How to best prepare for your trip
Questions to ask yourself before volunteering
Safety Abroad - What to Prepare for, What to Expect
Questions to ask Volunteer Providers
Current Global Tragedies and Volunteering
by Le Ann Joy Adam, Overseas Resource Coordinator
Stanford University
Transitions Abroad, July/Aug. 2000, p.83.
“Why pay money to volunteer?” There was a time when I fully shared the thinly veiled suspicion behind this frequently asked question. At a time when many young people have some of the most sought-after skills in a booming job market, it is easy to understand a student’s reluctance to pay to volunteer.
One of the most common requests from my advisees is for assistance finding volunteer opportunities in developing countries, so the issue of why one should pay for placement in a volunteer internship comes up again and again. It would be easy to simply explain that the placement organizations have certain overhead costs. But instead I try to educate them about the realities of short-term volunteer work that I have learned from experience.
Last summer I was a volunteer in Nicaragua for six weeks. The year before that (after Hurricane Mitch), I worked to send medical supplies and other aid to the needy throughout Central America with community groups and Central Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area. I found my niche as an organizer, information resource, and fundraiser, and I felt that I was making the best contribution I could I lacked technical knowledge and experience providing aid to victims of natural disasters and feared I would be more a hindrance than a help if I went to Central America then. I did, however, make plans to spend the summer as a volunteer in Nicaragua, after the worst of the crisis had passed. I wanted to use a Spanish language school as a base so I could improve my Spanish, benefit from a homestay, and also have an established connection with the local community. I felt I was experienced and resourceful enough to arrange a volunteer internship on my own and imagined I could save a lot of money with the extra effort. I also wanted to be completely independent of any political or religious affiliation that might influence my experience. Using the Internet, I searched for nongovernmental development organizations seeking volunteers.
Estelí, the second largest city in Nicaragua, has two Spanish language schools, numerous nongovernmental organizations associated with the women’s movement, and a long history of contribution by international volunteers. The organization seemed to offer the potential to work with a variety of community issues: domestic violence, street children, and hurricane recovery efforts. After one phone call and limited email correspondence with the organization, I committed to spending the summer working with them, hoping to learn and to contribute.
When I arrived in Nicaragua, the organization I had planned to work with had fallen victim to a lack of funding and interference from government bureaucracy. However, determined to make good use of my time in Estelí, I studied Spanish in the mornings and in the afternoons worked with members of the community in development projects and political and social action groups.
The Importance of Continuity
Overall, it was a powerful learning experience. But having learned the hard way that the kind of relationship you envision cannot always be established in a short period of time, I now encourage everyone I talk to about volunteer internships to go through a well-established placement organization. Organizations establish long-term relationships with community groups and help compensate them for the time they spend mentoring volunteers. This is particularly important in poor, grass-roots settings.
In Nicaragua, I often heard the comment that “volunteers come and go” without apparent regard for the importance of long-term, sustainable development. I also learned that volunteers are sometimes “more of a burden than an asset” to many organizations because of their lack of technical knowledge, language skills, and cultural sensitivity. Yet volunteer programs do benefit the host country’s economy, promote positive values, enrich lives, and serve the important purpose of strengthening the people-to-people ties that have proven such a powerful instrument of international mutual understanding. Placement organizations have invested the necessary time, patience, and resources needed to build trust and ensure safe and appropriate placements for volunteers.
Benefits of Organizations
While going through an organised program can also have its pitfalls, the benefits include:
Orientation. This usually includes important pre-departure reading material as well as on-site orientation on local culture, history, and customs.
Language and technical training.
Arranged accommodations. A supportive and caring homestay environment provides an important connection to the culture and a first-hand view of social and political events in country.
A Safety Net. Staff are there to provide logistical and emotional support.
Clear Expectations. The volunteer’s responsibilities are clear and well-defined.
Affordability. When you calculate the difference between travelling to a country on your own and the cost of participating in a program, you might be surprised by how little the difference is. Of course, many people successfully arrange their own volunteer internships. But in virtually every case, those who come away with a satisfying experience have strong ties in the host country as well as technical experience or specialized skills in areas such as medicine, teaching English, construction, and agriculture.
Even with an organization, there is no guarantee that the experience will be 100 percent trouble-free. Those who want such guarantees should probably consider a vacation on a cruise ship.
My advice to the would-be volunteer with good intentions, great organizational skills, and a real interest in international development and cross-cultural education is to allow an experienced organization to channel that energy, intelligence, good intentions into an established internship program.
