Thorn Tree travel forum

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I don't know where you want to go, doubleOScott, but if you want to help on a team that gives free dental services in rural Mexico, PM Fred Kalinof (TT handle is 1969). I agree that volunteer programs where you pay to volunteer is pretty much just another tourism angle people are working. I don't know about other places, but where I spend most of my time in rural Mexico, if you just showed up at the local presidencia (govt. office) and said you were in town for a while and would like to help out, they would probably find you something to do. We have several times had people staying at our place (link in my profile) who were on internships or just volunteering at the local health clinic. One of our competitors was recently soliciting volunteers to work with Tarahumara Indians, and he also uses volunteers to help around his ranch. He also posts on the TT (handle is Canyonrider). Here is a link to his site: Paraiso del Oso. I believe he offers free room and board and a little something in the way of spending money.

Keith's story

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I can help you from here El Salvador central america, I was like coordinator with gvn global volunteer network and I to-I. AND you know what they take all the money from you, i was like a free coordinator like a volunteer too, because i believed about that, but was A lie, I know a lot of people in my country , orphanages, schools, a lot of projects where you dont need to pay nothing....freeeeeee!!

all people need to know this, why you need to pay for give help, and why this money go to other direction but not to the project

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Yeah, I've done this when I went to Bolivia. I met other people (i-to-i "volunteers") who paid thousands of pounds to do similar kind of work. Needless to say they felt a bit ripped off.

If you go to a region and have skills and time to offer, you will be very likely accepted. I met carpenters who asked the local museum if they needed help, crafty people to run arts workshops with the kids, landscapers who volunteered in the zoo etc. I'm in IT and I did some database work and IT grant proposals. I know the hospitals in La Paz needed English-speakers to proofread and write their grant proposals in English. Think of what kind of environment you'd like to work in (school, hospital, zoo, office, etc) and the kind of skills you have (you have more than you think) and offer that. I really do NOT understand why people would pay thousands and thousands to do manual labour which actually hurts local people as it reduces manual labour jobs in an already depressed economy.

Photos of everyday life by various TTers.

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I agree in part, because a lot of volunteer organizations are just in it for the money and they do not actually make a significant difference, but there are some organizations that are valid and they do cost you an arm and a leg to participate! A great organization that you might want to check out is Ecuador Volunteer, www.ecuadorvolunteer.com. I was a volunteer in this organization and I had a great experience, and I want to promote them a little because they really do good work.

They have free projects for people with experience in that field and low-cost projects for those who do not have experience, and they only ask for a small inscription fee that you pay once, everything else you pay for accommodation and meals you pay directly to the source (such as the hotel or the restaurant) and that way the organization is not making a huge profit off the volunteer. In addition, the money that they recieve from the inscription fee goes to promoting the business but they also use that money to buy supplies for the projects, medicine for poor children and their families, etc. They are not aiming to make a huge profit, they take what they need to get by and they give the rest right to the people in need.

All of their programs are solid as well, especially the free projects for those with experience.

I hope that you will check it out!

Hugs,
Caitlin

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Totally agree CaitlinK. Volunteers should pay for some of the costs they incur. Reasonable 'placement' agencies do need money for computers, staff, electricity, office supplies etc and foreign volunteers should fund that. My comments were more along the lines of i-to-i who do charge ridiculous amounts of money and little of which go to the people in need.

BTW. Is anyone else troubled that LP has a 'win an i-to-i' experience on their Today page???

Photos of everyday life by various TTers.

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There is this opportunity in Thailand > environmental sector volunteer Thailand

What did you do today?

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A big selection of free and grass-roots volunteer programs worldwide can be found here:

www.independentvolunteer.org
www.truetravellers.org
www.volunteersouthamerica.net

These sites are all non-commercial, agree with what you say about LP getting into bed with I-to-I tish.

HTH
Steve

Support free Volunteering: www.volunteersouthamerica.net

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Stevemc = I've posted a question on the "About Lonely Planet" branch to find out if there is a commercial agreement between LP and i-to-i. I just cannot imagine that LP would use its incredible reach to promote such a dodgy company.

Oh, just had a look at the link on your sigline and wow! what a great resource. I was planning to go to South America again around June for 1-2 years volunteering but now I can only go for a few months holiday. I'll definitely have a closer look at the links on your site to see if I have any short-term options. Thanks again.

Photos of everyday life by various TTers.

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to 00Scott:

I'll tell you my own short story - and you are more than welcome to become part of it.

