Volunteer

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• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781786578679
• eBook ISBN:
  9781787010017
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

If you’ve picked this book up, chances are that a little voice may have asked, ‘Can I really do it?’ The prospect of volunteering abroad can seem daunting, but it can be made much less so when it’s arranged through a structured, organised programme. Choosing this route to a volunteer placement means that, in most cases, you’ll pay a single fee and – voilà – everything from the pre-departure orientation to the little bag of peanuts on the flight home is arranged for you. Whether your calling is to protect turtles in Ecuador or teach grammar in Bangkok, there’s a wide assortment of organised placements to choose from, offering opportunities to those who take comfort from a ‘packaged’ approach.

Most of these organisations have a few key characteristics in common, offering as part of the package pre-departure and in-country support and accommodation and food. Some also include travel insurance and visas, and others will organise your international airfare. But beyond these basic characteristics, the permutations are many and varied.

In many cases, the costs of organised programmes are high. However, it is difficult to generalise, because a number of voluntary organisations sending skilled volunteers abroad do not charge for placements and even offer a small monthly stipend. There are differences in the scale of organisations too. Some organisations, like International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, have offices and programmes around the world, and send millions of people abroad on projects of every stripe. Others, like PEPY Empowering Youth accept less than 10 volunteers a year. Some organisations specialise in particular fields, such as Operation Smile only offering placements in medicine, for example, while others like VSO allow participants to pick and choose from a smorgasbord of offerings. It’s these variations in size, scope and types of project that can make or break your volunteering experience. One volunteer’s dream placement doing hands-on entomology research is another’s nightmare assignment swatting at bugs.

Some of the organisations listed in this chapter have programmes for everyone. Others are suitable only for people wanting to volunteer long term or for those trained in a particular profession. However, these can easily be sorted into two broad categories: expeditions and placements. We’ll start by defining these terms.

HOW DO THEY WORK?

EXPEDITIONS VS PLACEMENTS

Anyone who has dipped a curious toe into the volunteering world knows that jargon and acronyms abound. In this book, the word ‘expedition’ is not to be confused with the kind of solo caper that involves slashing your way through the jungle with a machete. In volunteering parlance, expeditions are usually team-oriented exercises, where participants live, travel and work together in groups of 10 or more volunteers, accompanied at all times by qualified staff. Expeditions of this type often combine a service-based experience with an adventure element – activities such as trekking, climbing or rafting. Organisations offering these kinds of combined packages include Outlook Expeditions, Quest Overseas and Raleigh International. Personal development is usually a key component of expedition-style volunteering. Laurence Gale travelled to Ghana with Raleigh International and says:

I did a 10-week expedition. As soon as we arrived in Accra we went to base camp and were immediately put into groups. The first week was spent doing icebreakers and learning basic first-aid and camping skills. Then we had three projects to work on: community, adventure and environmental projects. My community phase was spent on the border with Burkina Faso building pit latrines in a village. The adventure phase involved doing 260km over land and lake Volta in two and a half weeks. It was an awesome challenge and great fun for someone like me who loves running around outdoors. We also spent a lot of time in village schools teaching HIV/AIDS awareness. In my final (environmental) phase I spent the nights combing a sandy beach for olive ridley and giant leatherback turtles. We slept in big army tents along with various bugs, snakes and grass rats. Woohoo!

However, most organisations in this chapter offer placements, not expeditions. Simply put, for a placement the organisation acts like a temping agency, matching your requirements, skills, abilities and interests with projects in need. You may work independently, but more often than not you’ll work alongside a handful of fellow volunteers. Placements are more self-determined than expeditions; you can have more freedom to shape your placement and make what you will of it, though you can still expect a high standard of in-country support. For example, most organisations have a local staff member who looks after a number of volunteers in a particular area and, in addition, there is a representative in the country of origin who is little more than a satellite phone call away should you need help. Two such placement organisations are The Leap and Projects Abroad. Louise Ellerton, who travelled to Ghana with Projects Abroad, describes her experience of being part of an organised placement:

I did voluntary work in a veterinary practice, as this is the field that I will be going into. You have to be prepared for things to be different and accept that it’s not always what you expected. I found the people very laid-back and a lot of the day was spent sleeping. At first this frustrated me, as I was there to gain experience, but you learn to make the most of the times when you do get to see a case or an operation. I went alone but in the knowledge that I was going with a gap-year company who would be there for me when I arrived and had sorted out my placement and accommodation for the year. It was very easy to meet other volunteers doing the same thing through the company and you had ready-made friends who knew the country better than you did.

Claire Fulton, who volunteered in Africa with The Leap, appreciated the in-country support during her placement:

The in-country staff were invaluable and they made it that much more enjoyable. They prevented many near-catastrophes from happening! They would have done anything for us. As a group, we were all so glad that they were there.

COSTS

While some of t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Authors
• Expert Advisors
• 01 International Volunteering: An Overview
• 02 Choosing your Volunteer Experience
• 03 The Practicalities
• 04 Tying up Loose Ends
• 05 Organised Volunteer Programmes
• 06 Structured & Self-Funding Volunteer Programmes
• 07 Religious Organisations
• 08 Do-it-yourself Volunteer Placements
• 09 Coming Home
• 10 Start your own Charitable Project
• 11 Acknowledgements
• Copyright