If you’ve neen reading this blog, hopefully you’ve gotten some really useful information about volunteering abroad. We’ve covered visas, organizations, resume tips…and of course there is more to come! There will always be some little things, little pieces of advice, that doesn’t necessarily fall into any category or section. That’s what this post is for! I’ve spoken to some of my veteran volunteer friends to come up with the top 5 things that people always forget to tell you before you volunteer abroad. These are the unlikely, random and interesting pieces of advice that you can only really get from someone who has volunteered abroad in the past. I hope that you find it useful!
overseas volunteering
Today I’m going to briefly highlight one of the “big dogs” of overseas volunteering, Cross Cultural Solutions. This large volunteer placement organization is going to pop up again and again through any search for “overseas volunteering” or “volunteer abroad” that you might type into your search engine. They cover five continents (North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Europe) and for the past 15 years, more than 25,000 volunteers have participated in their programs.
Just like our last post spotlighting free and low cost volunteering opportunities in Latin America, this week we will focus on volunteering in Asia. Many of the work and volunteer study abroad experiences in the Far East focus on teaching and tutoring English, but there are many other ways that you can lend a hand to local organizations. This post will focus on opportunities working with children, but keep an eye out for subsequent post about the environment, human rights, and much more.
Let’s say you’ve had a great volunteer abroad experience, helping people, cleaning up communities and encouraging development. The experience is no doubt formative, and worthwhile in and of itself. You’re back in the States and ready to tackle the job market with your new skill set and passion. How do you translate your volunteer abroad [...]
Before we round out the Visa Series, I wanted to share with you an article that I came across in Saturday’s New York Times. We have focused on things like types of volunteer jobs, logistics of volunteer jobs and great places to volunteer abroad, and while we have touched upon the benefits a bit, we haven’t gone into detail about how to leverage a volunteer experience for things like getting a job or getting into college.
When natural disasters strike, like the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, tsunamis in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand and hurricanes in Louisiana and other gulf states, people are often spurred into action. Some open their wallets, and others seek more hands-on ways to help through volunteering and service.
With all of this soccer fever (who isn’t constantly checking World Cup results and standings?) the world’s eyes appear to be on South Africa. And the country on Africa’s cape has plenty to be proud of! In addition to hosting the world’s most popular sports championship, South Africa is growing in popularity for those who want to travel abroad, for work, volunteering, study or leisure. Have you thought about working or volunteering abroad in South Africa? If so, read on!
