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Internship with a Purpose

What a whirlwind 2020 has been! Many of us have been forced to see the world from a completely different perspective. Many of us have had to spend a lot of time indoors, almost doing nothing and have craved experiences with the outside world! If you’re reading this, you are probably looking for a remote internship or vitrual volunteering job, in which you can make our world a better place!

At times it can be difficult to have enriching experiences when routines have become quite mundane in the household. There have been many teens and college students who have been seeking volunteer opportunities abroad and online volunteering programs. But how can we get the inspiring educational experiences of internships abroad in rural and faraway lands from our living rooms?

Holistic Approach to Education

Well, in today’s day and age we can reach far and wide with the amazing little contraption that is sitting on our laps, wherever we happen to find ourselves. But along with amazing potentials for volunteering organizations and virtual volunteer services worldwide, it can be difficult to know which ones to choose. 

There’s no doubt that we are absolutely spoiled for choice in this world! In a lot of ways that can lead to less fulfillment and satisfaction, in my experience. Personally, I have lived in rural Cambodia for the past seven years and as an American ex-pat my views and approach to global issues has been completely transformed. You see, I live in a world where gratitude is instinctual, acceptance is key, humility keeps us bonded and sharing is our nature. In many ways, we have been led astray from our basic human instincts with the programming of fear from media in the western world.

The Remote Internship

Luckily for us, there’s so many virtual volunteer opportunities and remote internships. The craziest part about them is that we can have these experiences from our own living rooms! We can actually interact with cultures across the world in little tiny villages and go on the greatest journey of all, the journey within!

But with the various online volunteering opportunities and remote internships abroad, how can we know that the opportunities we find will meet our needs? Not something generic but a ultimate learning experience that is filled with self-exploration and first-hand experience with other cultures? As a person who runs these programs, I will tell you that it’s not necessarily an easy thing to accomplish! Small logistical things like getting Internet out to these rural communities has proven quite difficult… But it’s these places that are off the grid and away from all the ads and social expectation. I have found the most beneficial and thought-provoking stimulation for my own personal development. 

It is in the small and ordinary responses that I get from our Cambodian students that can send me into two days of reflection. The interaction that I get from this culture mixed with gurus of science and spirituality has led me down a path of self-awareness that has molded me into the kind of leader that our world needs. 

Servant Leadership & Remote or Virtual Development

I am the kind of leader that holds collaboration as sacred. I am the kind of leader that doesn’t force my views on others but helps to guide those seeking personal empowerment to find the truth in their hearts. 

When people live in a way that stems from their own inner knowing, their passion, skills and talents outflow from them effortlessly. It is from truly knowing our own true nature that we can find ourselves in alignment. This alignment sends us the perfect opportunities and networks to further our personal missions and foster collaborations for the betterment of our world. 

It is these types of remote internships and virtual volunteering that I find truly life-changing. So, I stay in a place of gratitude and abundance where I get to experience rural cultures filled with humility and gratitude. We then love to empower our volunteers and interns from western cultures who are seeking knowledge and satisfaction in the realm of sustainability for a better future.

Learn More About Our Program ​

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I was looking for a place to live with nothing but red dirt roads around me. I like being off the beaten path and surrounded by nature. I prefer quiet village life where everyone waves when you path by. I wanted to hear birds, crickets, and rain.

I met a Cambodian man who offered to build me a custom home on his coconut plantation. I happily agreed, what an incredible opportunity! Two months later, I was living in my beautiful little two-story home with a glass bottle brick wall and a beautiful patio that looks over greenery and mountains as far as the eye can see. So, I live here with my little animal family.

I have so much peace here and inspiration. When I write my books and articles, I voice record them in the notepad on my iPhone. I sit in my hammock or out on the patio, I look out into the beautiful green landscape like I’m doing right now. And, I just talk as if I’m talking to you or one of my best friends.

