UKC

A mate of mine wants to do some genuine volunteer work in Africa, but all he can find are these "pay thousands to 'volunteer' schemes".

I know genuine volunteer work is out there, but can be very hard to find.

Does anyone have any advice?

In reply to Andy S:


What skills or resources can he offer that are not available otherwise?

In reply to Andy S:

Unless he can bring something to the table then he will find it very difficult. There are plenty of positions over here in Haiti, but most are for medical or heavy machinery operators (loads) and HGV drivers. Infact many pay well for such work. But as you know it is a different story here right now.
Africa is a big place, where are his intentions specifically, how, where and why.

In reply to Andy S:

Has he tried VSO?

It's one of the best organisations to check (see their web site) so long as he has a real skill that's needed eg Teacher, Engineer, Builder, Doctor, Nurse.

They normally won't accept unskilled people.

Thanks for the replies.

He hasn't got any skills except for being able to teach English. I would imagine that's useful somewhere though? As for which part of Africa, I don't know.

In reply to Andy S:

Certainly a year or two ago, when I last looked there were English Teaching opportunities in South Africa. I have a TESOL and was considering it, but health problems intervened

In reply to Andy S:

No, Americans generally have the teaching in Africa side cornered. Teaching English does not mean you can earn enough to even survive. You still need to back yourself to some extent. Africa is not a good place to start, everyone wants to help Africa and so much is not even volunteer work, you pay for the honour of helping.
True voluntary work is NOT available to those with no skills to offer, end of.
Think outside of Africa to start with, then you will network with others who live the voluntary scene and will point you to where is coming up and where is a dead cert, where is paid and where is F&L.

Alternatively look into HELPX.com, you will find endless contacts throughout the world, you just got to get there and your trip begins.

In reply to Andy S:

I heard good opinions about Oxfam, but I have little experience about it. I also have been talking to someone about SKIP and I remember that they offered lower prices for volunteering.

I have been to a meeting (they are nor Oxfam or SKIP, to make it clear) once where we were offered to volunteer in Africa. Although I wasn't very keen to listen how fun is it, I lost my concentration after I heard that they were making simple bathrooms and other water supplying systems in villages while volunteers had a pool at their accommodation place. In my opinion, that's sick attitude of volunteering.

In reply to Andy S:

Not a sensible answer, sorry! An interesting article about volunteering I read recently:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-doctors-without-licenses-program-provi...

In reply to Andy S:

As above, if your friend has no experience or skills to offer he will struggle. If his only skill is being able to speak English then I wouldn't hold out too much hope.

In reply to Andy S:

I spent a month in Kenya through a big company. I did a lot a research into programmes and ethics and yes I paid nearly 2k but this covered flights, transfers, food, accommodation, insurance, a large donation to the local organisation and gave both me and my family back home peace of mind that if anything went wrong they would get me home.

whilst there I was just an extra pair of enthusiastic hands, we built houses but in spare time I would help the mamas in the orphanage, spend time in the school helping the teachers, dug holes, cooked and chatted to people, got to know them. Through that I ended up being asked to conduct a community consultation for a new project and got involved in health education.

In reply to Andy S:

This may be not the way to do things, but how about just go somewhere, take a load of coloured pencils, pencils, rubbers etc to donate to a school and see what happens. Also take a football or a cricket set and offer to play games with the kids, that sort of thing. Don't know how well it would work, but you never know.
Jerry

In reply to Jerry67:


That would be interesting in Glasgow, or London for that matter.

In reply to Andy S:

Africa is full of well meaning teenagers making uni applications look good in a gap year by paying a couple of thousand to teach English or 'help' often at the expense of local workers.

Without a skill of use there is little he can do. Does he want to help people or go to Africa? Plenty he can here for the former.

He could look here, http://www.allafricavolunteers.com/ the bloke in charge is a local JBay man and was quite a genuine guy. Could see the money going to projects and not fancy offices/buckies/uniforms etc...

In reply to Andy S:

When we were on holiday in Kenya we asked a taxi driver to take us to an orphanage (any orphanage that he knew of that needed help). We took pencils, paper, balloons and some toys/balls etc. All these were very well received. We went back the next day with a sack of spuds, a load of other veg and a few pounds of beef to cook a stew (they hadn't had meat for a while). That too went well. When we got bact to the UK one of our friends jacked in her job and went to the same orphanage to help out. She has no specific skills, just the desire to help. She's still there, after more than a year. So I guess there are things your mate could do - depends what he's prepared to do?

In reply to Andy S:



Does that mean he has a TEFL qualification, or that he's a native English speaker? The two are very different.

In reply to Andy S:

I'm guessing he may be able to find something through Black Majority churches with links back to the congregations home areas? Might be worth a try if he has no objection to the religious.

I do wonder why Africa, and what his motivation is, there is plenty needs doing closer to home.

In reply to all:

SOLID tips and perspectives all. Thanks very much, I'm forwarding this thread onto him.

In reply to PPP:

Oxfam sell our donations of clothings etc to those we wish to give them to. I was shocked in the Gambia that these people with nothing, still could not afford our donations.