Lifestyle Design With a Purpose: 5 Volunteer Resources that can Help you Travel the Globe and Make a Difference at the Same Time
April 3rd, 2008
When I first decided that I wanted to change my work and lifestyle one of the first things I knew was that I wanted to include travel, exotic travel, as part of my experience. After a few extended trips to various countries and witnessing livelihoods like I had not experienced before, I also knew that I wanted to try and make a difference.
Many people who want to go on extended travel, I believe, would also like to give something back, if you are one of them here are 5 organizations that can help you do just that.
United Nations Volunteers UNV http://www.unv.org/
Many people do not know this but the UN coordinates a fairly substantial group of volunteers. In fact, Some 7,000 qualified and experienced women and men of nearly 160 nationalities are serving each year in developing countries as UN Volunteers.
According to their website
“United Nations Volunteers is the United Nations focal point for promoting and harnessing volunteerism for effective development.”
If you are interested in volunteering with the UN have a look at their informative FAQ [http://www.unv.org/who-we-are/faqs.html] page.
Japan International Cooperation Agency JICA http://www.jica.go.jp/english/index.html
JICA’s mission is to act as a bridge between the people of Japan and developing countries, advance international cooperation through the sharing of knowledge and experience and working to build a more peaceful and prosperous world. And according to their website:
“As of the end of March 2004, 2,331 volunteers were deployed in 69 countries, making a total of 25,184 since the program’s inception.”
Canadian University Service Overseas CUSO http://www.cuso.org/index.php
CUSO ‘cooperants’ are skilled professionals who donate their expertise for up to two years to participate in an overseas program. Cooperants provide strategic support to development groups in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean.
“CUSO Volunteers work directly with those impacted by poverty, injustice and natural resource depletion. Cooperants also work with groups building better futures through cooperatives and small businesses, sustainable agriculture, eco-tourism and cultural preservation. These professionals are placed in the field for durations long enough to achieve concrete results.”
Volunteer Service Overseas VSO http://www.vso.org.uk/index.asp
VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers their vision is a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfill their potential. Instead of sending food or money, VSO sends women and men from a wide range of professions who want the chance to make a real difference in the fight against poverty.
“Our approach to volunteering has changed dramatically over the years. Our volunteers are no longer only school-leavers - today the average age of a volunteer is 38, the majority coming from skilled, professional backgrounds. Most placements are for two years, but can also be as short as 2 weeks. We are a leading development charity with almost 1,500 skilled professionals currently working in 34 countries. We respond to requests from governments and community organisations throughout Asia and Africa.”
Habitat for Humanity http://www.habitat.org/lac_eng/get_involve/default.aspx
Habitat builds and renovates simple, decent houses with the help of homeowner (partner) families, volunteer labor and donations of money and materials. These houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The monthly homeowner mortgage payments are deposited into the revolving “Fund for Humanity,” which in turn is used to build still more houses.
“Habitat has built more than 60,000 houses in 23 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. These countries have not only established local affiliates, they have also formed a regional board of directors, with a support staff that manage and work on program development.”
Peace Corps http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm
Of course, I had to include the Peace Corps! The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.
“Today’s Peace Corps is more vital than ever, working in over 139 host countries on emerging and essential areas such as information technology and business development, and committing more than 1,000 new Volunteers as a part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Peace Corps Volunteers continue to help countless individuals who want to build a better life for themselves, their children, and their communities.”
Are you interested in volunteering as part of your lifestyle design?
I would like to state that living a volunteer lifestyle is typically very different from the standard backpacker or tourist. With most of these organizations you will live in a village and work directly with host country nationals giving you insight and information into the local culture and livelihoods that you might otherwise not have been able to participate in.
For people with questions about volunteering overseas, I am always happy to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly…just send me an email or ask below in the comments. Also, if you would like to highlight other volunteer organizations, please feel free to leave links below.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am
Mark:
That is a good thing to do. Here is the one I recommend.
http://www.tzuchi.org/global/
The world largest Chinese Buddhism charity. We have over million members world wide. It’s not like other charity which take part of the donation to their own pocket. Everyone of us are volunteers. Some of them are billionaires, millionaires, doctors, lawyers, housewife and small people like me.
I work Sunday or Saturday in the local office to help deliver foods to homeless people, poor people. I help setup the free clinic to serve those people don’t have insurance.
