Volunteering in Central and South America

Thursday, 08 April 2010 04:17

Volunteer opportunities in Central and South America are not few and far between. In fact they are so numerous that for many it can be overwhelming even trying to find the right organization to volunteer with.

The simplest way to find the right organization for you is to begin by asking yourself what kind of work you would like to be doing. Some of the most popular are: children, construction/rebuilding, education, environmental, farming and underprivileged assistance. For most of these categories there are both religious and non religious organizations working in that category.

Habitat for Humanity- Established in 1976, Habitat has built over 350,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.75 million people with homes. The homes are built by volunteers and donations and then sold to the resident at cost. There are opportunities all around the globe with Habitat.

VolunteerWorkLatinAmerica.org- This is a organization with a large variety of opportunities from working in the rain forest to marine biology work. Their projects involve education, culture, ecology and social projects. Their website is very interactive and full of information about their organization and what volunteering in Latin America looks like.

Volunteer Latin America- This is an organization that coordinates environmental volunteers in Central and South America. The organization has a focus on being eco-friendly and ensuring that, as an organization, their carbon footprint is quite small. They also focus on keeping the cost of volunteering as low as possible and do offer discounts for students.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farming (WWOOF)- Established in 1971, this organization helps to connect volunteers with organic farms in need of help around the world. However, from their website you cannot directly find volunteer opportunities. You have to select your area of the world and then go the website that is for a specific country. The volunteers are provided with a home and food when at the location, as well as education about organic farming.

Ecoteer-This is a routing organization for many types of volunteer opportunities. The categories that they have placement in are: ecotourism, conservation, teaching, humanitarian, research and farming. They do place all over the world but have many locations available in Central and South America. Within these categories you can easily find work at orphanages, farms, wildlife rescue and many others. They do try to keep cost down and guarantee that all of the money paid in fees goes to the project.

Independent Volunteer- This website is a hub for people looking  for independent volunteer opportunities that are free of fees (except for reasonable food costs). It was founded by a group of volunteers who met while volunteering and all expressed frustration with the difficulty in finding fee free volunteer locations. They link to projects all around the globe including Central and South America.

Peace Corps- The Peace Corps has provided volunteers around the globe since 1961. They provide volunteer opportunities in many fields including: education, youth and community development, health, business and communication technology, agriculture, environment, HIV/AIDS and food security. There are many benefits to volunteering with the Peace Corps including full healthcare while volunteering and lasting benefits like state retirement points.

Volunteer South America- This is another routing or hub website that just links to lots of other websites but focus on volunteer opportunities that are free or as close to it as possible. The main reason to visit this website is to see the FAQ portion that advises volunteers on scams and safety. It is a good starting point to any volunteer opportunity in South America.

Mission Finder-This is another volunteer search engine but it has a focus on Christian volunteer locations. They list locations all around the globe and break down the opportunities into the tasks that will be performed. Some of the highlighted opportunities are: English education, orphanages, medical professional and medical student. It is a good website to start a volunteer search.

Christian Volunteering- This is a huge database that has thousands of opportunities around the world. This website does have a focus on the United States but does provide locations in the rest of the world. Again this is just a hub for thousands of opportunities that have been listed on their website.

Please keep in mind that there are websites out there that are scamming innocent people by charging fees and never delivering on the volunteer experience. Please be cautious and look for reputable websites. Also, another good place to look for volunteer work is to check with a local non-profit or church as many of them have contacts that can get you into a great volunteer experience anywhere in the world.

Written by Joshua Schaa You are reading Volunteering in Central and South America articles