ICS-Kar - Karaoke for Officials

Dear Elected Official, Dear College President, Dear Executive, Dear NGO Board,

We would like to invite you to join our group for karaoke.

During our time in Asia Pacific, it has been amazing how many senior people from universities, government, NGOs, etc. would go out and karaoke with us. We could never imagine doing that back home.

Pictured above is a city administrator in the Philippines and also one of the leaders of the Scouts in Canada.

We have had great hospitality during our projects here. And karaoke and plenty of food helped everyone get to know each other better. We could not thank everyone here enough for the experience that will be with us for a lifetime.

Anyone who is willing to take me up on my offer to karaoke, we plan to actually purchase a karaoke unit, so see you soon. We can also share our experiences working with other cultures and other parts of this GLOBAL world! We all have a lot to learn.

You can do both?

No Way!!!

We had the opportunity to work with people from government, NGOs, and universities. Can you believe that people who work at these organizations also volunteer? No really, they do.

Many people use the same skills as their day job and volunteer to give back to others. Think about the skill building potential. Think about the additional impact you can have on society.

Some countries will give time off for volunteering. It would be interesting to speak to someone to hear if those policies really had an impact. Or if folks are still paid overtime when they work side by side with volunteers.

Some countries REQUIRE youth to volunteer. Require?

Is this really needed? Why not make it part of our culture?

Last night we had the opportunity to take some off time away from our work and spend it with the Philippines National Red Cross at karaoke. These folks you may have seen in other blog entries. They all have multiple roles beyond their volunteerism with the Red Cross (teachers, students, employees, managers, etc.).

They are perfect examples of you can do both!

They "... are the champions of the world". These folks are the true heroes and I wish them all the best.