Anyone ever had a Brilliant Volunteering experience?

Glacier

Has anyone ever volunteered abroad long term? What Organisation did you go with? Do you need to be skilled or experienced? Is there like a Euro version of the Peace Corps?

Neamhshuntasach

I volunteered teaching English in Venezuela. I wasn't doing it for money and depended on people putting me up. I had a great experience and the people were great. Speaking a bit of Spanish would help if anyone is thinking of teaching English in Latin America. Helps explain rules and such.

I didn't go with any organization. I emailed schools before i went there and offered to do it.

Not sure of any Peace Corps in Europe

cfitz

Neamhshuntasach wrote: »

I volunteered teaching English in Venezuela. I wasn't doing it for money and depended on people putting me up. I had a great experience and the people were great. Speaking a bit of Spanish would help if anyone is thinking of teaching English in Latin America. Helps explain rules and such.

I didn't go with any organization. I emailed schools before i went there and offered to do it.

Fair play. I'd love to do something like that. With large organisations I always wonder whether I'd just be doing it for myself. But the way you did it, you have more control over the situation and can try judge for yourself whether or not you're helping to make a difference.

If I ever pluck up the courage to go away for volunteer work I think I might do it that way. Nice to see it can be done, thanks!

Neamhshuntasach

cfitz wrote: »

Fair play. I'd love to do something like that. With large organisations I always wonder whether I'd just be doing it for myself. But the way you did it, you have more control over the situation and can try judge for yourself whether or not you're helping to make a difference.

If I ever pluck up the courage to go away for volunteer work I think I might do it that way. Nice to see it can be done, thanks!

Yeah it can be easily done if you put your mind to it. It can take a while to get replies and such as i had to go through an intermediary because the type of schools i wanted to help at didn't have email access. So i emailed trade union groups and socialist parties and such. There are also programs you can join that are free. They usually house and feed you in return for your services. Here's a link for Latin American ones. Some don't require fees but some require a decent level of Spanish.

http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net/

While doing it yourself does have it's advantages it can also have disadvantages. There were nights where i had nowhere to stay if people had relatives staying and i'd have to venture off around Caracas looking for a cheap hostel. Not the wisest of moves as the city can be fairly dangerous. It's also nice knowing that you have food and accommodation when done with an organization but i found doing it independently allowed me to work more hands on without restriction and also provided a greater sense of adventure.

Red Soup

The UK version of Peace Corps is VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas). They have volunteering opporunities for graduates and non-graduates. I've only heard good things about them (my parents volunteered with them in the 70s in Africa as graduates, as my cousin did as a non graduate last year).

http://www.vso.org.uk/

dory

Yea, I was going to say VSO. Supposed to be good.
I've had great experiences in India, Peru and Nicaragua. Going back to India next week to do more. India and Peru were through my college but in Nicaragua I was staying somewhere that had people who knew people who were looking for teachers, had to speak Spanish though.

spinandscribble

i havnt even started volunteering im getting trouble lol. noone told me the whole trouble with getting working visas for thailand. its techniqually illegal to volunteer without one but NGOs dont want to give you one. im after getting a ranty email from the crowd im meant to work at telling me im making a big mess for them trying to go down the legal route. i've tried to explain that noone in the embassy has been told that name of the NGO. blah... i just wanna be there legally. i found another NGO that does things by the book so im going to go with them if i get accepted. just make sure you are going with a crowd or working at a place that at least if they're on the fringes of legal are up front about it.

Red Soup

Yeah if they're not up front about WHY they don't want you to get a visa that's... ... just a bit dodgy!

spinandscribble

they wanted me to get a tourist visa just not a work visa. if they had just explained the whole red tape thing it would have been fine. doesnt matter anyway i've found a better crowd that actually care about my safety (being within the law). they're straight with you and when your commuicating with someone half way around the world thats EXACTLY what you need.