Featured on Tonic.com, Rikki De Wit’s account of volunteer teaching in India gives an insight into how rewarding an experience it can be.

Rikki has volunteered throughout her life but one of her boldest decisions to date was to quit her job at an up-scale retail store in Hollywood to teach young girls at an orphanage in India.

“From January to May of 2007, I worked with The Akanksha Foundation in Pune, India as a volunteer English teacher. When I arrived in Pune, I was thrown head first into my class. The need for teachers was so desperate that I actually had to become a primary instructor for our own class of 30 young girls, without any experience.”

“I learned as much as I could and figured out the rest on my own with research and guidance from managers at the program. It was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.”

Rikki’s advice for aspiring volunteers is to “just get out there and do it. You might not have the time to go twice a week, or even once a week, but making the effort to go at all is what really makes a difference. There are so many wonderful non-profit organizations that are desperately in need of help to realize their goals.”

“The work might be difficult, but is always rewarding. You’ll learn a lot more about yourself than you’d think. You will be making a conscious effort to impact the community you live in, and will be respected by all as an advocate for progress and change, which I think is something to be incredibly proud of.”

Read the rest of this story on Tonic.com.

Find out about Inspire volunteer teaching projects in India.