Participating In Venezula without paying £££ to some gap Year Business

[El Rojo]

I (and the rest of the left community, n'es pas?) have been looking at Venezula recently, the advances that they have made against poverty and for socialism is truely inspirational. yes they still have a capitalist market system, however seem to be progressing nicely.

I have always wanted to visit South America, and more recently, Venezula, which has a winning mix of South American coolness and socialism. However, i don't want to be some foul guire tourist waltzing around like some bourgoise twat. Actually participating in a social program would be my dream come true.

There are of course a shed load of organisations that allow one to travel to another country and do charitable work there, however they generally involve one paying shed loads to a multi-national. The less expensive and capitalistic ones do not seem to exist for Venezula.

I sometimes imagine that if i just walked into a given barrio and said i could teach english, literacy, numeracy, basic science (I am and a-level spanish speaker and have spent a lot of time in spain, so my spoken is fluentish) few people would refuse, however, is there any way i can join the Venezulan social mission that provides schooling? Or any NGO that facilitates helping in venezula without paying up shiteloads?

[bricolage]

Well it's not exactly what you are asking for there is always 'woofing';

http://www.wwoof.org/
http://www.wwoofvenezuela.com/

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

I (and the rest of the left community, n'es pas?) have been looking at Venezula recently, the advances that they have made against poverty and for socialism is truely inspirational. yes they still have a capitalist market system, however seem to be progressing nicely.

I have always wanted to visit South America, and more recently, Venezula, which has a winning mix of South American coolness and socialism. However, i don't want to be some foul guire tourist waltzing around like some bourgoise twat. Actually participating in a social program would be my dream come true.

There are of course a shed load of organisations that allow one to travel to another country and do charitable work there, however they generally involve one paying shed loads to a multi-national. The less expensive and capitalistic ones do not seem to exist for Venezula.

I sometimes imagine that if i just walked into a given barrio and said i could teach english, literacy, numeracy, basic science (I am and a-level spanish speaker and have spent a lot of time in spain, so my spoken is fluentish) few people would refuse, however, is there any way i can join the Venezulan social mission that provides schooling? Or any NGO that facilitates helping in venezula without paying up shiteloads?


Email immigration and ask.

[bajo.el.arco.del.sol]

the gap year businesses probably aren't involved in the missions or the type of stuff you seem interested in anyway. are there any venezuela solidarity groups in your area that you could get in touch with to see if they have suggestions? they might have contacts or know people/groups there that you could volunteer for.

if all else fails, there are plenty of foreigners who have just gone there to find their own way to get involved. it's not easy, and a lot of them end up not finding anything, but just hanging out for a while then giving up and leaving. and i don't know how much travelling you've done, but caracas is definitely the kind of place you need to keep your wits about you, and an advantage of going as part of an organised thing is that you'd have your living situation sorted out and other people around who could help orient you.

oh, and whatever you do, stay away from PROUT - they're a front group for a rather creepy cult.

also, you seem to have a very rosy view of venezuela - be prepared to discover that it is not as wonderful as you may expect from the types of stories that we see in first world leftist circles. not saying it's bad - just that it's real life, with all of the challenges that implies.

suerte!

[El Rojo]

barabbas, what is "woofing"?

[bricolage]

barabbas, what is "woofing"?

Working on organic farms, they give you accommodation and food I think in return for you helping out on the farms, check the links I posted. I've never done it myself though so can't really say what it's like in practice.