Volunteering Abroad

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

Recently I gave up my modposition, this is the reason why:

I have volunteered for volunteering work in Zambia, Africa. So at the moment I am a bit busy, I like this place a lot though. Because there is an atmosphere of solidarity and idealism here. I am going to tell something general about the program, to find more people who are interested in volunteering too. But if you want to have real details you should check out the website or email.

The good thing about this program and different from the others is that you don’t need any specific experiences or diploma’s. You can enrol if you are physically and mentally healthy. But this doesn’t mean ineffectiveness, you are expected to work hard. Also this program aims at creating long lasting development by actively involving the locals. So you do make a long lasting change.

I have enrolled in this 14 month program (, but can also last 20 months depending on you) at DRH Holsted (http://www.drh-holsted.org/). The volunteers in this program are called "Development Instructors". The program exists out of:

- 6 months training in Holsted, Denmark
- 6 or 12 months in Zambia or Mozambique
- 2 months evaluation in Camp Future

The training in Denmark follows a system – ‘DMM’. It is a Danish abbreviation that can be roughly translated as ‘The Modern Method’. It is a system of education developed and used by the entire DRH Movement. It is a ‘new’ way of looking at education, the principle of which places the emphasis on each individual and their ability to learn what is necessary to them at their own pace. DMM provides the basis for each person to achieve the theoretical knowledge and practical experience they will need for their job as a Development Instructor along with the necessary skill of taking responsibility. The central base for this system is on the computer where we have a database of hundreds of tasks.

The work in Zambia or Mozambique can exist out of the following jobs:

- Working with children
- Fighting HIV/AIDS
- Environment/agriculture
- Being a teacher
- Clothes sale

After the 6 months in Africa, you take part in a 2 months period of Camp Future.
The education and work that you have done so far involves a wide arrange of experiences. You have been selling newspapers (during your training period), holding speeches, been and worked in Africa, met many different people from all over the world and been a positive change in this world. You have probably had a life changing experience too.

This is the time for evaluation of your experiences. It is for all Development Instructors, it is a 2-month and is the 3rd period of the program. Camp Future takes advantage of the accumulated number of all the Development Instructors from the existing DRH Schools and gathers the forces under the auspices of the multi-choice, offering a variety of different possibilities for learning and action. Each Development Instructor plans his/her own program for Camp Future already in the preparation period (1st period).

It’s better to email then PM, for faster responses. You can email to [email protected]

Hope to hear from you all.

[The Feral Underclass]

I did this same program with the same organisation.

[Forward Union]

Im going to Latin America with Volunteer Latin America. That's not for another year or so.

Hope you have a good time!!!! Stay safe man!

[Black Dagger]

Nevermind.

[rioters bloc]

i was thinking of going to vietnam or nepal with Antipodeans, which is a similar group it seems.

i wanted to go for 3/6 months but i don't think i can afford to, so if i do go itll be for 15 days - 6 weeks..

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

At this program you can work an extra three months for the costs of the project.

[rioters bloc]

that's pretty cool

but i meant more in terms of time/uni, my degree is already 5 years and being involved in activist stuff as well as being editor means thatll probably be extended another 2 years..

but i will definitely try to go for some amount of time, soon :)

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

Would be great to have you here. We can even sign in Aussies, but the program takes atleast 14 months and if you don't have the money; an extra 3 months for the costs.

[pedro san pedro]

what are the personal costs ($) for volunteers in the program?

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

It's around 4000 euro. Which is quite a lot and unaffordable for most people. Same for me. Therefor there is an option to do an extra three months of work here, working with either teens or as a promotor (what I am doing). During this time you have good food and your own room. You could also try to apply for a scholarship.

[4514]

thats cool bro.
im off to vietnam at the end of december, doing 3 months volunteer work in an orphanage. i cant wait, my feet are so itchy.
im hoping to make it to africa in two years and hopfully do 6-12 months,
im looking at going to ghana? unsure at the present time.
good luck bros,
4514
broken and dying

[SanPatricio'sSoul]

Wow I think i'm going to do this. I was going to do this program in South Africa, but it would only be for six months, I like this one much better, and the thought of going to two or possible three countries for more then six months is a much better process. Now thinking about what time to call from Pennsylvania and it not being at 12 in the morning in Denmark?

