Volunteering Overseas
Volunteering is an amazing way to gain an insight into the culture of a country. Once you volunteer you are no longer just another tourist, you will work intimately with the local staff and more importantly give a special gift to the project and community you visit. Volunteering is for those who have an interest in other cultures and want to help those less fortunate than themselves. Also to meet like minded people, adventurous, open minded and with a willingness to make a difference.
Volunteering abroad has huge benefits to the projects as well as the volunteers themselves. Many volunteers encounter a variety of new challenges when they begin giving time in their communities. Sharing new experiences with new people, they can learn new skills that can give them confidence to face challenges in other areas of their lives. Most volunteers do so alone, volunteering is a unique quality that is found in only a few individuals.
Volunteering abroad has two positive objectives, giving your time to good causes, and gaining a great experience for yourself at the same time. Volunteering overseas is a way of gaining a new perspective about the world, connecting with people of other cultures and putting your sense of social responsibility into action. You may not be able to save the world, but you can have a positive effect on a piece of it.
Donations for Volunteering.
Paying a donation to volunteer can seem a strange concept to the uninitiated. Why should someone charge you to work for free? But this is a common misconception about volunteer travel - the volunteer work is not what you are paying for.
The overseas organisation you will be working with has precious few resources, and is not in a financial position to cover the costs of hosting volunteers. Costs such as feeding, housing and transporting a volunteer can add up quickly - and, if such funds were available, they could likely be better used to create employment for local workers, who have relevant language skills who are more likely to stay with the project long term.
So where does your donation go? It often pays for the cost of your housing, food and transport, as well as your training, preparation and supervision. It also goes toward the identification of worthy and sustainable projects and host organisations, as well as the costs of recruiting you and other volunteers. With Globalteer, 100% of the donation is used to further our charitable objectives. The majority of your donation goes directly to the country that you are travelling to, and the majority of this supports the projects through the volunteer education programmes or direct donations to help pay rents, medical care, staff wages, food, supplies, expansion projects.
Volunteering overseas can be the bridge between your education and a career - even if you volunteer in a completely different field. Because the great thing is, you don't need specific skills to join a project but you can be sure that you will be leaving with some.
A previous volunteer said….
"I myself have been asked the same question many times “You work, AND you pay to work??!!… I would never work for nothing”. To me, the answer is simple. I don’t work for nothing, I gain a great deal for myself by volunteering at worthy projects, self confidence, a sense of worth and the knowledge that when my time comes, I know I have made a difference in this world….. Have you???"