Volunteering at orphanage

yeah, i think it's absolutely ridiculous for organizations to be charging volunteers large sums of money in exchange for using the volunteer's services. depending on where you're from, there are some excellent volunteer programs that pay you a basic living allowance return airfare, medical insurance, and accomodation costs on top of training (i.e. language culture). i'm not sure where you're from, but if in australia try vida volunteers, or AYAD. otherwise, i know UN volunteers and the peace brigade also have great volunteer programs. i wouldn't pay any money to volunteer - you're exchanging your skills and building capacity - and that is more than adequate to offset so-called training and lodging expenses the organisation would incur.

Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for your help and advice... I did get some interesting links and I will definitely check them out. Even though I'm convinced lots of serious help is needed over there, some people seem to make a living from all those so-called volunteering projects for which you pay thousands of dollars (btw usually no flights included !)... Where is all that money going ?? I understand that each volunteer costs some money, but that simply doesnt justify the amounts of money some of them dare to ask. Some organisations talk about the kids in orphanages as if they're animals in a zoo where you've got to pay entrance money to go and see them... Seriously, that's scandalous. When JJack says 99,9% of volunteers are tourists that are only doing volunteering work to get "nice" photos, then I guess that I'm just one of those 0,1 % of travellers that just want to HELP without having to pay for that.

Please keep sending all your advice and ideas, I really appreciate it ;)

Cheers

globieke
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>some people seem to make a living from all those so-called volunteering projects for which you pay thousands of dollars (btw usually no flights included !)... <hr></blockquote>
Can you send me some links to these programs? You can either private message me or post them here. I have some free time coming up and I'd like to take a closer look at this industry.

Thanks.

No worries FutureExpat, I've sent you some random links to just a couple of these projects... You'll find many more just looking on the internet. Thought I had seen the worst, until I found this website today of some organisation that asks 4095 USD for a volunteering project of 12 weeks, NO food, NO flights, NO insurance included.... Uh ?! Are some people actually paying this kind of money for volunteering ?? And where is all the money going ? One would hope it goes straight to the kids in the orphanages, but unfortunately I seriously doubt that...

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Are some people actually paying this kind of money for volunteering ??<hr></blockquote>No, people are paying that kind of money for an experience that will give them some good photo ops and stories to tell back home. It started earlier, but after the tsunami the industry exploded as the thais saw all these westerners searching desperately for a way to make their beach holiday seem more interesting and exotic than the next guys. There were hardly any posts on this site 4 or 5 years ago from people looking to volunteer, just as there weren't posts from people looking for places to practice yoga and have coffee poured up their bums, but look at it today. As I mentioned, the thais are absolute masters at sniffing out what westerners are looking for at any given time and cashing in on it. They are sitting around right now trying to guess what the next one will be... hilltribe trekking? Nope, been done to death, elephant riding? Getting tougher as people become worried about the treatment of the elephants (but elephant nature reserves are beginning to boom), bamboo rafting? Sure, still lots of demand for that. Massage classes? Yep, still a growing industry. Cooking classes? Yep, a growing industry, but getting more and more competitive. Yoga? Oh yeah, still a growing trend. Colonic cleansing? Absolutely - there will always be idiots out there. Volunteering? Sure, the trend hasn't been exhausted yet, but the demand is likely to begin dropping off over the next year or so.

But the big question for them is - what will be the next big thing?

AIDSTEMPLE.ORG,
LOPBURI

Hi, there has been some good responses in here and an interesting discussion.
Please also check out www.mirrorartgroup.org I think you'll find they are not expensive, but they do cover their (low) costs. Sorry they are not an orphanage, but help poor ethnic minorities. You can certainly teach and play with kids that'd really appreciate your help through Mirror.

Before anyone signs up for volunteer work through International Field Research Expeditions (IFRE), a US-based nonprofit with programs in Thailand and many other countries, be sure to get firm commitments about what they're providing and how good a local support structure they have. My adult son spent five weeks in Thailand with IFRE and found the support to be totally lacking. For the nearly $1,000 program fee, they basically provided a place to sleep (nice enough) and a small stipend (insufficient) for food. There was no guidance about how best to teach English to the Thai-only speakers in the school to which he was assigned, and the school only scheduled him for an hour or two of volunteer work a day. The only other volunteer quit after two days, so my son was on his own for the rest of the time. Since the school was in a small village in which no one spoke English, it was a very lonely experience. He never even met the supposed Thai staff, and had one phone conversation in a month (precipitated by the other volunteer's departure.) Moral of the story: if the program fees are really cheap, there's not likely to be much of a program.