Diasporic Dilemma

This 2 month intensive course really brought a new meaning to the word “intensive” for me. Some of the realities of diasporic volunteering started to become apparent to me in this time.
I have wondered whether there are different (implicit) expectations of diasporic volunteers than other ‘international volunteers’. An issue that diasporic volunteers may face is being judged at face-value: to those who don’t engage in conversation with you, you are a native. You should be able to communicate in the vernacular with ease, you should be able to manage the food, and you should be able to move about freely and independently with ease.
When these expectations are not met, those who aren’t aware of your cultural background may find it difficult to reason why. Then there may be some who are perfectly aware of your background but may choose to overlook that - this can work in your favour or against. Of course there are also different gender-based cultural attitudes which can add a new dimension to these issues. As a (young) female diasporic volunteer
A volunteer, by nature, comes for service, and part of that nature includes a certain willingness to adapt, and be flexible. And therein lies an underlying issue for diasporic volunteers – in their eagerness to cooperate and adapt to a culture close to their heart there is potential for themselves and others to overlook, neglect or ‘conveniently’ ignore their intercultural struggles.