Volunteering in Africa?

Question

I'd like to go to Africa and help out with volunteer work, I think it'd be a valueable experience for me in life. I'm physically fit and I understand the basic principals of construction... but I've got three problems stopping me at the moment:

1) I'm 17 years old, so I suppose I'm not legally considered an adult and many programs require that I be at least 18. (I'll be 18 in July)

2) I've got no financial resources to go help out, so I need to find an organization that could pay for a place for me to stay, medical vaccines, and the trip over/back.

3) I'm currently attending school, so I'd have to do this over summer vacation and be back for the next school term.

So I'm wondering which programs could help me to help other people. I've looked at some of the similar questions here, but there are so many different programs out there to look at I don't even know where to begin. Please try and suggest programs that can/might be able to fit my requirements. :) Thanks!

Answer 1

you should look at the feb issue of seventeen magazine. It has everything you need to know. There are some programs that will pay for your stay and meals, but you'll have to pay for your flights and get all your vaccinations a month before you go.

Answer 2

I don't know of any organization that will pay for your flight to and from...

perhaps you can raise some $$$ in your community and get sponsors to help pay your way.

You may want to check out Ripple Africa. They have a great program in malawi...I'm not sure of the age requirements, though.

www.rippleafrica.org

Answer 3

Definitely pick up that issue of Seventeen Magazine! I'll be looking for it myself.

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, and how you can gain that experience locally, wherever you are right *now*, no matter your age. You are never too young nor too old to start engaging in activities and training that will make you a viable candidate for long-term volunteer placement agencies:

http://www.coyotecommunications.com/volu...

The goal of organizations working in poor countries is to give the local people jobs and to keep money local, not to give Westerners a feel-good vacation/experience -- hence why short-term placement agencies (in contrast to the aforementioned) charge volunteers a fee, or require these volunteers to pay their own way (flights, in-country transportation, health insurance, accommodation, food, security, translators, training, staff to supervise and support them in their service, liaisons with the police and local officials, etc.).

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/

The cheapest overseas volunteer-sending organization in the USA that will send unskilled volunteers for short-term assignments (six months or less) that I've found is SCI - Service Civil International (http://www.sci-ivs.org/). I know *nothing* about them other than what's on their web site, so please don't consider the listing of this organization in my answer as an endorsement.

Answer 4

Don't know programs but you to really think about this before you go. It's a world like you have never seen before and hard and a rough life. Some of the things you see and deal with might be to much for you to handle.