Best programs for volunteering abroad BESIDES the Peace Corps

[Jae]

So I'm not sure if ANYONE here has some experience with this but I thought I might throw it out there.. anyone ever volunteer abroad? I'm looking into it and I just thought that I might get some info from what to expect experience wise/cost wise/etc from an actual person.
And, of course, any good programs you know of.

Im hoping to go for a month or two, and I have several places I'd like to go but I just have to narrow it down a bit.
:smallsmile:

[Mx.Silver]

Where do you live? Here in the UK most towns/cities have volunteering centres that can help put you in touch with the right groups, but I'm not sure what the situation is like in other countries.

[thubby]

i dont know any myself (a homebody i am), but i guarantee your local church/religious group/what-have-you has connections and information. might be a good place to start.

[SDF]

Habitat for Humanity and the Red Cross both have international programs. I mean, it really depends on where you want to go, what you want to do, and what skills you have.

[DeusMortuusEst]

French foreign legion? Though then you're looking at a bit more than a couple of months :smalltongue:

[averagejoe]

Actually the peace corps aren't great anyways, so it's good that you're avoiding it.

Honestly I can't help you. I would suggest Doctors Without Boarders if it wasn't the sort of thing you're almost certainly not looking for. Still a good organization, though, so worth mentioning IMO.

Is this just because you want to travel? (Note: not a bad thing. As someone who enters volunteer programs for extraordinarily selfish reasons, it's something I support. The way I see it, the work still gets done whatever your motivations are.) Do you specifically want to travel to foreign nations? (Also: I'm assuming you're USAian.) The answers to these questions are potentially significant. If they're, "Yes," however, I'll agree with the poster above me in saying some Christian organization is probably your best bet.

[Jae]

I live in California in the United States, sorry should have specified.


i dont know any myself (a homebody i am), but i guarantee your local church/religious group/what-have-you has connections and information. might be a good place to start.

Mmm not actually religious at all and would ideally like to volunteer with a group that has no religious affiliation.


Habitat for Humanity and the Red Cross both have international programs. I mean, it really depends on where you want to go, what you want to do, and what skills you have.

Oh lol I did not mention skills because I'm 19 and ofc very unskilled haha! I would reallySUPERLOVE to help in IDP camps in Kenya/Uganda/IsupposedprettymucheverybordernationofSudan
BUT I'm open.


Is this just because you want to travel? (Note: not a bad thing. As someone who enters volunteer programs for extraordinarily selfish reasons, it's something I support. The way I see it, the work still gets done whatever your motivations are.) Do you specifically want to travel to foreign nations? (Also: I'm assuming you're USAian.) The answers to these questions are potentially significant. If they're, "Yes," however, I'll agree with the poster above me in saying some Christian organization is probably your best bet.

Doctors without Borders is a TOTALLY amazing program, agreed.

Noo not so much because I want to travel haha. I mean, yes, in a sense I want to see the world but not in a vacation-sense at all. Truthfully, not sure where I want to go with my future but I am almost positive I do not want to stay in the U.S.
I genuinely would like to help as well as really learn another culture, hopefully void of my ethnocentric goggles.
If nothing else, it's experience that will help me get into a bigger program, as I seriously suspect this is something I will love.

[SDF]

Actually the peace corps aren't great anyways, so it's good that you're avoiding it.

:smallconfused: Everyone I know that went into the Peace Corps has had a really positive experience with it. It is good to talk to others that have gone into it to know what to expect if you want to go that route, but haven't heard anything that would qualify the program as worth avoiding. It can even help you pay for and earn college degrees.

[averagejoe]

Well, if that's the situation I'm afraid I won't be much help. Right now I'm going back to school with the intention of eventually going into doctors without boarders specifically because I couldn't really find another volunteer program that I found satisfying. It's not the most efficient course of action. Or necessarily a great thing to do. >.>

Honestly I'd suggest starting locally. Even if it isn't an endgoal, you'll probably meet people who know about/have worked in other volunteer programs. And you might be surprised how much culture can happen where you live. (Then again you might not. It's a whole thing.)

Either way, luck on your endeavors!

[SDF]

What are you going back to school for? I've done some epidemiology work for a group working in Sierra Leone that was pretty interesting. I know MSF takes registered nurses, doctors (especially surgeons), and epidemiologists as its most desired volunteers but that they need infrastructure as well.

[averagejoe]

What are you going back to school for? I've done some epidemiology work for a group working in Sierra Leone that was pretty interesting. I know MSF takes registered nurses, doctors (especially surgeons), and epidemiologists as its most desired volunteers but that they need infrastructure as well.

To try to get into medical school. My motivations are rather more varied and complex than what I posted, but such work is my primary motivation.

[thubby]

Mmm not actually religious at all and would ideally like to volunteer with a group that has no religious affiliation.
.

neither am i, but they'll put you in the right circles was my point.

[littlebottom]

some governments do schemes where they hire forigners to help teach languages to their students, theres one i want to do in a few years, but you need a bachelors degree as a pre-requisit for the one im looking at, but im working on it :smalltongue:

EDIT: it would proberbly help if i told you what it was so you can take a look, its called the JET scheme i dont know about any other countries that have a scheme like it though.