Outline of an Entrepreneurial Volunteer

September 17, 2013

In May 2009 Jyldyz Sattarova (AUCA ’08) did what every young Kyrgyz woman does, and moved to Macedonia for a year to volunteer. As a member of AIESEC, the largest international youth volunteer organization, Jyldyz coordinated volunteers and projects across Macedonia. For her effort, AIESEC provided an apartment, a visa with no right to work, and the opportunity to have a life changing experience.

Of course, despite the demand from Balkan men, most Kyrgyz women are not rushing to Macedonia. Some Kyrgyz politicians would even make it illegal for women under 23 to leave the country without their father’s permission. Underlying the law are a lot of ignorant men, but also a lot of legitimate fears of traveling abroad including sex trafficking and forced labor. About 20% of the Kyrgyz population are migrant workers, mostly in Kazakhstan and Russia, and many of them are unaware of their rights as laborers.

Jyldyz’s parents might have understood her better had she told them she was moving to Tomsk to work in a factory. Their first reaction upon hearing that she was going to Macedonia was, “And you’re doing this for free?” As dangerous as Russia can be for migrants, there is also the danger that a person will run into some money.

Jyldyz’s parents were very quickly supportive, providing her with the money she needed for the plane ticket to Skopje. Their initial reaction was probably very similar to all such conversations that go on around the world between parents and their unexpectedly adventurous children. Why does a young person with a university degree and a network of local support, leave to pursue an opportunity in a completely unknown part of the world, with no friends, a strange culture, and no money? It’s fun.

Volunteering in another country is an entrepreneurial activity. We associate entrepreneurship with bravery, vision, and fortitude, all of which are necessary for an international volunteer to succeed. The simple act of stepping off a plane and thinking that you can make a difference in a strange place requires copious amounts of bravery, and perhaps a teaspoon of cognitive dissonance.

At the time she left for Macedonia, Jyldyz spoke 5 languages, none of which was Macedonian. She had little to no money of her own, and had to trust herself that she would be able to figure it out when she go there. Her only housing option was a small apartment that she had to share with two other AIESEC volunteers, requiring flexibility and no small amount of patience. Patience and flexibility are easy when you are at home and in control. Giving up control, living with uncertainty, all while maintaining grace and calm is brave.

Volunteering also takes vision. You have to be able to imagine a better situation than currently exists, and you have to use the limited resources at your disposal to get there. Jyldyz identified, created, and matched volunteers with projects in Skopje, Ohrid, and Prilep. Having such vision is risky, because it puts your beliefs out in the open. Volunteers who can manage this risk successfully not only get the opportunity to impact the lives of others, but also learn skills that serve them the rest of their lives.

The skills Jyldyz obtained volunteering – project management, budgeting, research, public speaking – then transferred directly upon her return to Kyrgyzstan and paying jobs (Thank God!) at Save the Children and later at International Resource Group. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, it is the risk takers who get the rewards, and it is no different for international volunteers.

Not every risk is wise, and not every risk-taker is rewarded. It takes diligence and fortitude to get through the hard times, and entrepreneurs and volunteers, for a variety of reasons, are not always able to persevere. For Jyldyz there were a couple things that helped her through her year in Macedonia, and that keep her volunteering to this day back in Kyrgyzstan. One is that from a very young age she was active in different school events and volunteering opportunities, which allowed her to trust that what she was doing was, in fact, good. Another is the fun of getting to meet people from around the world, and the rush from seeing that among such diversity there can be common goals.

The great part about both entrepreneurs and volunteers is that once they start creating they never stop. When we sat down to talk for this article, Jyldyz mentioned the lack of opportunities for volunteering in Kyrgyzstan. Since returning from Macedonia she has volunteered with several organizations, including a youth leadership project that she organized with the Kyrgyz National Olympic Committee and Generations For Peace, a global non-profit. In that project Jyldyz and her partner Aibek Adigineev, trained 35 youth leaders from around the country to promote responsible citizenship through sports.

Creating opportunities where none existed before is why we praise entrepreneurs, and why we should do better to praise volunteers. Every volunteer that contributes time is making a statement about their values, and what kind of society they want to live in. Creating the space for those people to contribute to that society takes the bravery, vision, and fortitude of those entrepreneurial volunteers of all ages, and from around the world. Jyldyz is an example for all Kyrgyz volunteers. In the future it would be great if all Kyrgyz youth asked themselves, “Why stay here when I could go volunteer in Macedonia?”

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