Staff Interview with Ian Burkes

You recently joined the team at the Fuller Center for Housing. What inspired you to work with them?

I’ve always tried to live with a global focus, and recently I realized my strengths made me a good fit for non-profit work. After leaving a three year internship with my undergraduate college ministry, I job hunted for a while before finding the Fuller Center. I looked into them and learned their mission was inspiring and necessary, their model was sustainable and helpful, and their focus was in the right place. In a nutshell it seemed like an organization that had its priorities right and its methods developed.

Can you tell us about your new position as the Global Builders Coordinator?

Much of my job is acting as the point of contact for people who want to lead trips with us. They’ll email in wanting to lead a team to Thailand or Nepal or Peru and I’ll act as the coordinator between them, our registrar, and our country hosts. It’s really all about bringing the pieces together to make a trip happen.

How have your experiences of living abroad influenced you personally and professionally?

Exposure to other peoples and cultures should hopefully produce two things primarily: humility and perspective. It’s humbling to see that your way isn’t always the right way and that there’s always something to learn from others. And it gives you a new perspective and lens through which to see the world. Those are the things I think, and hope, I’ve gained from living abroad. It helps me remember to learn from others as much as I can, especially if they have a different worldview from me.

In what ways do you incorporate what you learned through your International Affairs studies into your work today?

Any study of global relations is quickly marked by an appreciation for the complexity of the field. Everything is connected by time and geography and the billions of links between people and events. I would say that my studies impact me today in the sense that I try to be a student of those connections.

For example, recognizing the impact of what happens in Nicaragua allows you to know what to expect in Peru and Puerto Rico, and even Ghana; and learning what happens there can provide lessons that apply to all sorts of other situations. That’s actually something the staff here at The Fuller Center has a real knack for and I’m learning a lot from them.

What experiences do you hope to be able to provide for others with Fuller Center?

I want to provide an experience of impact both for families receiving new homes and for the teams helping to build them. As a Christian, I know that giving ourselves to help others in turn gives us a better understanding of the nature of God and a new appreciation for the value of people. I hope the families and individuals benefiting from our builds receive not just a safe, clean home, but also a new sense of dignity and worth. I’d say any trip that produces that is a win in my book.

If you could participate in one of Fuller Center’s programs, where would you go and why?

I’m planning to join a build in Peru this year actually! It will be my first Global Builders trip and I’m pretty excited about it. Honestly I would love to go to all our locations at least once. Ghana especially is a location I keep hearing wonderful things about and I’ve never been to, so I’ll have to make sure I get over there at some point. The local volunteers at Fuller Center Affiliates are an inspiration and I know I’d learn a lot from them regardless of location.

Why should participants volunteer with Fuller Center?

I think the Fuller Center has their priorities straight and their methods figured out, and that should encourage participants to partner with us. The kind of work we do is specifically designed to produce sustainable impact. The staff here has been involved in these programs long enough to know what is just a band-aid and what is a long-term solution. In this they do a great job of avoiding toxic charity and really making a difference in people’s lives that can last long enough to benefit others as well. Providing someone with a safe, clean home that’s truly theirs changes their entire mindset. It gives them a space to feel valued, to rest, and to launch into wherever they want to go.

Why do you think it is important for individuals to travel and experience new cultures?

I’m sure a couple hundred blogs are written on this every day, so I’ll keep it short. Travel is important because it helps us grow and connects us to the rest of the world. We gain a better understanding of our own context and an appreciation for the contexts of others. And that helps us to navigate the world more wisely and compassionately. It helps us separate what’s true and important from what is merely context.

What does meaningful travel mean to you?

Meaningful travel is travel that matures you and positively impacts the people you meet. A lot of it I think is based on the mindset you go with. When you’re looking to learn from the people you meet and the experiences you have, you’re more keyed in and able to make the trip meaningful. A proper mindset also prepares you to focus on others and on blessing them. These two things I think are the essence of meaningful travel.

What experience do you hope to gain from your new position?

I’d really like to grow in my cross-cultural communication. Also communication in general. A big part of this job is keeping up with what is happening in the world, so I hope to develop that habit of staying informed and letting that information determine my actions.