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Old 08-07-2011, 03:38 PM   #1
drewboy12
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I am wondering if anyone has first hand experience volunteering abroad? What did you do, and through what company did you use? Did you have a sponsor, and how did you find your sponsor?

I am interested in this, as I will be embarking on a round the world trip on March 1st, 2012. I plan on spending two years away, and have taken an interest in finding some volunteer work for a few months while away. Maybe a 3 month term, possibly longer up to 6 months.

My only problem is, from what I have seen, these companies who organize volunteering abroad, are rather expensive. $3000+ for two months. Its cheaper for me to backpack, then to volunteer with those prices.

Any first hand information or experiences would be much appreciated.
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Old 08-07-2011, 03:50 PM   #2
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I don't know anything about volunteering abroad, I just wanted to say that your plan sounds pretty damn cool.
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Old 08-07-2011, 04:05 PM   #3
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I am wondering if anyone has first hand experience volunteering abroad? What did you do, and through what company did you use? Did you have a sponsor, and how did you find your sponsor?

I am interested in this, as I will be embarking on a round the world trip on March 1st, 2012. I plan on spending two years away, and have taken an interest in finding some volunteer work for a few months while away. Maybe a 3 month term, possibly longer up to 6 months.

My only problem is, from what I have seen, these companies who organize volunteering abroad, are rather expensive. $3000+ for two months. Its cheaper for me to backpack, then to volunteer with those prices.

Any first hand information or experiences would be much appreciated.
Dont the feds have an agency for this? failing that become a mormon
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Old 08-07-2011, 04:09 PM   #4
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Dont the feds have an agency for this? failing that become a mormon
If I am not mistaken, don't Mormons pay $10k to go on their mission?
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Old 08-07-2011, 05:47 PM   #5
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I went through www.volunteerabroad.ca to Peru.

I had a great experience and the company was sensitive to the peoples we helped to ensure that we minimized any harmful changes to their communities and culture.

The majority of my expense was the air ticket but the accommodations and food were quite cheap. Sorry I can't quote exact numbers.

Good luck with your journey. I highly recommend the company.
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Old 08-07-2011, 05:57 PM   #6
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I went through www.volunteerabroad.ca to Peru.

I had a great experience and the company was sensitive to the peoples we helped to ensure that we minimized any harmful changes to their communities and culture.

The majority of my expense was the air ticket but the accommodations and food were quite cheap. Sorry I can't quote exact numbers.

Good luck with your journey. I highly recommend the company.
Ya I checked this out earlier. Its very very expensive. $3000-$4000 range for 8 weeks. I don't understand this to volunteer. Id rather go somewhere and put $4000 into a community on my own.

However I am new to this, and am not sure if this is the best or worst way of doing this. I think I could raise enough money to pay for it, and could quite possibly find a sponsor as well, so I don't think I would have to pay out of pocket. But in the end its putting the money to better use, then paying a company.

for how long did you volunteer?
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Old 08-07-2011, 05:57 PM   #7
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I went through www.volunteerabroad.ca to Peru.

I had a great experience and the company was sensitive to the peoples we helped to ensure that we minimized any harmful changes to their communities and culture.

The majority of my expense was the air ticket but the accommodations and food were quite cheap. Sorry I can't quote exact numbers.

Good luck with your journey. I highly recommend the company.

Congratulations to the both of you for this. Knowing what I know now about how little I knew then....sighhh...sure wish I'd have done something like that when I was young enough and nothing holding me back.

A great idea.

Good on ya drewboy and best of luck.
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Old 08-07-2011, 06:05 PM   #8
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Ya I checked this out earlier. Its very very expensive. $3000-$4000 range for 8 weeks. I don't understand this to volunteer. Id rather go somewhere and put $4000 into a community on my own.

However I am new to this, and am not sure if this is the best or worst way of doing this. I think I could raise enough money to pay for it, and could quite possibly find a sponsor as well, so I don't think I would have to pay out of pocket. But in the end its putting the money to better use, then paying a company.

for how long did you volunteer?
I was only there for 2 weeks during spring break. I would have liked to stay longer. Part of that expense (depending where you wanted to go) was probably for language lessons. I took Spanish in uni so I was okay but the other travelers really found the lessons to be great. Call it ~$70 a day if you use the $4000 for 8 weeks. That includes accommodation, food, language lessons and travel to your volunteer site. I agree, that does seem a bit expensive b/c everything in Peru was super cheap compared to Canada so 70 CAD does seem expensive. Tack on your airfare and your bank account will be hurting.

Have you considered volunteering up in the arctic? From what I hear, people who have been there couldn't believe that parts of Canada were in 3rd world conditions. Travel could be cheaper and there may be govn't programs that may subsidize your time there.
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Old 08-07-2011, 06:23 PM   #9
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I was only there for 2 weeks during spring break. I would have liked to stay longer. Part of that expense (depending where you wanted to go) was probably for language lessons. I took Spanish in uni so I was okay but the other travelers really found the lessons to be great. Call it ~$70 a day if you use the $4000 for 8 weeks. That includes accommodation, food, language lessons and travel to your volunteer site. I agree, that does seem a bit expensive b/c everything in Peru was super cheap compared to Canada so 70 CAD does seem expensive. Tack on your airfare and your bank account will be hurting.

Have you considered volunteering up in the arctic? From what I hear, people who have been there couldn't believe that parts of Canada were in 3rd world conditions. Travel could be cheaper and there may be govn't programs that may subsidize your time there.
Hmmm I would like to leave the winter/cold conditions...

The more I think about it, I think it would be quite easy to raise the funds to go overseas and volunteer. So many people want to "do their part"... Which is donate money, and feel good about them selves...

A friend of mine and his wife personally sponsored a village in Africa years ago, which peeked my interest in doing this. It was the soccer ball made of banana leafs that they brought back for me that the children made me for donating money to them, which really made me want to do something personally.

Then a couple weeks ago, I met a girl working in the Peace Core in Ghana... Her stories brought it all back, and what better way to spend part of my trip, then to actually get my hands dirty and help people.
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Old 08-07-2011, 06:43 PM   #10
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You can find some awesome and inexpensive opportunities on www.workaway.info .
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Old 08-07-2011, 07:40 PM   #11
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You can find some awesome and inexpensive opportunities on www.workaway.info .
This will be great for travelling... Thanks for the link!
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