Right now, there is the sound of rain on the roof, beautiful low-hanging mystical clouds over the mountains that make me feel like I’m in a storybook from once upon a time. There is an ancient tree that I look out at, constantly reminding me of the power and resilience of nature. My boyfriend is singing romantic Brazilian music and playing his guitar in the background.

I am feeling really lucky to be alive. I love the life that I created for myself. I could be working a 9 to 5 in a city somewhere, but instead, I’m a writer who runs a free education project in the rural countryside. 

My main objective is to be a part of a movement that raises the consciousness of humanity, at this time in our world.

I’m so grateful for myself that I created this life. I am so grateful for you, thank you for reading this and being a part of this beautiful journey with me. I hope I can inspire you to create the life of your dreams and to believe in a kind of world where we all get to do what we love.

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There are all types of worldwide charities, so you can choose one that will pair well with your chosen field. There are environmentally based organizations, human rights, work with animals, social enterprises and so many more. When you imagine where you would like to be of aid in our world, you can then pursue the option that best suit you. You will have to look at yourself and see what your strengths are and how you can help. This will be important information that you should include in your resume. 

Once you get to the place of working with this foundation, you will then be able to show your potential employer that you care about our world and making a difference. You are demonstrating that you can take action when action needs to be taken! Worldwide charities are making excellent initiatives and as part of a team like that, you will be able to show where you can function well on a team. These are all important attributes, for any job you may be applying for. 

Undertaking volunteer work, in particular, is exhibiting that you have the drive and motivation to do something you care about, even if it is not for material gain. This is something that an employer wants to see. To have the ability to stick to something, even when it is difficult, because you want to make a difference is a person that just about anyone would want to represent or be a part of their company. Involvement in worldwide charities is an indication that you have heart and that you are part of assisting our world, not just talking about it.

All in all, there are so many qualities that those who work within worldwide charities hold. To recap, there is a dedication to aiding a cause that benefits the field of work you are applying for, you must examine your strength and abilities, realizing and appreciating where your attributes are on a team,  that you believe one person can make a difference and that you are willing to do your part and create a better world. These qualities amongst holding strong to your beliefs, self-confidence, compassion, and kind-heartedness are all virtues and behavior traits that employers are looking for. Individuals that can show their values and characteristics emanate natural strength and self-leadership tendencies.  Working amongst others that are involved with worldwide charities, will definitely give you more ideas, as well!

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Hello to our beautiful Red Road supporters!

It’s been a while since we last checked in. As the world has been so crazy, we have been focused on what we can do to be sustainable in these times: Improving facilities, our product line, and taking care of our staff.

We had to shut the school down when Cambodia requested it of us, so the past few months, we’ve been focusing on improving the farm, volunteer quarters, and getting our moringa skincare line perfected. 

To be honest, it was a bit of a welcomed break, since we have been going nonstop for the past 6 1/2 years!  We’ve had classes every day for the past five years, and it was nice to take some time for maintenance and work on becoming organically sustainable. 

Without the salary of our teachers, we were able to make enough money in sales of moringa, bamboo straws, homemade mango chutney, upcycled glass, and bottle bricks to support our on-site caretaker, Bong Da. He just got two one-month-old ostriches for the farm, so exciting, so cute!

These last few months allowed us to see how close to sustainability we are.

We have created this 3-step skincare line with moringa, 100% pure honey, galangal and turmeric! It consists of:

-A creamy moringa, turmeric cleanser 
-A detox and glow scrub 
-And then of course our 100% pure Moringa oil serum.

All the ingredients are grown on-site with help from our volunteers and local farmers, and it’s so incredible to see what happens to your skin when you don’t use chemicals on it.

Our customers in Cambodia absolutely love the 3-step skincare line, and I’ve seen the skin of our customers, as well as my own skin completely improve! Fine lines diminished, blackheads disappearing, and a beautiful natural glow! We have even gotten in contact with a Danish skincare clinic who is now going to test out our products on scandinavian skin. We are so excited about these new products! It’s such a pleasure to be providing this to our friends and customers!

