Planning a volunteer holiday

briona

FWIW I am inclined to agree with PBS. Essentially you are paying for the "privilege" of being worked to the bone!

I am currently teaching in Vietnam (and being paid for it!). I work 22-24hrs pw and I have two consecutive days off. From experience I can tell you that teaching for 6hrs a day is extremely taxing (and I only do that a couple of days a week). Interestingly, Pueblo Ingles expects you to put in 13hr days, with a 1.5hr break in the middle. I wouldn't do that kind of day if they paid me, and I certainly wouldn't pay to do it!

The majority of the summer camp jobs will be filled now. They start recruiting in February/March for an end of June start. The higher paid jobs will (naturally) expect you to have a TEFL qualification or a PGCE and ideally some experience. Unsurprisingly preference will be given to those who meet the criteria.

Having previously researched volunteering opportunities I soon concluded that the biggest beneficiary is the company who organises your trip, rather than the organisation you're volunteering at, which was enough to put me off. I thought the following were worth a look though (IIRC both organisations require a small membership fee):

• http://www.wwoof.org.uk/ and http://www.wwoof.org/ - for volunteer positions on organic farms around the world
• http://www.ecoteer.com/index.php - for contact details of organisations seeking volunteers

Briona

pandora205

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Sorry, but you're being exploited. I can't be bothered to go into the ins and outs - but needless to say, they'll be making good money from you. Paying to be an English teacher is beyond madness - you can easily do exactly the same job in summer camps throughout Europe - and you'll be paid a fair wage for doing so!

(re. volunteering at Pueblo Ingles - English emersion for Spaniards).

I'm aware of summer camps and the nature of socially useful volunteer projects. This is rather different, as the clients are professionals and business people who are on an intensive course. And the other 'Anglos' are also from a range of walks of life and nationalities (American, Canadian, Irish, New Zealander, Australian). I am aware that it is an expensive course for the participants and I'm fine with that. And I'm not doing it for money as I already have a well paid professional job myself.

There are several accounts of the organisation in the press which gives a picture of what to expect:
http://gomadnomad.com/2010/06/10/volunteering-in-spain-with-vaughan-town-and-pueblo-ingles/

http://www.touristtravel.com/article0306_pueble_ingles.htm

SallyD

I was reading through this old post for hints,tips and recommendations on volunteering abroad. I have to agree with Polishbigspender re Pueblo Anglais (https://www.morethanenglish.com) The Spanish participants are all employees of Santander bank,Iberian Airlines etc., the companies pay about £2,000 a week for them to attend. You meet up in Madrid on the first day for a "get2know the group" dinner - all very nice and jolly. The following morning its an 8am meet at the coach. It was a six hour drive to the hotel. As soon as you arrive its lunch and then its talk, talk, talk continually for the next week. No Spanish to be spoken at all.

The hotel was very isolated, in the mountains.Accommodation was great, food for meat eaters was okay but vegetarians dire. Your programme started at 9am and did not stop until after dinner around 10pm. At 8pm you had to entertain each other with little ditties,sketches, poems,singalong etc., You were even expected to socialize in the bar after dinner!!!!

The Anglo's all paid their airfares,overnight accomodation in Madrid and for all refreshments between meals. There was a jug of water on the bar but even tea/coffee was chargeable between the tutoring sessions.
There were no kettles in the rooms.

The last day you leave at 2pm not hitting Madrid till around 8pm providing there is not much traffic so will probably need accommodation for the night. Folk in my group had traveled from USA,Canada, Australia and UK. I traveled with a friend and we tried to make the best of it but we would never go back to them - The facilitators kept going on about how fantastic their scheme is and so successful - not having to pay 30 English speakers a week must boost their profits - don't fall for it.

Margot_W

Thankyou so much for this useful post. I had been offered a place for a week in September and had just come to the conclusion that the hours were too long. I was just checking the forum to see if there was any feedback on this company. I feel I have made the right decision for me now : to refuse.

*smurfy*

I did a working holiday once and never again!! we didnt have to pay only to get to Brussels,where we met group in ymca.We were signed up to look after kids,but when we got there we found that wasnt what we we doing.We were a group of 18yr old females sent to a farm area and it was a halfway house for males who had drug problems and been inside for sex crimes! No one spoke english,we were told not to mix with *inmates* yet we all had to sit at big table for dinner with them.We all(females) had to sleep in one room on floor and they had no running water,we had to walk a mile over field to cold running water.After two days i had to beg to leave! I heard from one of others that it got worse and they were made to work buliding out house from 7am-8pm with only half hour break.
My works paid for me to do the trip,and helped me sue the company(forget their name)for all costs as they mislead what i was going out to do. This was 20 years ago though.

charlea

there is a website called http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net/
they have loads on there all over south america and freinds of mine have gone with them in the past


they offer a sometimes free or low cost voluntering in south america you pay generally for your flight and then depending on what you do between 15 dollars a day or 80 -100 dollars a week depending on howl long you stay ie from 2 weeks to 6 months
the prices inclued basic food and accomodation
a lot of them of church based organisations but they are a hell of alot cheper than payin thousands of pounds to volunteer