[SimonBolivar]

Originally posted by Additives [email protected] 6 2005, 08:17 PM
Im going to Latin America with Volunteer Latin America. That's not for another year or so.

Hope you have a good time!!!! Stay safe man!
Cool... do you know where can I get information on programs to South America ?

[Enragé]

i actually would do this...but its simply too long (and too expensive)...

i got 12 months at the most to do any shit like this (cuz of school), and it shouldnt cost me more than a couple hundred euros

though i could ofcourse do the whole 17 month thing (14+3) and just put college on the long run...but yeh...basicly its that i dont see myself returning to school of any kind after more than a year

anyone know about anything not that long (12 months at hte most) and a shitload less expensive?


anyway thats awesome you're doing the non-sectarian, i was wondering where you went :P

[Niall]

spent two months in a shelter for street kids in durban in 2004. Such an experience. Hoping to go to Palestine this summer

[Kurt Crover]

I'm going to Uganda in June/start of July this year, helping the local communities.

[Epoche]

Additives Free:


Im going to Latin America with Volunteer Latin America. That's not for another year or so.

You are just the one I need to talk to. I was planning on touring Mexico and Latin America in a year or so, and I want to find a way to stay there without my residence conflicting with my nationality. As it stands, I think I am allowed only six-month intervals as a "tourist."

Perhaps one of these volunteer programs is a way to avoid those formalities?

What would you suggest and are there any sites you could direct me to so I can learn more about it? I guess I could google "Volunteer Latin America," and I will, but any other knowledge you, or anyone, have concerning the matter would be helpful.

[The Resistor]

I wont to go to, but i am to young (15) and so i am still dealing with issues in Holland, Also i believe that help is needed, but the proces repeats itsself, What the need is education , a better structuur, give the diamants to the people....I blieve the africans can do a lot better without the western bussineses that take everything ....america gives 1 % of all help,,,we dutch 14%...and they come and ask us for help in New orleans......ridiculous,,,but none the less we should because there innocent people to.....esspecialy the poor, that toke the most,,,)rich were gone'

[guerillablack]

Next summer, i'm taking Kiswahili classes this summer.
Is anyone here black going to Africa?

[Si Pinto]

I volunteered several years ago to travel to Africa, as part of an aid program.

All of you who volunteer for these ventures can be proud. Helping where help is needed is the most beautiful facet of the socialist diamond, you are the 'new breath' of the revolution. The 'human' in 'humanity'.

You will come back with your convictions stronger than ever before, trust me on that.

Power to you all!

[Proletar]

we had one person on our school telling about the same thing, also in denmark.

I would really like to do sometime...

[CoexisT]

If you guys want any information regarding shorter camps just send me a pm and I can give you information on a couple different organizations. The prices are low, and they are usually for short stays (3 weeks).

The program above looks very interesting though.

exisT

[forza_che]

Think I'm going volunteering in September in Ecuador with a company called Cielo Azul.
Teaching Health Education and helping to maintain schools and local education systems.

[Ze]

i've been able to volunteer for 2 weeks in new orleans and the surrounding area right after hurricane katrina. it was an amazing experience and i'd love to do it fulltime unfortunately, i live on my own and i'm quite poor. does anyone have clear advice on how one would be able to do this without going broke or receive some sort of wages?

[jetpen]

Let me get this straight: Volunteers pay money, pay for airfare, then perform manual labor in a poor country?

Why not just send money? Is there a shortage of manual labor?

This seems to me like a narcissistic humanitarian ritual, along the lines of celebrity actors holding black babies for the cameras and giving themselves awards for morality.

Why not pay for freight on a shipping container full of useful goods?

[gla22]

Let me get this straight: Volunteers pay money, pay for airfare, then perform manual labor in a poor country?

Why not just send money? Is there a shortage of manual labor?

