"Ethical" Voluntary Work for Youngsters

wdw2003

Apologies if not strictly MSE. My daughter wants to do voluntary work abroad next summer, but as I'll be forking out for it, I'm adamant that I won't be paying vastly over-inflated fees so that admin staff can have a cushy job and swan around the world at my expense.

She quoted £1,500 for 2 weeks and after I came down off the ceiling I said I'd look into the whole thing. I've read about constantly changing volunteers who're basically there for a holiday having a negative impact on young kids in schools etc who keep having to get to know and trust someone new, to their obvious detriment.

Can anyone suggest any organisations who take it seriously and aren't simply there to line their own pockets?

My own view is that she'd be better doing voluntary work at home and showing she's serious about helping others, but the lure of saying she's done something abroad is too strong, so I need to suss this out.

knightstyle

Many so called voluntary organizations are just a way of selling overpriced holidays. Check feedback first.
Have you thought about this http://www.wwoof.org/ you can travel round just paying for travel and get board and lodgings in exchange for work.

claire16c

I did wwoofing earlier this year in Australia it was great.

We found wwoof work from this website, and also working with families in Oz (some of whom we are still friends with and was the best part of our trip):

www.workaway.info

A lot of the jobs are in Oz or NZ but there are jobs on it from all around the world including Europe. You work around 20-30 hours a week, but instead of receiving money you receive food and accomodation in return.

You only have to pay the fee to join the website and thats it!

I looked at volunteer websites but like you said the prices were crazy.

The other good thing about workaway, is that because its not a set programme, you can find a host that suits your time frame. And if you went somewhere and hated it, you can leave and havent lost any money.

The only thing I must stress though, is that potentially anyone (although they would have to pay a fee first) can post on there, its not like a vetted programme, and when I did it I was with my boyfriend so wasnt too worried about where we were going etc, and I exchanged lots of emails and pictures etc with the hosts beforehand to suss them out.

If I was a woman on my own, I would be very careful about what jobs I picked, for example maybe working at a b&b, farm, hotel, etc rather than a family so you know there will be lots of other people around, and sometimes other 'workaway' workers when you get there, incase of any problems.

wdw2003

Thanks both. That's exactly the type of feedback I'm after. I'll definitely need to be sure about where she's going, as she'll only be 18, is too good-looking for her own good and always gets attention, even when I'm there.

flutterbyuk25

One possible suggestion that may not normally fall under normal ethical thinking is doing somiething like Camp America.

I did it in 2008, and I opted for a 'disadvantaged camp'. The camp I worked at was quite poor (but accomodation/food etc were good standard) so lots of things there were basic. We would use milk crates as seats in the more remote areas of the camp. it was all funded by donations, and all the kids who went there came from poor families who could not afford to send their kids on holidays normally. Some of these kids had never left their blocks in Brooklyn before coming to the camp, let alone seen mountains and lakes. It was an amazing experience for me (I was older than most, at 26). I have never worked so hard in my life! You were up at 7am and day finished at 10pm/11pm. Days were full of activities like canoeing, swimming, dancing, mountain biking, cooking, hiking etc. Honestly the best experience of my life so far.

wdw2003

Thanks flutterby. Camp America was on my radar. It does sound like hard work, which appeals to me as a parent, but not necessarily to my daughter. I'll work on that. I always associate Camp America with Friday the 13th, though. :eek:

flutterbyuk25

wdw2003 wrote: »

Thanks flutterby. Camp America was on my radar. It does sound like hard work, which appeals to me as a parent, but not necessarily to my daughter. I'll work on that. I always associate Camp America with Friday the 13th, though. :eek:

:rotfl:.

Forgot to say that when I did it it cost me about £600 which included flights, inrasunce, visa and fees. I then got paid approx £750 for the 10weeks work I did. But whilst you are at camp you tend not to spend much money - I would maybe spend a dollar a day in the vending machine! And as she is under 21 she can't go out drinking on nights off.

Obviously depending on the type of camp some are easy work, some are hard. i travelled afterwards and met a girl who had gone to a rich camp and she only worked 8am til 4pm and had every weekend off (I had 2 days off over 19 day period). And her days were spent playing tennis or jetski-ing!

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

thegirlintheattic

Might it be an idea to get her to volunteer in the UK this summer and then if that goes well send her abroad next summer.

I've seen many 18/19 year olds take these opportunities who don't realise the hard work and then spend the time complaining/doing nothing. Not saying your daughter would, but this is my experience. It's a lot harder to give up the work and come home when your on the other side of the world.

Onegreenearth.com and worldwidehelpers.org are good places to start. Also if you are happy to send her to work with a religious group, many do very good volunteer work with orphanages/schools in Africa.

The orphanages section of missionfinder.org lists many of these.

wdw2003

You're right, attic girl. My concern is that all she wants is to cuddle koalas and play with happy smiling school kids, then pose by the pool for a few hours. I appreciate all the links so far, so they're saved in my Volunteer file.

charlea

my son is in kenya at the moment with his school and they are working in a local school that there school supports the work for 3 weeks and then they get a 10 day on Safari the cost was 2k but he did get a part time job and pay for half of it so i paid for half but i still think it was expensive as its was a charity thing and over 40 of them went from his school

however i would reccomed this website called aihttp://www.volunteersouthamerica.net/ which is bascially list a lot of the volunteers organisations in south america and the surrounding areas your cutting out the middle man and so can do a lot more

there are one where you arrange your own accomodation and one where you live in but they are all listed on the website

some of them require a placement fee but its around 100 - 200 us dollars but even so its still cheaper than the companies that organise it all for you in fact some of the companies use the volunteers places as well
m sister in law did this one 18 months ago and loved it

http://www.teachhuarazperu.org/volunteering

she paid 200 us dollars placement fee which was for admin and collection /drop off at the airports settling her inn orientation and help when she was there if needed and she stayed for two months which was a further 800 use dollars which included staying with a local family private room and bathroom 3 meals a day ect
so roughly 100us dollars for 2 months plus 500 for her return flight im sure she did it on under less than 1600 uk pounds for two months that would probalby only get you 2 week in alot of places

the majority on the website offers free and low cost voluntering in south america you pay for your flight insurance and personal stuff and then depending on what you do between 15 dollars a day or 80 -100 dollars a week depending on how long you stay ie from 2 weeks to 6 months but even staying a month it would not be more than 250 - 300 uk pounds
the prices include basic food ie 3 meals a day and water and accomodation generally
a lot of them of church based organisations and they are a hell of alot cheaper than payin thousands of pounds to volunteer

The_One_Who

If you are going to look into Camp America, look into other companies which are a lot cheaper. BUNAC are a not-for-profit organisation who are essentially the same thing, they organise it all for you. CCUSA are similar to CA, but I think a bit cheaper overall.

I did HelpX for a few weeks this summer. It is similar to WWOOFing, but it offers much more choice than just organic farming. Like already said though, you need to go through all the hosts and really read what they are offering, what work you are expected to do and read the reviews. I'd recommend having an e-mail conversation with them before agreeing to go. But, any decent host will be doing that anyway. I went as a single female (aged 22), and at no point did I feel unsafe or uncomfortable, even though I was with a couple in the heart of rural France.

She'll need to figure out what it is she wants to do, and where.