How to become/prepare to become a humanitarian?

Question

I've been really interested in povery, injustice, hunger, the climate crisis, and the genocide in Darfur. It saddens me to hear about these things and I want to dedicate some of my life to putting an end to these things. I am fourteen and am going to be a freshman next year. When I am older I want to study law, psychology, or anthropology and become a humanitarian and activist. What can I do now to volunteer? I would be willing to help directly and travel during the summer and spring break. Does where I can volunteer during these times? Also what literature and films should I look into to learn more about this?

Answer 1

There are several social networking sites for NPO's and social justice issues.  Sign up for those. Most have a volunteer opportunities page and some have a place where you can post your profile so NPO's can find you. (Links below)

Play on FreeRice - it's a vocabulary game and for every right answer they donate rice to the UN Food program. (Link below)

See if your high school has any social justice clubs. If not start one!  

You'll be assigned a lot of essays and papers in the next few years. Use these as your chance to learn more - pick topics that relate to your passion.

Answer 2

When you're older you can join the Peace Corps.

http://www.peacecorps.gov/

I am quite a bit older than you, so you'll probably assume I don't have a clue, but you'd save yourself a lot of heartache if you'll research the causes of poverty yourself rather than relying upon the popular media's interpretations of the reasons and causes of poverty, hunger and injustice.

As weird and unbelievable as it sounds, having a sound grasp of economics and understanding why people act and behave as they do will open your eyes to the causes of much of the misery in the world.

You might also ask yourself why, since the US gov't has been fighting a "war on poverty" since the 1960's, we still have so many poor people in America. The expression, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" comes into play here.