Volunteer Networking Service Puts you Together With Opportunities

You want to get out there and volunteer, but the options seem overwhelming. So many volunteer work opportunities with different price tags and rules...and with the planet waiting, how will you find a volunteer vacation in a place you want to visit? Or, perhaps, you don't know where you want to go, but you know when you can go and for how long you can stay. A bewildering array of decisions. Working Abroad has all the answers for you.

Who They Are

Working Abroad is a fee-based international volunteer network service based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1997 by two former volunteers who recognized the global need for volunteers and had seen the difficulties encountered in finding and applying for volunteer work abroad. Since then, the company has formed alliances with thousands of grassroots and professional volunteer organizations with which they can help you hook up.

• Fields of volunteer work to which they can point you:
  • Social and community development
  • Medicine and health care
  • Environment and nature conservation
  • Construction, sanitation and housing
  • Human rights, women and children
  • Education and teaching
  • Wildlife surveying and expeditions
  • Agriculture and organic farming

• Specific examples of jobs awaiting volunteer help:

• Community development worker in India
• Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Thailand, Poland and Vietnam
• Assisting scientists in Indonesian tropical forests
• Black bear tracking in Canada
• Excavating archaeological sites in France
• Working with orphans and street children in Guatemala, Cambodia and Mexico
• Protecting wildlife in national parks and reserves in the United States, Ecuador, Scotland and Costa Rica
• Providing medical assistance to children in South Africa
• Organic farming and permaculture in Argentina and Brazil

How it Works

WorkingAbroad compiles information from its contacts and matches you to your perfect volunteer vacation or work opportunity. The website offers a few options that you can research by yourself, but the real heart of this service is a personalized search based on your hopes and qualifications. You'll fill out a form, send it and $65 USD electronically (you can also choose to mail payment) to WorkingAbroad and receive a detailed response by mail within 15 days with a plethora of volunteer organizations from which you can choose the one that best suits you. Some typical form questions include:

• Your qualifications and work experience
• Countries and continents of choice
• Type and domains of work you're looking for
• Length of time you can work
• Your personal motives and objectives
• Language skills and hobbies

WorkingAbroad does not place you; they provide you with valuable information (contacts, project descriptions and durations, work conditions, volunteer slots available) and it is then up to you to secure a volunteer position.

WorkingAbroad Positions Available

Paid long term: projects last more than one year. Qualified recruits generally need specific skills and relevant experience. Benefits include housing, airfare and a monthly salary.

Unpaid short, medium and long term: from the website - "These positions can last from anything between a couple of weeks to nine months...are suitable for many people, including students taking a year off, professionals taking sabbaticals to work on a specific project, individuals wishing to gain further 'hands-on' practical field experience and so on. Usually, they must pay for their transportation to and from the project. In most cases, volunteers pay a monthly fee which covers living costs, project materials, etc, which cannot be paid by the volunteer organisation. Costs depend upon country and so on, but as a general indicator, volunteers may be asked to contribute between $180-700 USD per month." Lodging, often homestays, is usually included; airfare is not.

Unpaid short term expeditionary eco-conservation projects: You'll be in a remote area, often tropical, and you'll pay all costs. Another great student travel opportunity.

A last detail: though there are no age limits, most volunteer programs require that recruits be at least 18, if not 20.

Please go to the next page to see a sample volunteer project found through WorkingAbroad.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
--Albert Einstein