um borders being closed. Absolutely. Absolutely. Wow. No, this this has been so cool. I've learned so much and again like can't thank you enough for just this incredible work that you've been doing.

incredible work that you've been doing. Um just a final question before we close out. If you had the platform to tell everybody in the world something, what would it be? Oh, you know, stay connected to joy. Um, I think so many of us go about our regular day and get in a habit and go through what um what whatever was kind of the routine from the day prior. And uh if you take yourself out of that normal day-to-day environment at least every now and then so that you can re-evaluate all of this. Whatever you think is normal, evaluate it so that you can see what's the source of joy. where the lowerhanging fruit that actually gives you joy that you're probably overlooking right now. Yeah. Yeah. It's just so hard to see in our normal

It's just so hard to see in our normal everyday jo lives, you know. So, I guess I'd say that that's such a pertinent reminder to, you know, just that there is in fact joy in the little things if one is looking right. All all one has to do is be on the lookout for those little things and often that can make such a big difference especially because that compounds so much right because from a whole bad week now you're looking at a wonderful week and then you have a few of them so you have a few good months years and you know where does it end you then have a good life so so true I totally agree yeah so I think that is such an incredible reminder and this is a

incredible reminder and this is a question that I ask all of the guests but this is a first I' I've never heard somebody say such a simple thing but something that is so impactful. So really want to thank you Kimberly for taking the time here today. I'm sure all of our listeners will take away so much and hopefully as you said a lot of this will go out into the world and I am definitely um not just encouraging but at this point I feel like a partner in your mission to just make more people aware that such an incredible opportunity exists and if they want to partake they know where to go. So thank you so so much. Oh thank you so much. I really am grateful to you for the opportunity to

grateful to you for the opportunity to chat. That brings us to the end of that episode with Kimberly. Seriously, what are you even doing here? Go to Globe Affairs website, check out their tours to literally everywhere ever, and go do some volunteer