I need to escape my life abroad!?

Question

i don't have any money, but i feel i need to be tutoring kids in africa or south america or something!

i know it sounds stupid, but i have been researching this stuff for years and it all costs ____loads of money,.

isn't there some sort of volunteer work that doesn't require sucking cash from you?

Answer 1

Someone has to pay for your flights, in-country transportation, accommodation, security, staff to supervise and train you, etc. Who is going to pay for that if not you? For that money, *local* people in Africa or South America could be trained and hired to tutor their own children -- thereby giving the families the income they need to survive.

You say you want to tutor kids abroad -- do you have teaching experience? Do you have volunteering experience locally tutoring kids? Do you have a degree in child psychology or education? For Africa -- do you speak French? For South America -- do you speak Spanish? Or even Portuguese? If not, then yes, you have to pay, because you are an unskilled person, and organizations cannot afford to spend money on you, however good your intentions.

And it's NEVER a good idea to look at working abroad as an escape from your life. That's the kind of statement that will keep you from ever being selected by a program, even a program that would charge you.

Organizations that don't charge fees for placing volunteers in the developing world, such as VSO Canada, UN Volunteers and the PeaceCorps, are looking for people who can work (read, write and speak) in a language other than English, who have skills and experience that can lead to local people generating income, better feeding their families, improving children's health, etc., or that can lead to the transformation of key institutions, such as government, universities/schools or NGOs. They are looking for people who can commit to a two-year assignment, who have experience working with under-served communities, or who have a lot of experience in very diverse or religiously-conservative communities. The average age of volunteers in these organizations is over 30 (for UNVs, it's 38) and most volunteers not only have degrees, they also have grad degrees.

Here is a web site that can help you learn more about the skills and experience desired by long-term placement organizations, or organizations that don't charge volunteers but require volunteers to be highly-skilled, and how you can start to gain such experience locally, wherever you are now. http://www.coyotecommunications.com/volu...

There is a listing of the more-than-30 member organizations of the International Volunteers Program Association (IVPA) that is a good place to find reputable volunteer-for-a-fee programs -- programs where you don't need to have much experience in order to participate, and the placements are just for a few weeks or months:

http://www.volunteerinternational.org/

Answer 2

I would suggest you log on to www.seek.com.au as there is a section there which calls for volunteers. Good luck!