Student volunteering abroad : an analysis of the perspective changes and spritual growth of former Seattle University students from having served with the Sisters of Charity of Mother Teresa in Calcutta (Kolkata)

• Main Author: Waller, Todd W.
• Published: University College London (University of London) 2011
• Subjects: 371.7
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.573071

My central research question is to study the intrinsic changes to American students using narrative analysis to better understand how personal and spiritual growth may have occurred as a result of volunteering abroad. For my Institute of Education International EdD Thesis, I conducted in-depth interviews with 25 alumni spanning two decades from the Seattle University volunteer program that places students in Mother Teresa's hospices in Calcutta/Kolkata. I was the first Seattle University student to serve in India in 1985 and nearly 150 have participated in the program since then. Drawing on these interviews, I then analyze the internal changes experienced by these alumni as a result of volunteering abroad, using a formula of codes which I designed. The study does not evaluate the extrinsic value of volunteer programs (e.g. impact on the community, quality of health care delivery, etc.), but is focused on better understanding the personal and spiritual growth encountered as a result of working with the "poorest of the poor" in Calcutta. The methodology I used to conduct and analyze the interviews builds upon the methodology applied in my International EdD Institution-Focused Study. There exist two primary goals of this study, both of which are of equal importance: 1. To better understand the more immediate impact on one's interior life due to caring for the sick and dying in the hospices of Calcutta. 2. To explore the spiritual questioning and spiritual development of volunteers as a result of their working with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.