As of now, we need support from our donors to start up small group tutoring classes and get our products abroad.

We are SO excited about our new product line, for every $150 donated, we would like to send our donors the three-step Moringa skincare line.

We are so grateful to all of you and are very excited about all these beautiful initiatives to be fully self-sustaining!! We are almost there!!! To receive the skincare line, please email Garrett@theredroadfoundation.org with a screen shot of your donation receipt or just reply to this email. 
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IN THE FUTURE

We have some great news about our future projects:
Before the pandemic happened, we had professors from Montana State University out to see our projects to check out collaboration possibilities for this and future years. The dean has approved a certified leadership class in collaboration with the Red Road Foundation!

We also had a professor from Brown University coming who runs a leadership in experiential learning project that supports-get this- Women running experiential learning projects for sustainability and leadership in Southeast Asia!! I know, it’s too perfect!

Furthermore, we have a new collaboration with The Leap UK, who are gap year experts and are going to be collaborating with us, as well! We have six students booked through them for January to come out and do our internship program!

Last but not least, we have a group of students from a private school in Saudi Arabia who are interested in joining us for our one of a kind expedition next year!

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It’s only in the past decade that we’ve started the sustainable development movement in America. Our culture has been investing more time in developing sustainable solutions as our natural resources are diminishing. We must find ways to make sustainable development lucrative for ourselves while having social impacts that can change the lives of those we work with. This is why business impact and social enterprises are instrumental in making lasting, sustainable development. There is so much good work to be done and gathering together with like-minded people for a 6 to 8-week program focusing on leadership and sustainability could be the confidence-booster one needs to implement new ideas in our world. As Margaret Mead said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. 

The Red Road Foundation offers internships for college/University freshman and it is one of the most affordable and trustworthy internship programs in the world! The Red Road Foundation offers four-week programs (as well as 6-8 week extended custom programs for a discounted prices) during the summer months that focus particularly on sustainable development and leadership. During the month long course you will gain true insights into the challenges and solutions of cross-cultural collaborations. You will work with groups of like-minded individuals to bring sustainable solutions to the way a small village lives by contributing to new models that incorporate free education, waste management, recycling, health and clean water. These experiences will be hands-on and you will experience life through the grateful eyes of locals, this is something that can affect your perspective on life in the long-term. These experiences are intertwined with amazing adventure travel opportunities where you get to experience the road less traveled and secret nature spots. These internships can change your view on life, give you the confidence you need to pursue ideas and give you the ability employ all the amazing  things you’ve been learning in school. The Red Road Foundation is a sustainable development program in rural Cambodia that is making big differences when it comes to education, waste management, sustainability, recycling and environmental impact.

The Red Road Foundation is the best internship I’ve ever been a part of! Working with this organization gave me the ability to have my voice heard and my ideas tested out. This opportunity is made most special by working with a team of locals and long-term ex-pats who have made sustainable contributions in this field, speak the local language and will be working hands-on with you to make long-term sustainable impacts in the rural countryside. They are testing out grassroots models that have the potential to spread worldwide! As we are having major problems with waste management and sustainability in our world at this time, it’s of great importance that we dedicate time and energy into the sustainable development practices. We need sustainable development leaders And this is a great opportunity to fine tune your skills as a leader and environmental advocate. 

Though the Red Road Foundation’s Internship is a four week long experience that also incorporates adventure travel, you can specially customize your trip to be 6 to 8 weeks long, as you add on an extra 2 to 4 weeks of fieldwork. The extra few weeks are less than half the price of the original 4 week program, as it will not incorporate travel and you will spend the remainder of your time at the project, incorporating all you’ve learned. You will be able to receive internship credits and the perspective shift that you will gain from this experience will surely change the course of your life!

