Volunteer Abroad

Tippgal93

Hi guys,

Iv just finished the leaving cert and Im thinking about taking a gap year.Im not sure what I want to do in college and have always wanted to volunteer abroad etc.
Im not fully sure yet if my plans will go ahead - Im at the early stages of looking into it.

Just wondering if anyone here has done volunteering and if so what were your experiences? Where did you go and stay? What agency did you go with? What was the security like? What were the costs associated with and what work did you do?

Im open to all ideas and suggestions.

I think I am most interested in care and teaching.

Have any of you come across these agencies and if so pros and cons to them?
-habitat for humanity ireland
-projects abroad
-i to i volunteering
-oyster
-bunac
-avova
-gvi

Also has anyone volunteered abroad with the chernobyl childrens trust?

Thanks in advance guys

Tippgal93

*aviva

devinejay

Unfortunately I don't have much personal experience volunteering abroad, but I know a good few people who have, and I worked the SVP a bit over the last few years in college in Dublin.

So with my limited experience, the best advice I can offer is to have a look at Comhlámh They don't actually do any volunteering themselves, but they're a fantastic organisation who do a lot of ground work to support and guide people volunteering abroad.

I would advise anyone thinking of volunteering abroad to be very wary of companies involved in "volun-tourism," the type of set-up where you pay €3000 to spend a week in a third world orphanage volunteering, then you go on safari for a week and a half. These companies are sometimes for-profit, but even non-profits can be badly organised and their work can have little long-term benefit to the developing communities they aim to help. Worst of all, it can often be hard, especially without prior volunteering experience, to identify which organisations are "good" or "bad"

Comhlámh is an organisation devoted to development and solidarity, and is made up of people who have already volunteered abroad, so they know their stuff. If you get in contact with them they'll surely point you in the right direction.

Other than those words of caution, the only organisation I can think of to recommend is VSI A friend of mine took a year out after his Leaving Cert and volunteered in Germany, then a couple of years later he went to Ecuador, again through VSI. He's a very conscientious fellow, well aware of all the pros and cons of volunteering, so I trust his judgement and pass on the recommendation.

I think both these organisations are generally lovely and open, so it's well worth asking if you could call in for a chat some time. They should be happy to at least let you pick their brains a bit. Taking a year out like this is a big commitment, so you may as well get it right!

Best of luck, and bloody go for it! You won't look back :D;)

!!!

I went to Cambodia straight after my leaving to backpack. Loads of volunteer opportunities available when you get to a country - you don't need to organise it beforehand.

Also, I volunteered for free. Word of advice - companies that charge to volunteer are simply, ****e.

sarkozy

!!! wrote: »

I went to Cambodia straight after my leaving to backpack. Loads of volunteer opportunities available when you get to a country - you don't need to organise it beforehand.

Also, I volunteered for free. Word of advice - companies that charge to volunteer are simply, ****e.

Sorry, but this is a bad way to go about volunteering. Not only might you end up with a bad experience, but the poorest and most vulnerable people you thought you were helping can end up worse off. The resources of poor communities are so stretched that it can be damaging to have to divert their time, money, etc. to look after volunteers and correct their mistakes afterwards.

I fully second Comhlámh as the go-to organisation for looking into volunteering overseas responsibly. Start by taking a look at www.volunteeringoptions.org, their volunteering site. I worked in Comhlámh, I should know

Of course, there are lots of volunteering opportunities in Ireland, too. You can start with Volunteering Ireland.

!!!

What are you talking about? You have no idea what the hell I was doing. There are loads and loads of local volunteer services set up in developing countries that could use your time. Just knock on their door. I've travelled a lot and seen a lot. I can't help but roll my eyes at all these "volunteers" I see. Ah well, carry on!

dory

Play nice people.

OP, please don't go with any of those travel agencies, they're there to make money, not help people.

Best thing to do is start writing to charities/organizations abroad and see if they need anyone. And bare in mind, saying 'of course we need you, and you have to fundraise €5000', means they really don't need you at all at all.

Flynn

http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net

^ This is a fantastic link. You will definitely find what you're looking for here.

sarkozy

!!! wrote: »

What are you talking about? You have no idea what the hell I was doing. There are loads and loads of local volunteer services set up in developing countries that could use your time. Just knock on their door. I've travelled a lot and seen a lot. I can't help but roll my eyes at all these "volunteers" I see. Ah well, carry on!

I wasn't commenting on you. I was commenting on the approach to volunteering you described. International research shows this is not the best approach, and it is not considered best practice among those Irish NGOs who send volunteers overseas and have long-lasting, genuine partnerships with local organisations in poor countries.