HOW TO LIVE YOUR DREAM OF VOLUNTEERING OVERSEAS
by Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, and Zahara Heckscher
published by Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2002
Prospective volunteers are surprised to learn that many programs charge their volunteers a fee to participate. At first, this can seem ridiculous — Why should you pay money to work for free? Aren't you already forgoing income you could be making? Here are a few things to keep in mind while trying to understand why the vast majority of programs charge international volunteers a fee:
The local organizations and projects with which you volunteer overseas have limited resources and are seldom able to subsidize your trip or cover the costs of hosting you. (These costs include housing, feeding and transporting you, among numerous other things.) If they did have the financial resources to pay an international volunteer, it would almost certainly be more beneficial and cost-effective to hire a local person instead, someone who already knows the language and culture and is likely to stick around.
Identifying appropriate host organizations overseas and working with them is time-consuming, takes resources, and requires an experienced and professional staff.
The process of preparing, training, transporting, housing, feeding, and supervising volunteers is not cheap. Additional services such as health care, re-entry assistance, travel medical insurance, and more, all add to the expenses of a program.
The costs of recruiting volunteers, producing literature, answering the phones, sending mailings, developing a website, and interviewing potential volunteers are significant.
How to best prepare for your trip:
Volunteering abroad will be unlike any trip you've ever taken. To a certain degree, we cringe to say that, as we're well aware how cliche it sounds.
But in the most earnest sense possible, we mean it.
Your time abroad will look, smell, sound, taste and emote differently than any other place you've been before.
You're experience will be rugged, yet endearing. Seeing a developing country outside the grounds of your hotel is essentially seeing it how the locals see it. Working on a volunteer project takes that one step further, where you are not only experiencing the culture alongside the locals, but alongside some of the most impoverished in an already
You'll likely find yourself saying, "we'll look back on this and laugh." And when you get back home you friends and family, more than likely you will.
It will without question, test the boundaries of where you are comfortable and where you are not. Realize that during the times of discomfort, you are undoubtedly learning the most. As you stretch those boundaries, you are stretching your capacity to learn and grow, and in turn, building up the foundation towards the person you aspire to be.
Questions to ask yourself before volunteering:
Establishing your expectations is the likely the most important preparation you can undertake. Are you expecting to change yourself, or change the world. Can you accept that no matter how much time and effort you put in, the job may never get done? Taking that a step further, can you find solace in knowing that your time and effort are ALWAYS valuable?
What are you looking to get out of this? Experientially? Socially? Educationally?
Are you Ok with leaving your comfort zones?
How well do you cope with language barriers?
Do you mind going few days without showering?
Can you cope with different hygienic practices of other cultures?
Are you able to recognize that right or wrong, countries have different gender roles than you are used to?
What are your priorities?
What are your expectations of the culture and community you are working in?
What are the expectations you have of the people you will be working with?
What are the expectations you have of yourself to contribute to the community?
How do you expect to feel when you return home?
Sleeping and Flying
First and foremost, address your biggest expenses: Airfare and Accommodation. It can be a bit laborious, but putting in the time to research cheap flights and lodging will pay off big in the end. If you're volunteering abroad, be sure to research www.flyforgood.com. These guys not only provide a valuable resource center for volunteers before their trips, but also help coordinate discount airfare for people traveling for humanitarian services.
Pack light and use what your Momma gave ya... (we mean the ugly sweater she gave you on your birthday)
It may be your first instinct to re-outfit your wardrobe for the new, wonderful people you'll be meeting on your travels abroad. Trust us, these people will be all the more amazed by your personality, your smile and the selflessness with which you’re coming to help than your new clothes.
Facebook, MySpace, whatever keeps (or gets) you connected
This tidbit falls into the "you-never-know" factor. Before your trip, have a look through some of the online social networks you belong to. Type in the country you're traveling to and, "you never know," you may just have a long lost friend who is traveling there as well, or better yet, living there and has a spare couch for you!
Even if you don't find anyone in the country you're headed to, you may stumble across bits of travel advice, restaurant recommendations and other knowledge gems to stow away with you.
Keep track of what you brought
You made all the effort to put together a comprehensive check-list of everything you'll need on your journey. Before you rush out and buy everything on the list
Keep track of what you brought - don't re-purchase items you already own but were too busy to keep an eye on.
Set a budget and keep it
Most of us, to different degrees, maintain some type of routine. Part of this routine is setting financial boundaries in our daily lives and trying to adhere to them. Traveling is anything but routine. You'll be more inclined than ever to do all the things that you generally shy away from, and that could include spending money. We certainly encourage supporting the local economy you're visiting, but be sure you budgeted for it. Memories, photographs and souvenirs are worthwhile things to bring home from your travels abroad. A mound of credit card debt is not.