This seems to me like a narcissistic humanitarian ritual, along the lines of celebrity actors holding black babies for the cameras and giving themselves awards for morality.

Why not pay for freight on a shipping container full of useful goods?

It is a selfish thing to an extent. I want to do it for the personal experience and to see part of that world.

BTW does anyone know an organization that I can go to latin america and work with for around 3 weeks.

[Invincible Summer]

I used to have the romanticized notion of traveling to some foreign land and helping the people there.

Then my gf made me realize: there are plenty of problems and people who need help at home.

[Animal Farm Pig]

I realize that this is a very old post.

I just wanted to mention that I have fairly close connections with folks running this type of program in the USA, have worked for a while at one of the projects in Africa that accepts the international volunteers, and am currently working full time on funding for some of the projects in Africa and India.

Currently, in North America, we're running:

The 14/20 month program described in the original post. It's 6 months training/preparation, 6 or 12 months at a Humana People to People project in Africa, 2 months follow up either back in the states or in Africa.

A 9 month program with 3 months training/preparation in the USA; 1 month travel/investigation in Mexico & Central America, or Brazil, or Ecuador; 4 months working with poor families in Belize, Ecuador, or Brazil; 1 month follow-up period.

Starting in the autumn of 2010, there will be an environmentally focused program with 4 months training/prep in the USA, 4 months in St. Vincent in the Caribbean working with renewable energy, and 4 months working with poor communities in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

I don't remember the exact figure off the top of my head, but program fees run somewhere around US$ 3500. The program fees are actually below the cost of actually running the program. I have a few friends who are working in the income generating activities that help to subsidize the additional costs. Also, there are grants and work programs available that allow a person with very little money to start the program. My girlfriend runs such a program in the Bay Area. It's three months working with textile recycling, after which, all of the program fee is covered.

If anyone has questions about the programs, you can PM me, and I'll do my best to answer your question. Most questions, I should be able to answer. If not, I can put you in touch with someone who can.



I also want to address an issue that anomal brought up. You can find volunteer programs (usually short term) where volunteers pay large fees, work for a week or two digging a well or building a school or doing whatever type of manual labor, and then leave. He's right-- there is little shortage of manual labor in the poorer parts of the world. Nonetheless, such programs can be valuable.

Here are three benefits I see to such programs:

1. Economic. Usually the program fees that volunteers pay for such programs exceed the program costs. This money can help to keep worthwhile projects running.

2. International solidarity. It can actually mean a lot to folks in the poorer parts of the world when someone will travel thousands of miles to help them out. Besides, if there is enough work to be done (and things are organized well enough) an extra hand is always welcome.

NB: You can damage this. If the volunteers are an unending stream of douche-bags more interested in visiting the local bar and banging the local women than anything else... well, the local folks tend to get a bit hostile and cynical.

3. Bringing back the experience to rich countries. In rich countries, knowledge of poverty in the rest of the world isn't so in-depth or well reported. When the volunteers go back, they talk with their friends and help to break down racist and colonial myths.

So, I wouldn't say that short term volunteer programs doing manual labor are 100% bad. There are some issues, and they can easily devolve into poverty tourism, but there can be benefits also.

I would like to point out that the programs we are running are not programs like this. Typically, our volunteers working together with permanent project management staff to do things a bit more difficult than manual labor.

So, thinking back to what I did as a volunteer several years ago, I worked a lot with budgets and developing budget projections for years out into the future based on size of different programs, different ways to allocate money, expected changes in donor funding, etc. Then, I worked with project staff to write grants in both English and Spanish to get the funding we needed to meet the long term goals of the project.

Other volunteers I've known have done things like using an actuarial background to analyse HIV/AIDS outreach statistics, or using computer experience to produce very good maps for a project's area of operations, or just being a trustworthy person to do the banking and control local project expenses. These are all areas of competency that can be a bit tricky to find in many poor parts of the world.


So, I hope this post has been informative about the programs we're running and also has given some perspective on international volunteering.

