Feb
Find Your Valentine by Volunteering Abroad
We often hear about the benefits of volunteering abroad such as gaining work experience and learning new skills, but one real possibility is finding romance through charity and voluntary work. Some people have described volunteering abroad as the best dating platform on the planet, and for very good reason. Volunteering provides one of the best ways to make real connections and meet similarly minded individuals. The strong bond shared by making the world a better place will produce life-long friendships and could contribute to the development of stronger and more intimate relationships. Take Amber and Eduardo who met while volunteering in Bolivia, at an animal sanctuary they both found on the Volunteer Latin America website. They are now married and are running a vegan cafe together in Chile! This just one example of a couple who met through volunteering and there are countless other heartwarming stories.
Here are six ways volunteering abroad could help you find your kindred spirit.
1. By volunteering you start out by knowing you've got an interest in common and share the same values. It is easy to meet someone on Tinder or other general dating sites but there's no way of instantly knowing whether someone is easy to connect with. Volunteering abroad ensures you meet people just like yourself, which makes it easier to make friends and maybe find the love of your life.
2. Everyone who gives their time to volunteer abroad will share a passion for travel and desire to experience new things. Travel makes people more open-minded, creative, worldly and happy, and these traits are attractive to other people.
3. The traits all organisations and charities look for in volunteers - caring attitude, great communication skills, commitment, a sense of humour, etc., - are the same qualities people look for in a future partner.
4. People who give their time and effort to a good cause (e.g. protecting sea turtles, helping out in a soup kitchen, etc) are generally really nice people. Volunteers are generally more caring, reliable and driven.
5. Volunteering and travelling influences attitudes and outlook on life. Some people are at their best when they escape the rat race and live in a new place, which makes room for a romance to flourish.
6. Whether you working with street children or planting trees volunteering is a great bonding exercise. Being able to work together as a team is one of the biggest assets that you can have in a partnership.
Maybe you will be the next person to find their valentine whilst volunteering abroad? Even if you don't meet someone special during your next or first volunteer service trip, remember altruism tends to pay dividends. Volunteers and charity workers are deemed more attractive by the opposite sex and better able to get dates. According to a study in the British Journal of Psychology altruistic people have more sex than less generous people! Volunteering is good for your love life.