Safety Abroad - What to Prepare for, What to Expect
Generally speaking, just having your wits about you is the best advice, but put the odds on your side even more by spending a few minutes online when preparing for your journey abroad.
If you are volunteering abroad, it's likely you're headed to a country less-stable than the place you call home. Take time to research the country you're headed to from a few different angles.
-The U.S. Department of State website issues travel warnings for countries they deem to have long-term conditions which would deem them "dangerous or unstable."
The list of countries which fall under this distinction are listed here:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html
-Register with the Embassies. If you were to get in trouble or injured in your home country, it's very likely that your loved ones would be notified and able to come to your assistance quickly. But, when you're in a foreign country it may be more difficult to get work to your family if you're in need of help. By registering with your the Embassy in the country, you're making officials from your home country aware of your presence and more likely to provide help if you find yourself in a "less than desirable" situation.
Register with the U.S. Department of State here:
https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/
-Get Immunized. Unfortunately, danger can often be right in front of your face and you can't see it. What we're talking about here is disease. The country you're looking to volunteer abroad likely doesn't have any more diseases than where you're from, but they'll certainly have different diseases. Luckily, over the years many of these foreign diseases can successfully be avoided by receiving the proper immunizations. It's best to contact your personal physician, but it doesn't hurt to do some research on your own.
http://www.travelsafely.com/
Sure, it's worth your time to invest in a money belt, keep a buddy nearby and dress appropriately - but being aware of your surroundings is priceless. Plus, the better you know the community you're in, the more you'll enjoy the scenery!
Questions to ask Volunteer Providers
We want your volunteering experience to be out of this world so here are a few questions to ask providers to make sure you are really going to the project that’s right for you:
What is the average age of volunteers on this project?
Can I chat with volunteers that have done this project before?
What work will I be doing mainly? For how many hours a day? For how many days a week?
Do I need to speak another language to really enjoy this project? Is there a translator nearby if I need one?
What are the accommodations like? Will I have to share? Do I need to bring a sleeping bag?
What kind of food can I expect to eat?
What’s included in the project fee? Meals? Lodging? Will I need to pay anything else in country?
Then there are the general safety questions like:
What is the emergency evacuation plan should a natural disaster, riot, etc happen?
Where is the nearest hospital or clinic?
Is there a number that my parents/friends/loved ones can call me at to make sure I’ve arrived safely?
Is there a number I can call 24/7 to get help?
Is there someone from your company in country to help/advise me?
Do I need to get any immunizations before I go?
Are there certain clothes I shouldn’t wear because of cultural norms?
Current Global Tragedies and Volunteering
Reading the global headlines can be emotional, and generally speaking the news revolves around heart-wrenching tragedies that occur in countries that are the least equipped to help those effected. The tragedies, particularly the personal anecdotes tug on all of our heartstrings, and these headlines are often a catalyst for people looking to volunteer abroad.
Recent tragedies such as the earthquake in China or the cyclone in Myanmar have effected hundreds of thousands of people, and the communities will bear the weight of their losses for years to come. If you find your altruistic soul being drawn to help, proceed with caution, but proceed nonetheless.
Traveling to areas that have been recently effected will be rocky at best. If you are traveling abroad for the first time, and you’re headed to one of these areas, be sure to consult a number of people before you depart.
First, contact the U.S. Department of State. Some of these areas will be deemed unsafe for American travelers by the Department, but legally you may still be allowed to travel to them on your own accord. Other areas may be shut off to U.S. travelers, and it would be worth your time to check this out before violating international diplomacy.
Second, have a list of questions for the organization with whom you are traveling with. Ultimately, they are the only people other than yourself who are concerned with your safety in country. If you in any way feel that they will not provide support at whatever level you deem adequate, you may want to rethink who you are traveling with, or even your decision to visit the specific area in need.
Some question you might ask:
-What is the exit strategy if the situation becomes increasingly unsafe, and has the company ever had to employ such actions?
-Will there be a fee assessed for emergency evacuation? Does your travel insurance cover this?
-What are the current safety levels, and areas of particular concern in the country?
-Are volunteers currently in-country and how are they finding the situation on the ground?
Regardless of what answers you get from anyone else, there are a number of this you should be asking yourself before you make your final decision.
-What are your priorities, and do you feasibly see yourself accomplishing them?
-Are you totally comfortable with the travel provider?
-Are you putting yourself in a situation that you think is more dangerous than necessary?
-How will you explain your decision to your family and ease their worries?
-How uncomfortable are you willing to be?
-What is your emotional tolerance for seeing humanity in it's most fragile state?