There are many internships for college freshman available, many 6 to 8 week programs on sustainability but if you’re looking for the most affordable and trustworthy internship abroad I would recommend the Red Road Foundation. My time spent at the Red Road has made me a better person, it is almost some type of utopia that makes my heart feel full and at the end of the day when I look in the mirror, I feel proud of myself and I can see how my energies, my body and my intentions have sculpted the world around me. I am so grateful that I have been able to work with this amazing organization! Sustainability is so important in NGOs, relying on donations is unsustainable for the long term and the social enterprises that they are developing are sure to make this program one that lasts the test of time. I am so grateful to be a part of this and I wish the same for you!

Good luck on your quest to find the best, most affordable and trustworthy internship focusing on sustainability and leadership! It’s wonderful that you have chosen to be a force of positive change in our world and we need more people like you! Cheers to the life we create and to having a happy, healthy heart!

The post Trustworthy, Affordable and Life-Changing Internship Abroad appeared first on The Red Road Foundation.

I apologize for that.Things have been progressing and we have been very busy! We had a Danish company reach out to us and enter us in a competition that we won and got a freshwater bore well dug, onsite! We can now get water year-round and experiment with new types of farming (aquaponics and hydroponics) that can grow some vegetables that are very hard to grow in this area. Many of our students are very excited to learn about this, as they come from farming families. Also, we had another Danish company reach out to us called Canopy LAB they have an amazing online learning platform with classes in Environmental Leadership, Human Rights, Sustainable Development, Women’s Empowerment, etc.. We have just partnered with them and have an amazing American volunteer with two master’s degrees, coming out to train our teachers in it and implement this into our curriculum! On top of that, a third organization reached out to us, ACE Cambodia a clean-cooking/off-grid energy company. They are coming out to start a solar-powered battery lamp library at our school and to give a presentation on sustainability, renewable energies & clean cooking.

We just got an amazing new board member named Iain Rae, from England. He is helping us develop our new internship program. This is very exciting! It will be the bread and butter project that leading us to full self-sustainability. Our trips will fully fund our school and pay for the eco-construction workshops for locals in the community. What we are doing is starting an internship program for college students to come get credits for Leadership in Sustainable Development and Personal Development. As we have successfully hosted over 700 interns and volunteers, we have decided to make an official curriculum. We have continuously received amazing letters from past volunteers who vouch that working with our program has transformed the way they view themselves and their abilities in our world. This inspired us to bridge the gap between western and eastern ways of life and bring people together in symbiotic relationships.

Click below for High-Resolution Print File

 I am currently in the US recruiting students but more specifically, meeting with department directors at the major Universities between Montana and Austin, to develop a few partnerships for curriculum and project collaboration with our programs. We are working at a grassroots level and blazing the trail for some innovative ways of handling trash and free education, we are a perfect model to have students get involved in implementing new ideas and experiential learning. We are interested in having faculty-led programs that have a long-term affiliation with our school. We have U of M and MSU interested! MSU is developing a Leadership Minor and has expressed interest in pursuing a partnership that incorporates The Red Road Foundation in the curriculum! It is very exciting! I am currently in Colorado and meeting with Universities working on this full time, I often have some financial worries in getting this off the ground. When I came out here, I was wondering how I would be able to afford hotels and renting a car, etc.. It was basically impossible for me, but I had faith that if it was meant to be then my needs would be met. I called my friend, Halladay, which most of you know because she plays music for most of our fundraisers and wrote “Just a Little Love” as a tribute to The Red Road. Before I could even tell her that I was planning on coming to the States and visiting Universities between Montana and Austin, she told me that she had finally finished up her 1960’s bus after two years of working on it and that she was going to take it on tour during the exact time frame and on the exact same route that I was considering for our recruiting trip. BOOM! The Universe provided. So now, we are here on the road. Here are some photos from our trip!