It is a great experience to help people as part of our life long journey. My charity is also one of the few national wide 24×7 emergency assistant organization in USA.
We build schools and hospital whereever we need to. We get to travel around the world to bring the happiness with us.
Anyway, I learned from those rich people. They give back, because they believe the more they give back, the more they will get. When we help the people around us, we don’t care who you are and who they are. We feels great by helping people.
We appreciate that they give us chance to help them. They are helping us living better. That’s all it matters.
I am glad that you bring this up. It makes difference to our life!
Thanks!
April 7th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Volunteering gives us so much more than we give it. I have volunteered in soup kitchens, with at risk youth on the streets, in church cafes (for low income elderly), tutoring and with turtles in Mexico. Each experience was unique and deeply satisfying.
I would love to do a major stint in Africa or Central America (a year or two), but it will have to wait until my son is older. thanks for this great resource, Mark and I’d be keen to hear more about your experiences in the Peace Corp. I don’t know much about it so I’m sure I can’t be the only one who would like a post on this.
:) Kelly
April 8th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Hi Terence and Kelly - apologies for the delayed response…we have been REALLY busy lately.
@Terence - I have not had the time but I plan to read about the organization that you work with later on today. Also, keep up the good work! It’s great to see people volunteering :)
@Kelly - I absolutely agree with your statement that volunteering gives us so much more than we give it. To this day I am not exactly sure what type of mark we made on Papua New Guinea, but my experience there affects me on a DAILY basis.
September 21st, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Oh wow that is very cool. I have always wanted to do some exotic traveling and I, being a green girl, would love to give something back to our dear mother earth and the people in it!
September 21st, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Also I some how forgot to compliment you on the nice blog. I just love reading well thought out posts with lots of accurate information. Thank you so much I surely will be passing this on to friends and family!
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I read through all of the organizations that you posted, but the one that I truly feel sets itself above the rest is the Peace Corps. Before when they would lie primarily on bringing tribes and local villages in over 100 countries to the 20th century by use of running water and irrigation, now they are essential in tying these remote areas to the 21st century by the motto of “one computer per child.” By accomplishing that one objective, the level of people being able to read and write will jump upwards dramatically. This is not to knock other viable organizations such as Habitat for Humanity because they are a worthwhile cause to aid, but take it from me (someone who was in the Peace Corps), they are an organization worthy of continued contributions and demand utmost respect.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:37 am
FACE India
(Fellowship Association for Culture & Education)
2683 Sector- 7 A, Faridabad India-121004
website: http://www.faceindia.org
director@faceindia.org
faceindia@gmail.com
Phone: 91-9891421660, 9899285851
To
Dear organization
I am writing this mail to have a volunteer partnership/membership with view to receive students through International Exchange program or directly for Internship and volunteering in India
It gives me an immense pleasure to introduce FACE.
FACE( Fellowship Association for Culture & Education) is a volunteer unit of East West educational & Cultural Welfare Society registered under Indian Society Act 1860 with registration number 451.its head office is located in FARIDABAD, NCR National Capital Region, and New Delhi.
We organize our activities in NCR. NCR covers the areas of Delhi, Faridabad, Ballenger, Gorgon, Noida, Ghaziabad and adjoining towns and villages. Apart from these cities we do have
work camps in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondecherry (Auroville) in south of India and other states and cities of India.
We organize short term and long terms work camps with the help of. other like minded organizations, volunteers and institutions and host Indiafamilies
We receive volunteers in groups as well as individual from many countries we have project/work camps and a volunteer can choose and select any date and duration of work camp according to choice and interests, skill and educational qualification.
Our areas of volunteering are:
1.Education
2.Social Welfare
3.Medicine
4.Cultural Awareness
5.Health Care/Medicine
We perform our all projects themselves and with the help of other organizations in India and abroad..
Recently, we have launched “INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP” it is a School/college Exchange project which enables the students to have knowledge, direct interaction with Indian schools educational systems and school curriculum in this program we will receive students of schools and colleges from abroad and will associate the students with the schools/College in National Capital Region, New Delhi and other parts of the country.
Hope to have strong cooperation from you.
If this mail does not belong to you or your department, kindly send it to the concern department or person.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanking you
Sincerely yours
Manoj Kumar
Director
for FACE