[Aspiring Humanist]

I would love to do something like this. I'll be attending college next fall, should I wait until I graduate to do something? I honestly don't care where they send me, preferably latin america because Spanish is the only other language I speak. but i'd be more than willing to go to africa or southeast asia or wherever help is needed... so should I take a few years off or wait until I graduate? and which organization is the best?

[ellipsis]

Not sure why this is in upcoming events...

moved to Mutual Aid

[Susurrus]

Anybody have experience with WWOOF?

[Libertador]

For people who are interested in organic farming there is always WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities for Organic Farming). You basically are given free room and board in exchange for working on an organic farm anywhere of your choosing. I believe the only cost involved on your part is actually getting there and paying to become a member of the organization to be given access to the farms directory. Before someone gets excited and starts screaming about how this isn't benefitting anyone, the learning opportunities involved would be extremely beneficial for work in other programs.

[Flying Trotsky]

For people who are interested in organic farming there is always WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities for Organic Farming). You basically are given free room and board in exchange for working on an organic farm anywhere of your choosing. I believe the only cost involved on your part is actually getting there and paying to become a member of the organization to be given access to the farms directory. Before someone gets excited and starts screaming about how this isn't benefitting anyone, the learning opportunities involved would be extremely beneficial for work in other programs.

Sounds cool- who operates it?

[Susurrus]

It's actually "Willing Workers On Organic Farms" or "World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms" (the former was the original name, but the "worker" part caused legal confusion and it was changed). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wwoof http://www.wwoofinternational.org/

[Libertador]

It's actually "Willing Workers On Organic Farms" or "World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms" (the former was the original name, but the "worker" part caused legal confusion and it was changed). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wwoof http://www.wwoofinternational.org/This I did not know/remember to know. Thanks mate.

[ellipsis]

Anybody have experience with WWOOF?

I have known lots of people who have done it, seems like a cool way to travel for longer periods of time. I stayed with a family friend's WWOOF farm on Kauai for a little bit, seemed like a pretty good deal for the volunteers.

[laoch na phoblacht]

I would love to do some volunteering overseas but any program I have seen appear to be expensive holidays for rich kids who want to feel good rather than proper volunteering. except for wwoof, wwoof looks cool, anyone have any other suggestions

[The Feral Underclass]

I would love to do some volunteering overseas but any program I have seen appear to be expensive holidays for rich kids who want to feel good rather than proper volunteering. except for wwoof, wwoof looks cool, anyone have any other suggestions

The programme that the OP talked about and the one that I did, provides you with opportunities to raise the funds for the residential training and the flights and what have you.

Check out the programme here (http://www.cicd-volunteerinafrica.org/), perhaps email them. You don't need any money to start, you can earn it all by working in their second hand clothes business. It's a lot of gruelling hard work, but if you're committed to doing a development project somewhere in Africa or India, then it's a great way to do it without any money.

[bill]

In the summer of 2009 (just before I turned 19) I did volunteer work in Croatia at an animal refuge. My grandfather paid for the whole trip out of his pension, so that I'd get a chance to see the old country. He moved to Canada in 1970 (when my father was 9) and worked in a steel mill for 30 years.

I volunteered for about a month and then stayed with relatives for another. The organizers were a group called ISV, or International Student Volunteers. It was really a stupid eco-tourism thing with a bit of volunteer work to make you feel good about yourself. We worked at an orphaned bear sanctuary and built the big beasts a new enclosure. It was an OK experience, but with money that could have been spent far more intelligently I think. My poor old, hardworking peasant deda threw away $5,000 so his spoilt, ignorant grandchild could have a cool holiday.

My opinion now is that travelling for leisure is the most absurd, and yes bourgeois thing a person can do. It may be the very quintessence of bourgeoisie. If I ever leave North America again, it will certainly not be for sightseeing (I think Google Maps has fortunately made that obsolete).

If I ever go overseas again, it'll probably be to join armed guerillas, where I'll die in a hail of bullets or be imploded by a thermobaric shell impact. That'd be a fine way to go, I reckon. ;)