As Dory said, that's fine, but at the same time, talk to Comhlámh and organisations in Ireland to find the best experience for you. Also read up on the issues - www.volunteeringoptions.org is the best place to start.

sarkozy

sarkozy wrote: »

I wasn't commenting on you. I was commenting on the approach to volunteering you described. International research shows this is not the best approach, and it is not considered best practice among those Irish NGOs who send volunteers overseas and have long-lasting, genuine partnerships with local organisations in poor countries.

As Dory said, that's fine, but at the same time, talk to Comhlámh and organisations in Ireland to find the best experience for you. Also read up on the issues - www.volunteeringoptions.org is the best place to start.

Hmm... You're really advocating spending thousands here instead of thousands in the country? In some cases, that can work but in most cases, it's flushing money down the toilet.

People with skills can do a proper job of volunteering as my friends in the VSA did in Africa when they were doing their engineering and nursing.. This is obviously not an option except through an agency and it's probably the most effective form of volunteering.

But it's just not available to most.. especially the OP with a leaving cert. All they can offer is some time and money.. If they don't have skills, they have money. If they have the money, then they may aswell go directly to the orphanage/whatever and give it to them and stay there for a few weeks/months helping.

You can go to Cambodia and volunteer in a genuine place while spending your money on the community there instead of paying for administration and salary costs in Ireland. Everyone knows this.. It's the people dumping thousands into a "volunteer teaching" black hole that choose to ignore it.


And for an example of how corrupt these agencies can be, we get about a dozen new Australians doing a volunteer program in Hanoi every few months.. They all quit because schools pay off the organisation at ground level to put them working in their schools.
I work in one of the most expensive private schools in the city and there have been volunteers here before filling gaps between real teachers being hired. Soul destroying going with a volunteering agency and teaching kids with iPads.

It happens and the best way to work out if you should use an agency is have a look at your skill set and decide if they need you or their money.. If you have skills, join a program that can make a difference. If you don't have skills, then go direct and spend your money where it's needed.

skoomi

OP ... don't do that volunteering thing. Just go backpacking with a wad of cash. Instead of painting a local school (I'm saving Africa! Yeah!!!), the local economy will be much happier if you just spend good 'ol tourist money.

You can check out free volunteering opportunities once you arrive in the country if you really want to, but please ... don't become part of the "White saviour industrial complex". Why do you want to volunteer anyway?

Just go as a tourist and enjoy the bleedin' country!

skoomi

"Look Mom, I'm saving the world!!!"

skoomi

"This is gonna look great on my C.V."

Expensive photos.

sarkozy

skoomi wrote: »

OP ... don't do that volunteering thing. Just go backpacking with a wad of cash. Instead of painting a local school (I'm saving Africa! Yeah!!!), the local economy will be much happier if you just spend good 'ol tourist money.

You can check out free volunteering opportunities once you arrive in the country if you really want to, but please ... don't become part of the "White saviour industrial complex". Why do you want to volunteer anyway?

Just go as a tourist and enjoy the bleedin' country!

Exactly. Ads by Google is actually advocating an approach to volunteering which can displace jobs for people in that country. If you're going to a poor place to work jobs for free that other local people could do for money, to work their own way out of poverty, then that's damaging. And that's apart from the mess that can be made by volunteers which communities may have to clean up afterwards.

It's also not true that only the skilled may volunteer. The 'unskilled' can volunteer, but what young volunteers have to offer is less. Think about it: does it make sense for an unskilled 18 year-old to care for the disabled, or does it make sense for a physiotherapy student with experience to do that? Unskilled volunteers don't go to do that, they go for a cultural exchange.

There are different levels of engagement in the volunteering arena, and lots to choose from.

Do it right, or don't do it at all.

skoomi

About the unskilled volunteers: When I was in Uganda I met a young "volunteer" who had just finished her leaving and was on a gap year, teaching Gaeilge and other useless stuff (juggling) in some tiny rural village school. The poor children must have thought they were learning an important white man language. She spent most of the time in the pub anyway drinking with the 20 other voluntourists.

sarkozy

sarkozy wrote: »

Exactly. Ads by Google is actually advocating an approach to volunteering which can displace jobs for people in that country. If you're going to a poor place to work jobs for free that other local people could do for money, to work their own way out of poverty, then that's damaging. And that's apart from the mess that can be made by volunteers which communities may have to clean up afterwards.

It's also not true that only the skilled may volunteer. The 'unskilled' can volunteer, but what young volunteers have to offer is less. Think about it: does it make sense for an unskilled 18 year-old to care for the disabled, or does it make sense for a physiotherapy student with experience to do that? Unskilled volunteers don't go to do that, they go for a cultural exchange.

There are different levels of engagement in the volunteering arena, and lots to choose from.

Do it right, or don't do it at all.

I didnt advocate any volunteering that displaced work.. The engineers oversee the building of a building. There's no engineers there to do it. Volunteering in an orphanage and giving your money to them instead of USIT isnt displacing anyone either.