International Service Database

Helping Favela and Street Kids of Brazil

2007-11-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

Location: Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Organization: Dreams Can Be Foundation
Categories: poverty, hunger, education, women
Duration: any time of year
Contact: Christine Clauser - Director of Development for Dreams Can Be: christine@dreamscanbe.org
www.dreamscanbe.org
Cost: no information provided

Description: Dreams Can Be is a foundation located in Rio de Janeiro which provides fundraising and support services to smaller grassroots social projects in Rio and throughout Brazil. All projects have a focus on children, especially those living on the street or in favelas, and providing them with alternatives to drug-trafficking and violence.

Field Notes: I worked as a volunteer in the office of Dreams Can Be in Rio, but if you want to do more hands-on work they can set you up at one of the social projects that they support. There are no fees to work at the office or on the projects but you are on your own as far as visa, housing, etc. You can also do a combination of office assistance and working on one of the projects part-time. Everyone is very flexible, and you can visit many different projects before you settle on which one you'd like to work with.

--Emma Marwood

Amigos de las Americas

2007-11-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

Location: Throughout Central & South America
Organization: Amigos de las Americas
Categories: all
Duration: 6-8 weeks
Contact: Tel: 1-800-231-7796
Cost: $3700, includes airfare, food, lodging, transportation, supplies, insurance. Financial Aid on a need-basis, fundraising activities available

Description: Live with a host-family in a community, usually rural, in one of eight Latin American countries. Volunteers integrate into the community, partnered with 1-2 other volunteers. Meals are usually provided on a meal-rotation schedule, in which volunteers eat with a different family every day. Service projects include teaching classes at the local school on health, hygiene, the environment, and cultural exchange, and at least one "community-based-intiative." Projects have ranged from vegetable gardens, to women's exercise classes, to reforestation projects, mural projects, building speedbumps, etc. Project volunteers come together for training, de-briefing, and a "midterm" retreat.

Field Notes: I have served as a volunteer for 6 weeks in Honduras, and for 2 months as a supervisor in Mexico. My first experience was life-changing in every sense of the word, and my experience in Mexico again changed me dramatically. I know of no other organization that gives so much responsibility to such young people as Amigos. Participants come out on a maturity and competence level far exceeding where they began. I think everyone should do it.

--Anne Barton-Veenkant

Sea Turtle Conservation - Nuestra Tierra

2007-11-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

Location: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Organization: Nuestra Tierra
Categories: Enviromental Sustainability
Duration: 3 weeks to 1 year
Contact: Tel: 01(322)225-6940
Av universo Edif. 2022-B Depto. 14,
Col. La Aurora
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Cost: $300/3 weeks; free if you're a leader (leaders must stay 3+ months)

Description: Sleep on the beach, and work from 10 pm-6 am in two hour shifts to search for turtle eggs, and protect them from fishermen who poach the eggs.

Field Notes: You will learn a lot about Mexican culture here. The surrounding towns offer an authentic break from the commercialized zone of Puerto Vallarta. This is a great site for someone with intermediate Spanish skills, because most people speak Spanish, Spanglish, and/or English.

-- Amanda Gant

Raleigh International

2007-11-14T17:31:00.000-08:00

Location: Coyhaique, Chile
Organization: Raleigh International
Categories: Environment
Duration: 2/05-5/05, 10 weeks
Contact: http://www.raleigh.org.uk/
Cost: no information provided

Description: Raleigh International is a very interesting organization to work with, because it divides your ten weeks with them into three components, into environmental, community, and adventure. All of the work is entirely in the outdoors, and so accomodations for the three months are tents. The adventure component is an experience of a lifetime -- it's a three-week trek through some of the most remote regions on the planet.

Field Notes: I highly recommend Raleigh. There is less 'immersion' compared to other volunteer organizations, because of the isolated nature of the projects...but the outdoor experience is incredible.

--Sartaj Narang

Teach in Peru - Cross Cultural Solutions

2007-11-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

Location: Ayacucho, Peru
Organization: Cross Cultural Solutions
Categories: Education
Duration: 11/04-1/05,
Contact: http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/
Cost: $3000 (but worth it!)

Description: This was a very powerful and lasting experience. Ayacucho is a city with a rich history but unfortunately, a lot of problems pertaining to poverty and education. Cross Cultural Solutions is a fantastic organization that provides volunteers with a safe and secure house to live in (with a cook!) and has countless opportunities. To name a few, volunteers can teach in rural schools (as I did), work in moving clinics, or work in the kitchen of an orphanage.

Field Notes: I highly recommend Cross Cultural Solutions, whether in Peru or any of the countries they work in.

--Sartaj Narang

Habitat for Humanity

2007-11-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

Location: San Ramon, Costa Rica
Organization: Habitat for Humanity
Categories: Poverty, Housing
Duration: 9/04-10/04, varies
Contact: San Ramon Branch:
+506 4454148
PO Box 401-4250
San Ramon, Alajuela, Costa Rica
http://www.habitat.org
Cost: $9/night for homestay, plus flight and incidentals

Description: This is a great project, because it provides the security of a good homestay family and meaningful work. It's fairly straightforward -- working at a construction site with Costa Rican families and helping construct their future homes... you'll be doing everything, from mixing cement, laying foundation, to building walls, and laying roof sheets!

