By Nisha Datt, Global Brigades Program Associate in Nicaragua
Brigade leaders, how do you make it look so easy? On top of keeping up with your coursework, exams, and club meetings, you are planning a brigade! That is no joke. We appreciate all of your hard work and dedication that makes your brigade a success!
As a brigade leader, you have the responsibility to spread the mission and vision of GB, recruit volunteers, conduct meetings, talk about GB’s Holistic Model, collect supplies for your brigade and so much more! As volunteers, you have the responsibility of adhering to deadlines, submitting funds in a timely manner and applying what you know while you are on brigade, while also connecting with community members you are working with.
“Eat. Sleep. Brigade. Repeat.” This is quite a common saying for those of us who work for Global Brigades. We are always preparing for brigades to arrive in country and making sure we are providing you, our volunteers, with as much information as possible before you begin your brigade. With that being said, we sometimes forget that you, yes you, volunteers, leaders, faculty members and universities all around the globe, are working to plan brigades all year round, and for that we are grateful!
Without you, we would not be the organization that we are today. Our mission, to empower communities and volunteers while resolving health and economic disparities within the communities in which we partner with says it all. You all are the driving force behind the work that we do in each of our partner countries.
Now, our volunteer base is not only made up of students. Faculty and healthcare professionals play a huge role before, during, and after the brigade! To the faculty members who participate on the brigade because you want to learn more about our organization or simply because you believe in the work we are doing, thank you! To the physicians, dentists, nurses, optometrists, and physical therapists, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to provide free healthcare to under-resourced communities.
To GB Alumni, you laid the foundation for our projects and your feedback has made us a stronger and more efficient organization. We thank you for that!
To our soon-to-be volunteers who will be brigading in the next few months, we cannot wait to meet you and make this one of our best seasons to date!
Lastly, to our volunteers who are currently in the process of planning a brigade, you will be on brigade in no time! Keep pushing through and as always if you need any additional support, do not hesitate to reach out to our teams!
We hope to see you all again very soon!
