Interview with Doug Hollinger - Continued

When you are recruiting students to be a part of your team, what skills,
knowledge, and/or experience do you find most helpful?

The students that I select to go to remote regions in developing countries must be highly motivated and have a willingness to serve and to go beyond their normal zone of familiarity. They must be open-minded and adaptable to living in another culture. Students should also be physically fit and outgoing. They should have an interest in science, an awareness of how the earth is currently changing and what can be done about it.

What type of support would be most beneficial to enhancing your mission?

We currently need people interested in performing grant searches and that have experience in grant writing or at least the willingness to learn. Persons interested in creative fund-raising are also in need. The GYST could also use someone with video editing expertise to help generate public awareness of the conditions in the parts of the world where we work and how our young people are making a difference.

In what ways are the students most profoundly effected by having this
experience? What perspective or paradigm shift do they make, if any?

GYST volunteers are excited about being able to apply the science that they have learned and making a difference in another person’s life. No GYST volunteer has returned from a project quite the same. All volunteers have made adjustments in their plans for further education as a result of the service experience. Many have completely changed their majors and paths of study to engineering or environmental science so that they can continue to pursue this type of work professionally.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like to share?

We are currently planning a project on the Thailand/Burma border where there is a refugee and environmental crisis. We will build two solar electrical and UV water purification systems for schools. We will also teach the use and maintenance of the systems to the teachers and community leaders as well as plan a project for 2011.
I have just returned from Haiti where I initiated a water purification project and ultimately it will become student driven.

How would you describe the current conditions in some of these places that
you are assisting that would give us a better understanding regarding their
situation?

The people who we serve live in the areas where there is no water or sanitation infrastructure and no electricity. They are refugees of war and the brutality of a military dictatorship. They are not citizens of the country where they reside and therefore have no legal access to education or medical care. They get by as best they can with makeshift schools and clinics but receive no support from governments or corporations other than those like ours, the GYST and our partners. In the case of Haiti, of course the recent natural disaster has created 1.5 million homeless people. They, like the other people we help, suffer from diseases caused by water-borne pathogens and the lack of electricity.

What criteria are you looking for to determine who needs your help?

We look for communities where we can catalyze improvements in education and health care. We work in areas where we can promote sustainable energy initiatives and help communities develop the capacity to use resources by which to create opportunity. Simply stated, we work where people have virtually nothing and nowhere to turn. We work where there is a high child mortality rate (under 5 years > 20%) and a low literacy rate.

Thank you for reading about GYST and please visit www.GlobalYouthServiceTeam.org  for more information.

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