Field Notes: Highly recommend it...great chance to do meaningful work and explore an amazing country -- Sartaj Narang

Street Children & HIV/AIDS Treatment - Doctors of the World

2007-11-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Location: St. Petersburg, Russia
Organization: Doctors of the World
Categories: Child Mortality, HIV/AIDS
Duration: any length
Contact: Ekaterina Vodopyan
Cost: $300 for a homestay, $300 for living expenses, + airfare

Description: Doctors of the World is an NGO based in NYC that operates in Eastern European countries, including Russia. They provide summer and semester internships where you can work either in the office helping with grant proposals and translation, or at the drop-in-center for homeless and neglected teenagers. The internship does not pay, so you will need to provide transportation, housing, and living expenses for yourself.

Field Notes: I interned for this organization while I took classes at the local university. It makes getting to Russia much easier if you have a student visa, so I highly recommend coupling this service opportunity with a study abroad experience. The program I used was the School of Russian and Asian Studies (SRAS) - www.sras.org and they arranged for visa support, university enrollment, housing and internship placement. The program fee is roughly $3,000 and that includes everything but airfare.

-- Becky Bavinger

Ghana - Operation Crossroads Africa

2007-11-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

Location: Accra, Ghana
Organization: Operation Crossroads Africa
Categories: Maternal Health, HIV/AIDS
Duration: June-August
Contact: See Website
Cost: $3500 for everything

Description:Operation Crossroads Africa sends people from all over the world to Africa every summer to work on various projects there (with local counterparts usually). The cost of the program is $3,500 for EVERYTHING for seven weeks. That may seem like a lot, but the organization has a variety of ways to help people fundraise. I raised $2,500 in just one month.

Field Notes: This is a really good program for those who want to go to Africa with an organized program but still have a lot of autonomy in the country. It is entirely doable to work on the job assigned and then also to some research in your spare time.

-- Shani Senbetta

CEWEFIA - Operation Crossroads Africa

2007-10-01T16:59:00.001-07:00

Location: Elmina, Ghana (others available)
Organization: Operation Crossroads Africa
Categories: Environmental Sustainability
Duration: mid June to mid August
Contact: tel: (212) 289-1949
PO Box 5570
NY, NY 10027
Cost: $300 for a homestay, $300 for living expenses, + airfare

Description: I worked at a fishmonger cooperative in rural Ghana with a group of American volunteers. Our work included fish smoking, stacking, scaling, and drying, as well as interacting with the women and children. We stayed in a guest house on the property of the woman who founded the organization. The program costs $3500 for 8 weeks including a week of in-country travel and includes all (non-personal) expenses (airfair, food, lodging, etc).

Field Notes: Other projects are available in many other categories including health, education, and community development. Other host countries include Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Benin, Mali, Rwanda, and Senegal. I thought the program was a very good experience, but be prepared to spend a lot of time with the group (this was my experience, some other groups did not spend as much time together)

-- Dunya Cope

Baphumelele Children's Home - Baphumelele Children's Home

2007-10-01T16:58:00.004-07:00

Location: Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa
Organization: Baphumelele Children's Home
Categories: Poverty/Hunger, HIV/AIDS, Education
Duration: July-December, varies
Cost: No info provided

Description: Baphumelele is an orphanage located in one of South Africa's largest townships. There are over 100 children of all ages living there. They are short of everything and need all the help, support, love and care that they can get!

Field Notes: I volunteered there while studying at the University of Cape Town. The volunteers who lived there were part of the AVIVA project. Baphumelele is challenging, heartbreaking and inspirational. I really recommend volunteering there: you can make a real, if small, difference and learn a lot.

-- Chiara Fish

LAMB Center - St. Barbara Church

2007-10-01T16:58:00.001-07:00

Location: Cairo (Masr Qadeema/Coptic Cairo), Egypt
Organization:
Categories: Education
Duration: September-December, varies
Contact: Diana Boeke
Cost: No info provided

Description: Teaching English as a foreign language to students who are either at the university level or older. This volunteer teaching opportunity is a great way to teach ESL abroad without a certificate. You teach in a standard classroom atmosphere from a curriculum with books provided by the LAMB (Language and Mind Building) Center.

Field Notes: This was a great teaching and learning experience at a well-organized facility. Students are all Coptic Christians (a sometimes marginalized minority in Egypt) but class is a non-religious atmosphere. All your materials are provided and you simply follow a curriculum supplementing it with any activities or different teaching methods you like. I taught one 1.5 hour class a week, and spent about 2 hours outside of class correcting homework and preparing my lesson plans. You can teach as few or as many classes as you like. The center is very easily accessible on the metro from AUC.
-- Emma Marwood

Contact: Diana Boeke diboeke@gmail.com or
Jon Hill jhill@aucegypt.edu