Last year, I have gone to Tibet of China a couple of times; I loved the people and decided to do something for them. While surfing the internet, I came across a Tibetan charity that offered to sponsor a Tibetan orphanage school located in South-West China... I wrote for more details and received a reply that the school's founder and person in charge was living in the same city as I am, Hong Kong. I met with Dorjee the same week, and little by little started helping him out here and there, including collecting product samples and cash donations in my office over Christmas. Last week, I finally visited the Waka Orphanage school and I did not want to leave, so much the kids and the school's staff touched my heart. I am planning to go back to visit as soon as possible (early April, in fact :)).

Here are some school's photos that I have uploaded today
Waka Orphanage School

and here are the photos from the reception that we had on the first day:
The Tibetan Welcome

The school's introduction is here, I have put together this webpage in haste while I am looking for a webdesigner to help us build a website:
Waka School Intro on spaces.live.com

I see you are based in Taiwan. Would you be interested in visiting, or helping out? Would you be interested in coming for a period of one to three months to teach English here - the kids are very smart and eager to learn. Doris, the putonghua teacher, and the current teacher for English classes, can hardly speak it herself, so she will be the most eager student :) Besides, kids will greatly benefit from communicating with someone outside their home province... I can barely speak putonghua or Tibetan and did not have this opportunity to communicate with words.

The school is located at Waka Village, some 50 km from Zhongdian/Shangri La (Yunnan Province, bordering with TAR), across the Yangze river from the town of Benzilan, a stopover on the popular route 214 Yunnan-Tibet highway. Meili Snow Mountains are about 100km away. The air is dry and the sky is clear, amazing starry nights, and warm and kind people. Let me know if you are interested!

the school's email address is wakaorphanageschool@hotmail.com

Visit Pakistan Travel Forum

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In short you should just contact the hospitals, health ministries or medical faculties directly Che Guevara got his start that way too, but he was already on the road.

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Why do many organizations charge Westerners for volunteering? Here's an example of why:

"Bahamas immigration arrests foreigner doing volunteer work".

A foreigner doing volunteer work was allegedly arrested by Bahamas Immigration because she did not have a permit to do that type of service in The Bahamas.
(you can find the story at the World Volunteer Web; the Thorn Tree bulletin board rejected all of my attempts to post the direct link.

Other reasons: international volunteers are never free. They require supervision (someone has to ensure children's safety, for instance, when volunteers will be around them, or to ensure that a volunteer does not get himself/herself into a dangerous situation), training, and a great deal of support (local transporation, safety measures, food, government paperwork, etc.). And if you want to do just a short-term assignment of a few or several weeks, that's going to cost the organization even more, as they train and support new volunteers again and again and again. The reality is that, rather than paying for your travel and paying staff to supervise and support you, most organizations in the developing world would rather empower and hire local people to address their own issues, build their own capacities, and give them employment. It is much more beneficial to local communities to use funds to hire local people to serve food, build houses, educate young people, run the local computer lab, etc., than to bring in an outside volunteer. Volunteers from outside of a community are needed to fill immediate, urgent gaps in local skills and experience, but it's not cost-effective for most organizations to pay for someone to come only for a few or even several weeks. If you want a short-term volunteering assignment, be prepared to pay for at least your travel and accommodations.

There are organizations that DON'T charge for volunteering, and will even pay you a small living allowance for your service. But you have to be prepared to be onsite for at least a year, tohave solid, transferable skills and lots of experience that can truly build up local's ability to start their own businesses, improve their own health, build up their own infrastructure, etc., and to go through a very competitive selection and screeing process. I have a lot of advice about what these kinds of organizations are looking for here on this page, with a list of the organizations that don't charge for international volunteering -- all free info (I'm not trying to sell anything).

If you are absolutely bent on traveling on your own to a developing country and volunteering outside any formal program, then please please do it with a local organization you KNOW is credible, and will support you should you be faced with a government official, police officer or irate parent accusing you of inappropriate behavior, or an urgent need to evacuate. I have advice on how to evaluate organizations, both in developed and in developing countries. It has a long list of questions at the end you need to be prepared to ask should you decide to volunteer in the developing world on your own.

--
Jayne A Broad
www.coyotecommunications.com/travel

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Hello

I have been volunteering as a TEFL teacher here in Da Nang, Viet Nam since 5th February and contacted the organisation directly. I explained that I could afford to give my time for free but could not afford to pay a programme fee in addition to this. They were VERY happy to have me work with them, as some other organisations I have contacted have been.

I hope this is of some help!

With best wishes

Andrew

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You might alos try Volunteer Latin America. They offer a huge range of free and low lost volunteer programs in Central and South America. There is some serious work here rather than just the working holiday type experience. Although they are not an NGO they use all their proceeds to fund their own environmental initiatives. Moreover, all the money you pay to volunteer goes directly to the projects rather than any large organisation in Europe or elsewhere.

I hope this helps.