If you are able, any donations will help us to keep everything rolling. We are so close to being self-sustainable! Soon we will not rely on donations at all, but as for now, this is our final push and we need your help! Funds currently go to:

1. Keeping our school running ($800 per month)
2. Finishing the new intern quarters ($1000)
3. Printing/meeting room/transportation costs at the Universities ($500).

Link to Donate Now

Thank for being a crucial part of our journey and thanks for your interest and support! If you know anyone who could benefit from a perspective and priority shift in life, please check out our Educational Retreat.

With Love and Gratitude,

The RRF Family

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Of course, there are geographical differences that affect how strong you may feel this. It is in its purest form when you get to the rural countryside. It definitely doesn’t take long to get into the countryside from a metropolitan area… Sometimes you simply drive a few minutes from the city and see yourself surrounded by rice fields or mangoes. When you get there, there is something so genuine and pure about the way the villagers go about life. Even in the smaller cities you can still feel it in all day to day errands and stops at shops and at the market. It is a contagious, joyous, accepting nonchalance. It is a refreshment from the hustle and bustle of western civilization. This is why in the major cities, it is not the same. The big cities are highly influenced by western civilization, culture and some societal pressures. Many Cambodian people who live in the city have been pushed into one-room shacks to build multimillion-dollar buildings. For this reason, some jaded ways of viewing the world are creeping into the city. Though not everyone has been swept away by all the changes… There is still a multitude of gems and genuine smiles at every corner.

So, when you submerge yourself in this culture, you are able to learn more about the art of happiness. Rural Cambodians live for the day. It is apparent that they work hard, rest hard, party hard and spend a lot of time with the people they love. Every interaction is looked upon with the spice of curiosity and the simple innocence of experiencing a new situation for the first time. How wonderful would western people feel if they were able to live with this perspective? It is a gift for our consciousness! To have the opportunity to emerge in a place where people simply do not stress the small stuff, they innocently laugh off any stress or sense of urgency, don’t spend countless hours of time asking why, when something bad happens they just move forward and accept. These teachings are so simple, but sometimes they cannot be fully understood unless you can see them in action.

When we are able to incorporate these viewpoints into the way we live our day to day life, we can feel joy much easier. It is easy to believe these concepts, but it is far harder to adjust your mindset in the day to day affairs. In so many instances, people may believe that they live like this until they see others who are truly living this way. Even spending one afternoon, sitting in the rural countryside and having a picnic on someone’s bamboo table will help you to relax into the joy of being that s living underneath all of the expectations, perceived urgency, fear and stress. They will teach you that Joy is not something to reach for or find, it is something that we can feel in each moment if we can learn to let go and unlearn the mindset that we were raised amongst.

From the times, countless times, I’ve been broken down on the side of the road with a mechanical motor issue, I have always been picked up by a local, taken to the nearest mechanic, given mango with chilli and charged a few dollars if that! And many of these cases, they have actually driven out to my broken vehicle and fixed it there on-site for less than five dollars. I will be sitting with their family, having a laugh and watching the kids and animals in the field. Honestly, some of my favourite memories have happened while waiting for my motorbike to get fixed. Cambodian people have taught me so much about being present, not stressing the small stuff and being generous. We all know that life has its ups and downs and things go sour, but why do we spend so much time asking, “why me?”.” We all have our struggles, we are all human and wasting our time on thoughts like “why?” or “how?”, is not making us any more content. There are no reasons for any of it besides the fact that we are all on a personal journey of spiritual growth in our lives and learning to have a bit more compassion, the innocence of experiencing a fresh moment, humility and gratitude could take us far on the road to peace! So, if you are curious about new perspectives that bring a newfound feeling of simple Joy, come visit Cambodia! Rent a motorbike and go into the country! When you return from an adventure there are beautiful hotels with modern-day luxuries for a fraction of western prices! When you get back to your beautiful hotel room at the end of the day, you will have far deeper gratitude for things like hot running water. Life is all about perspective… How do you frame yours?

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