Packing up to work/volunteer abroad

pocketrocket_2

Hi

Not sure if I should of posted elsewhere but just wanted to know if anyone has gone away to do volunteer work for 6 months to 1 year?

There are alot of web sites offering 'packages' where you pay X amount then they house you with a family and give you volunteer work, I want to know which ones are legit basically.

If anyone has done this can you tell me the cost and did you enjoy it?

I can spare up to £3000
Am planning to let one room in house to cover mortgage and take unpaid leave from work, not thought about the rest! it takes a while to get unpaid leave and them to cover my position so would use this time to save as much money as possible but savings are there anyway, wonder if I can do it?!

Any tips welcome x

ps im doing it because I can afford to, not done much in my life, need adventure, and im just fed up with the rat race

xmaslolly76

Sorry no experience at all but have you tried contacting some of the larger charities and see what they advise :-)

suseb_99

Hi,
Have you tried VSO ( voluntary services overseas) ?

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

They have lots of placements in various types of work.

hth

Person_one

if you are leaving your property, you'll have to rent out the whole of it, not just one room surely? Do you already have lodgers? If you aren't resident in the property the terms and the status of the tenancy will change and you'll have to be a landlord. I recommend posting on the house buying renting & selling board about that particular issue.

VSO is reputable. There is also a UN volunteer organisation I think.

What sort of work do you do? It may affect your options, for example healthcare workers can go with medicin sans frontieres.

pocketrocket_2

suseb_99 wrote: »

Hi,
Have you tried VSO ( voluntary services overseas) ?

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

They have lots of placements in various types of work.

hth

Hi had a look at VSO they seem to need people who are degree level which I dont have

I will keep looking

pocketrocket_2

Person_one wrote: »

if you are leaving your property, you'll have to rent out the whole of it, not just one room surely? Do you already have lodgers? If you aren't resident in the property the terms and the status of the tenancy will change and you'll have to be a landlord. I recommend posting on the house buying renting & selling board about that particular issue.

VSO is reputable. There is also a UN volunteer organisation I think.

What sort of work do you do? It may affect your options, for example healthcare workers can go with medicin sans frontieres.

I own the house and the mortgage is very small but yes will probably end up letting it all out via agent so they can look after it I hope.

I work as a customer service assistant so no qualifications I dont think there will be much out there for someone like me but still interested!

suseb_99

How about a kibbutz??
I spent time on one when I was younger and it was brilliant!
The usual stay though is about 2 months but its a start!

PolishBigSpender

First rule : you are a complete idiot if you pay companies to organise volunteering for you.

Second rule : Contact organisations yourself. There are so many charities out there that I'm sure you can find something - yes, you will have to pay your living costs, but these will be realistic - and if you put the effort in, you might just find something that comes with free accomodation.

Paying to volunteer really is absurd.

Person_one

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

First rule : you are a complete idiot if you pay companies to organise volunteering for you.

Second rule : Contact organisations yourself. There are so many charities out there that I'm sure you can find something - yes, you will have to pay your living costs, but these will be realistic - and if you put the effort in, you might just find something that comes with free accomodation.

Paying to volunteer really is absurd.

Actually, I disagree. A lot of volunteers are pretty well off gap year types. Even people who aren't at all wealthy by British standards are massively privileged in comparison to the people in the developing nations they supposedly want to help. Also, a lot of people want to volunteer for partly self serving reasons, such as seeing the world, getting something impressive on their CV etc.

Why should money raised and donated to help the poorest people in the world or those in war torn countries be used to subsidise the air travel and accommodation of people who can probably afford it? People who volunteer tend to be young and childless, 3k isn't a huuuuge amount of money and by asking them to pay it demonstrates a commitment that they aren't likely to bail when they see the toilet facilities and therefore waste all the money the charity spent getting them there or training them?

globalds

Have you thought about the kind of places you would like to go ?

Do you have anything you could offer any skills you have picked up ? ...Above and beyond the normal willing and enthusiasm.

Geoffrey11

There are lot of opportunities available for volunteering abroad. Look out for organizations that take people for volunteering service in various countries.Especially developing countries need the assistance of volunteers for development.