Staff Interview with Glen Galindo
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Glen Galindo Interviewed in 2017

​After more than two decades of experience in education, along with a few years as a data-communications officer in the Marine Corps, working for Minga House Foundation in Colombia is a dream come true for Glen.  He enjoys facilitating educational experiences for visiting international volunteers while also supporting local people.

You previously worked in higher education for more than 20 years. How were you first introduced to the idea of international service learning?

I left higher education in 2010 to launch a non-profit, Migrant Students Foundation, dedicated to helping first-generation students of migrant and seasonal farmworker backgrounds reach and succeed in higher education. I always had a clear understanding of the value of international education experiences for college students in developing into global citizens. A couple of years earlier, I had focused on international service learning as the focus of my thesis during my graduate studies in Higher Education Administration at Washington State University.

In 2013, I invited Michael Birbaum, the founder of ISL, a leading industry provider, to serve as one of my board members. Then, ISL generously began donating Global Health Team trips to some of my students. It was then, through learning more about ISL, that I became even more enthusiastic about the work ISL was doing and the difference it was making in both the participating students and the communities it served abroad. Little by little, I became more involved with ISL. Then, I offered to launch Colombia for ISL in 2014, which offered me the opportunity to lead my first Global Health Team with 11 of our foundation's scholarship students. 

The ISL Global Health Team serves two to three villages during each 14-day service trip in Colombia. At that point, after leading the first pilot team, I not only fell in love with the experience but also fell ever more in love with the central Colombian paradise known as the Eje Cafetero (coffee region in the Andes Mountains), a unique and gorgeous landscape. There really is nothing like this region, worldwide. Hence, UNESCO considers the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia a global treasure. I couldn’t be happier to share Colombia and help young health pre-professionals find their calling as future doctors, nurses, or physical therapists while serving rural farmworker communities.

What did you love about leading a Global Health Team?  

What I immediately loved was the opportunity to work with an established & trusted international organization with over 20 years of experience in medical missions, and to develop a new country for them. It was the perfect match for what would perhaps be the most fantastic adventure of my life: the opportunity to use all my prior professional experience in the service of others. I would be able to teach and work with youth, solve logistical challenges, and have the opportunity to live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, doing what makes me happy: serving others. Wow, am I lucky!

Why is ISL unique?

There are no other providers that have operated for so long and so widely while maintaining such great integrity with national governments. ISL has been operating since 1994, and has operations in 12 countries of the Americas and Africa, with Asia coming on board in the near future!
The combined industry experience within the ISL team is unmatched.  All children need to learn to dream and know they have the strength to fulfill them.

How are ISL programs in Colombia different from other program opportunities?

Colombia is the world’s second most biodiverse nation, second only to Brazil. After decades of violence and newfound peace, the Colombian people are eager to welcome foreigners. Colombia has been shielded from global exploration, and soon the world will fall in love with Colombia's natural beauty and unmatched human spirit.

Colombians are happy and welcoming people, and there is a great need in the area where we serve. You will most definitely have an immediate impact on those communities and individuals if you’re lucky enough to come to Colombia as part of a Global Health Team. Of the tiny 63 coffee villages in central Colombia where we have served since 2014, not a single person we met had ever met a foreigner from any other nation. This is a truly special opportunity to be among the first foreign organizations to operate in these areas.

What makes Colombia an excellent place for international learning experiences?

There are several reasons why Colombia is a fantastic stage to serve and learn internationally. Yes, it is beautiful, safe, inexpensive, welcoming, and has a great deal of need in its vast rural regions. But the most special and unique opportunity is that most of Colombia has had little contact with the outside world.

Last year, our Global Health Teams conducted rural medical clinics in 36 villages. We have not found a single person who has met a non-Colombian before meeting our ISL volunteers. This unique experience of cross-cultural exchange with a virgin community is incredibly special. It cannot be compared to visiting many other Latin American countries, where locals are accustomed to meeting international visitors. Our Global Health Team program participants had an incredible one-in-a-lifetime experience providing service to Colombians who would otherwise not receive it, and they forever changed their lives on a deeply personal level. This is truly unique. But this circumstance won’t last forever; only in the next couple of years will our Colombian volunteers have this unparalleled experience as pioneers in the central Colombian coffee region.  Have you ever tasted a coffee popsicle? Yumm!

In your role, how do you ensure volunteers make the most of their time abroad?

We keep them thoroughly engaged serving, learning, and having fun! They are up by 6 a.m. and don’t go to bed until after 10 p.m. I know my participants have been looking forward to their Global Health Team for months and have traveled very far to experience as much as possible. We seldom have any downtime. We are not on a leisurely vacation; we are on a service learning experience. We serve with intensity; we have a full schedule seven days a week.
I understand my role as team leader is to facilitate the most life-changing, positive learning experience as possible. I have every hour of the day planned with intentional activities that provide students with a developmental experience, with goal setting and reflection every day.

Describe a typical day of work for you.

• 7:00 a.m. - Breakfast and daily goal setting
• 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Medical clinics in rural farmworker communities
• 6:00 p.m. - Dinner and reflection
• 7:00 p.m. - 9 p.m. - Workshops (Sutures, Injections, Pharmacology, Natural Medicines) or community engagement activities, such as dancing, soccer, or arts/music at the coffee shop.
• Weekend Cultural Activities: Horseback riding, coffee tour, waterfall rappel, ziplining, hang gliding, riverside cooking, hot springs, spa night, and/or dancing lessons

How have you watched the organization evolve since you began your job?

It has grown rapidly. We had our first pilot team in the summer of 2014. But in 2015, we had sixteen teams! Our goal is to have Global Health Teams and internships year-round by 2018.

What does ISL do to continue meeting the ever-changing needs of participants?

While we have set quality standards, the actual service remains flexible and reactive to opportunities and lessons learned. We serve real people, real families, real communities. Nothing is static. We are solid in our learning principles and risk management standards. But we adjust our activities based on opportunities and concerns, either forecasted or experienced daily. Plus, we work closely with our participating faculty, who can seek out experiences that directly complement their classroom curriculum.  Most Global Health Teams hold their medical clinics at small rural schoolhouses.

If you could join one ISL program anywhere in the world, which one would you choose and why?

Colombia!  But Colombia is so beautiful and its people so uplifting in spirit. I am so fortunate to run teams in one of the most beautiful, interesting, and friendly places in the world. To explore and host people in Colombia's diverse setting is a dream role for me, one I cherish. Visit our team!

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

It is a privilege to facilitate a life-learning experience for our volunteer students. I know that I do my job well, and our participants will be truly wiser future health professionals, with empathy and an understanding of their power to make a difference in people’s lives. I cherish this responsibility and look forward to it with every new team’s arrival. My genuine hope is that these individuals will always look back at their time in Colombia as one of the most memorable times of their lives.  I see myself as their “Tio” and they as family visiting our home and community.