“I’m a little embarrassed to admit,” Tiffany Shaw-Diaz says, “that I couldn’t find Ghana on a map.”
Few Americans probably could, but Shaw-Diaz did something about it. She not only learned where the small African nation is located (Atlantic coast, right next to Togo, if that helps), but she found an inspired, and inspiring, way to learn more about the place and its people, and then help them live better lives.
And she didn’t stop there.
Folks in the Dayton-area arts scene know Shaw-Diaz, 26, of Centerville, as a freelance writer and TV producer who has appeared in the Dayton City Paper and is the host of “ArtTalk,” a local interview program produced by the Miami Valley Cable Council. But she’s also a community activist with a restless streak and a busy mind, who looks for ways to contribute to good causes.
Like most people who do so, she once thought that volunteering meant showing up in person to pitch in; a couple of years ago, she stumbled upon the idea of online volunteering, and found United Nations Volunteers, a UN program that invites people to “change the world, by volunteering over the Internet ... Share your skills, knowledge and ideas — from a computer anywhere in the world.”
Some 5,000 to 6,000 UN online volunteers do so every year, searching the easy-to-use onlinevolunteering.org for projects that engage their interest and match their abilities.
“If you can translate, do graphics, grant-writing, editing, if you’re just good at Internet research — everyone can contribute,” Shaw-Diaz said. “They’ve got assignments that take one to five hours a week, or some that take 16 to 20 hours a week, so you can tailor it to your lifestyle. It’s really cool stuff. ”
In 2007, she applied for a project in Ghana, and “was so happy I almost cried” when she made it through the rigorous screening process.
Other projects followed, and she was recently honored for her work as part of a team of six volunteers who helped start a health center in the rural Ugandan village of Kitega. The villagers needed help with business practices and fundraising. “We complain in America about health care, but in Kitega they didn’t have doctors, and the nearest hospital was miles away.... It was so unfair, it broke my heart.”
Shaw-Diaz and her team, which included people from Canada, the Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea, came up with more than 70 foundations and individuals who were likely candidates to give money or supplies. She spent 70 to 80 hours, over three months. “Google, Google, Google,” she said. “We came up with a good list.” The project earned the team an Online Volunteering Award 2009. To read more, visit onlinevolunteering.org/en/vol/stories/2009_kitega.html.
Shaw-Diaz has done assignments from the Netherlands and Spain, too, and is currently working as an editor on the UN Volunteers’ Ukraine Web site.
She feels changed by working with her Ugandan liaison, David Clemy. “He’s unbelievably dedicated, vibrant and community-driven; having contact with somebody like that is wonderful.
“I’ve become very appreciative of what we have in America. I had so many misconceptions about how people live in developing countries — they have Facebook pages and use Microsoft Word, but then there is so much we have that they don’t.
“When I graduated from high school, I just wanted to join the Peace Corps.” She met Richard Diaz, her husband-to-be, and “knew I couldn’t leave for two years.” She went to college after all, getting an arts history degree in 2007 from Wright State. “But in the back of my mind, I always wanted to understand what it was like to be a world citizen. I’ve always lived in Ohio, and I felt as though living in America, you don’t understand the hardships others go through.... I felt it was my responsibility to give.”
“We all want this world to be a better place,” Shaw-Diaz said. “That’s the thing that really connects us all.”
So: Can you find Ghana on a map? What’s stopping you?
