How to volunteer abroad
Hey guys! Since my last post about my experience volunteering in a school in a sensible peruvian neighbourhood I got a lot of messages of people asking me how I found the NGO and how they could volunteer abroad. So I thought I would make this post on how to volunteer abroad as it may help some of you :) I know this is not directly related to languages, but as I said before I think that traveling and being aware of what’s going on in other countries and communities is deeply related to language learning, so I hope you guys don’t mind if I make some posts like this in the future ^^
First of all, I want to say that I am not an expert in volunteering, NGOs or tourism. I just have some experience as I volunteered in as school in Peru, and I’m starting to volunteer with kids in Uruguay too. I also have some experience in France (my home country): I volunteered with refugees (teaching them French, chatting, playing board games as well as organizing fundraisings) and I also volunteered for two years in a foster home, tutoring and organizing activities for kids who live there (mostly because their parents are abusive or don’t have enough money to raise them). But in this post I want to focus on how to find volunteering opportunities abroad (basically how to find a good NGO online), so if you want more info of how to volunteer close to your home, you can message me or check out this post.
1. Find a serious and reliable organization
First of all, be prepared to do a lot of research, volunteering abroad is not something you can prepare in one day. You don’t want to go volunteering in any organization and find out that they abuse animals, neglect kids or use your money for themselves instead of using it for real projects. The NGO should have long term strategic goals. Don’t go dig a well in Africa. It’s cliché and most of the time useless. Look for NGOs that support / create real projects and help empowering the community you’re going to work in. Searching for a volunteering opportunity should be like hunting for a job. If you don’t have the skills to do something in a first world country, don’t expect to do that job in a third world country. Search for NGOs that need skills you have. However, you can obviously learn new skills while you’re there. I would even say you HAVE to learn new skills. For instance none of the volunteers new anything about compost at the school I worked in, but we ended up creating a nice one, and it was not that hard ;) Don’t think that you have to be a teacher, doctor etc to volunteer. We all have skills to share. For instance someone studying business could help empower a community by helping them set up a business. I have a friend who did that in the Philipines with a community that was creating candles and that know lives thanks to the national (and soon international) export of these candles.
2. Don’t volunteer in an orphenage (or be very careful if you do it)
Ok it might be a little bit extreme to say not to do it at all, because I’m sure there are very serious orphenages out there which really need help. But most of the time, the kids are not actually orphans, and still have at least one living parent, even though they are very poor. So basically, these kids are taken away from their families to feed this economy of volonturism, which is absolutely aweful. So please if you do it, be very careful about the organization, how they work etc. Also think about the impact on the kids lives: they see people taking care of them for a few weeks (or even a few days!), and then these people disappear and are replaced by other people. It makes them feel abandoned once again, and that no one will ever love them enough to stick by them, you know what I mean? So it can have a really bad impact on the lives of these kids...
3. Other tips and advice
- Only go volunteering abroad if you have enough time to spend there, one or two weeks in unfortunately not enough (unless you plan on working in some places like hostels that might accept you for a short period of time). But if you plan on working in a place where you will need some training (for example volunteering with animals) or if you want to volunteer with kids, plan to say longer.
- Always talk to people who have volunteered there before you, ask them questions about there experience, about the quality of the NGO etc...
- Be prepared to pay some money to volunteer. Unfortunately, volunteering is not always free, which can be understandable because NGOs need funds. I personally paid 5€ a day to volunteer in the school in Peru, but in exchange they offered me 3 meals a day as well as accomodation, so that was a very fair price. Always check out the price before you go to avoid bad surprises.
- Be careful not to take a job a local worker could do, which is one of the most egoist thing you can do. The school I worked for had no teacher, volunteers would do everything, which is obviously not good for these children. But they do not have any money to pay teachers, and it’s nearly impossible to find a teacher who could work full time without being paid. So the volunteers are essential for this organization, and are not taking away jobs from local people. Make sure this is also the case in the NGO you are going to work for. That’s why I’m not a great fan of working in a hostel for a few weeks and then being replaced by another volunteer. I mean it’s great when you’re traveling because you save some money (as you get free accomodation), but this job should not be done by unpaid volunteers, it should be done be a local person, and should be a real paid job. At least that’s what I think.
- Be prepared to live in difficult conditions. If you’re “going to a poor country to help poor people”, be ready live like the people you’re going to help. You will be hungry, thirsty, dirty, sweaty, you won’t always find drinkable water, the shower will be cold, the bed will be bad and you will probably end up with several touristas or even food poisoning (that’s what happened to me and it was not fun), but that shouldn’t keep you from volunteering :) If you can’t live in these conditions then just donate money and wait until you’re ready to volunteer.
- Don’t do it only for you. Of course it’s going to be an amazing experience, of course you’re going to take pictures, and of course you will want to tell people about it afterwards. But never forget that the reason you are doing this is because you want to help people (or animals, the environment...). So while you’re there, keep your phone in your bag and actually do the work that needs to be done. I’m sorry but it won’t be easy everyday. Moreover, most of the time, volunteers are not asked to work all day, but only a few hours a day (I taught kids for 4hours a day for instance, plus a few hours to prepare the lessons). So it’s up to you to ask if there’s other ways you can help, or to come up with new ideas yourself (in my example, picking up trash in the neighbourghood). Give all you can and things will come back to you :)
4. Some websites you can check
- Workaway: This is my favorite website for volunteering abroad and the one I used in Peru. You can find volunteering opportunities all over the world, there are LOTS of offer, and most of all the options are very diverse: permaculture, working in a farm, working with animals, working with kids... You can also find some things like being a nanny or working in a hostel. What I love the most about it is that you can easily find comments from previous volunteers and contact them, so you can see if the organization is serious and understand better the type of work they need you to do.
- Helpx: Here you can find mostly organic farms, ranches, hostels, bed and breakfast... It’s more or less like workaway ^^
- Woofing: The same thing as the previous one but more focused on organic farms and things such as permaculture etc
Other good websites and organizations: goabroad.com, aiesec, IVHQ, GVI...
5. Some other resources
A great video about voluntourism
We need to end the ear of orphanages
How much impact volunteering abroad actually has
