As many of you know, the mission of Peace Stamps is to promote cultural empathy by making a positive difference through your travels. We pursue volunteer projects in every country we visit in order to immerse ourselves in the culture, make an impact on the community, and gain cultural empathy.
So what is cultural empathy? Cultural empathy is the capacity, within a person, to appreciate the feelings, thoughts and behavior of individuals from different cultural backgrounds. One does not have to agree with the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of different cultures, but it is important to learn to accept different cultures, as long as they do not cause harm.
At Peace Stamps, we believe that cultural empathy is the foundation of World Peace. Many of the worlds’ issues stem from an empathy deficit. In addition, many of the worlds’ issues stem from the forcing of one’s own culture on others. World Peace requires a balance of cultural empathy and peacefully educating others of one’s own culture.
Peace Stamps chooses volunteering to gain cultural empathy, as well as positively promote one’s own culture. When volunteering, we get to experience areas that are off the beaten path where there is greater potential for authentic cultural immersion. Just remember it is important to be aware of your surroundings. We find cultural immersion to be the simplest way of gaining an understanding of a culture and cultural empathy. In addition, many people around the world often do not have the chance to interact with people from different cultures and countries. Making a positive difference in their lives not only improves their lives, but creates a positive association with one’s country of origin. This may be the only time they interact with someone from a different country and now they have a positive opinion of the country.
In conclusion, we believe that if people give one day of their vacation to volunteer in a different country, the world would be heading in the right direction towards WORLD PEACE.