Immediately after Jimi Cook went on his first volunteer trip with his wife Cristi for Habitat for Humanity, he knew this was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

The Cooks, professors at the College of Veterinary Medicine, felt so inspired by their initial trip to Zambia, they went to Rwanda in 2007 to help build a new school for the community that was devastated by the Rwandan Genocide 10 years prior. The Cooks returned home, and with the help of another couple, they founded Be The Change Volunteers.

Be The Change is a development aid non-profit organization that sponsors four projects a year to developing countries. On these trips, groups of volunteers build and renovate schools in developing communities.

Jimi Cook said it was after the Rwanda trip that they became “hooked” to the whole process. Since the organization was founded, he said, they have helped build 27 schools in 15 countries. Cook’s goal is to build 100 schools in his lifetime.

“It just had such a major impact and it did really make a change in terms of development and long-term solutions that the community then takes over,” Cook said. “So we really feel like it’s the best way to empower a community, rather than just give them a hand out or do it all for them. This way we can partner with the community and empower the community.”

Of the four trips, Cook and his wife are able to participate in two, and they use all of their vacation time to do so.

“For us, it’s way better than just drinking margaritas on the beach or anything else we might do with that time,” Cook said.
Cook doesn’t have kids of his own, but said he tells people he has nearly 5,000 kids in 15 different countries.

“We can devote a lot of what other people have to do in terms of ‘kid time’ to kids around the world and to help be the change,” Cook said. “I think that with all of that combined and with so many things acting in our favor, we are still able to do it and stay sane and still get some sleep every now and then.”

Lawrence Benedicto, a village leader in Malawi, Africa, is the overall connection between the Malawi people and Be The Change Volunteers. He said the “heart for other people” is the biggest thing volunteers take as they go on their trips.

Benedicto said that since the main focus is education, volunteers are the kind of people that want the communities to have the same opportunities that they do.

“Everywhere they go, they do not go as a tourist, but they go there with a goal of changing the situation and everybody goes to do something,” Benedicto said. “There is nothing they take away from their trips other than to give to what vulnerable people are in need. They are indeed real changers.”

Erin Daugherty is a member of the Columbia Be The Change Chapter and also serves on the advisory council for the organization. She has traveled with the group on two builds, where she helped build an orphanage for a village in Nepal and to Papua New Guinea to build a school.

Daugherty said it is impossible to go on a Be The Change trip and not return home with a new outlook on life and the experience of becoming integrated into a completely different culture is “phenomenal”.

She said that as a “Changer,” you become a part of the world that tourists are merely exposed to for a short amount of time.

“You are not a visitor taking pictures during the day and returning to your hotel at night,” Daugherty said. “You are 24/7 hand in hand, side by side with the men, women and children whose lives you are trying to make better. The way they embrace your presence and the relationships you form touch your heart in an unexplainable way. Be The Change Volunteers will always tell you that they return home feeling like they gained far more than they gave.”

Be the Change’s involvement does not end with the construction of the school. Cook said they also do a site visit every five years to interviews parents, students, teachers and headmasters. Cook also requires the communities to send the organization annual reports of enrollment and curriculum data. This is a requirement so the communities feel partnered with Be The Change and can utilize the organization in the future while ensuring sustainability.

“By providing the opportunity for a great education, we help them develop solutions to their problems or to their needs,” Cook said. “It’s just to empower them to do it that way and that’s really what then attracts me to it. It really is a long-term solution that is based on what the community needs, not what I think they need.”