Voluntary Links
A quick one....
Following many many conversations with people about the financial requirements of the big UK/international voluntary organisations, I have promised I would publish these. These are links to some voluntary organisations which won´t charge you the earth to save the earth. Ecoteer does have a small registration fee, which I paid, and is well worth it.
www.ecoteer.com
www.volunteersouthamerica.net
The world is your oyster, get out there!
..............................................................................................
Update at 13/08/08
As projects go there is one more which I am now on very familiar terms with and so would reccomend. It belongs to a freind of mine, Ben Keene and although it is not a charity, so possible not voluntary work per say, it probably is more reliable than many of the charities out there!
The project is called Tribe Wanted, see
http://www.tribewanted.com/
You can also see my green militia grilling of Ben at
http://www.mookychick.co.uk/travel/tribe_wanted.php
and more at
http://www.mookychick.co.uk/travel/eco_minibreak.php
With regard to the middle of those three links, you will see that I do mention some cross cultural wildlife related issues. This has been a major challenge to Ben, which I now belive, having discussed it further, he has dealt with to the best of his ability. More importantly I think these issues will continue to be addressed as the project develops.
You may come accross somthing called the Gem report, which gives the project extremley bad press. Ignore this. It is written by an teenager in the US who has neither visited the project or met any of it's people, he apparantly attracts traffic to his site through scandelmongering.
Tribe Wanted may be a lot of things, but a scam is not one of them.
If you have any feedback positive or negative on this project BTW please do post it here.
Following many many conversations with people about the financial requirements of the big UK/international voluntary organisations, I have promised I would publish these. These are links to some voluntary organisations which won´t charge you the earth to save the earth. Ecoteer does have a small registration fee, which I paid, and is well worth it.
www.ecoteer.com
www.volunteersouthamerica.net
The world is your oyster, get out there!
..............................................................................................
Update at 13/08/08
As projects go there is one more which I am now on very familiar terms with and so would reccomend. It belongs to a freind of mine, Ben Keene and although it is not a charity, so possible not voluntary work per say, it probably is more reliable than many of the charities out there!
The project is called Tribe Wanted, see
http://www.tribewanted.com/
You can also see my green militia grilling of Ben at
http://www.mookychick.co.uk/travel/tribe_wanted.php
and more at
http://www.mookychick.co.uk/travel/eco_minibreak.php
With regard to the middle of those three links, you will see that I do mention some cross cultural wildlife related issues. This has been a major challenge to Ben, which I now belive, having discussed it further, he has dealt with to the best of his ability. More importantly I think these issues will continue to be addressed as the project develops.
You may come accross somthing called the Gem report, which gives the project extremley bad press. Ignore this. It is written by an teenager in the US who has neither visited the project or met any of it's people, he apparantly attracts traffic to his site through scandelmongering.
Tribe Wanted may be a lot of things, but a scam is not one of them.
If you have any feedback positive or negative on this project BTW please do post it here.
Hi there, I read your blog as I was looking for references and reviews for ecoteer.com, with which I am interested to volunteer in Asia. I just got a question for you: Did you volunteer through them? If you paid the £10 fee, what is worthwhile? I had never seen or gotten to know about the organization and I just want to make sure it's reliable nad somethiing serious and not a scam. Are their projects serious and well organized? Also, are there any hidden costs besides what the website on its first impressions, lets people know?
thanks and I would really appreciate it if you take the time to answer my enqueries.
Thanks so much for your time
Jose, Brighton, UK
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Hi Jose,
No worries I am happy to answer any questions.
I have not volunteered through Ecoteer but I did pay the ten pounds fee, and might use them in the future. It seemed to me that it was worthwhile to get the contact details of the projects.
From what I can tell about the organisation it seems fine, and it is UK based, but I would consider it more as a networking resource rather than an organisation to be trusted as it's own entity. I doubt very much that they visit the projects before listing them. That might be a good question to ask them.
If you read my post about the turtle conservation project I went to, Turtles R Us with the Chicken Torturing Conservationists, (this was not through Ecoteer) you will see that I was quite disappointed with it, and also felt their website painted a very different picture to the reality of the project. I have heard of various other people who have had similar experiences elsewhere.
The "Eco concentration camp" I was referring to it as after I finished!
I think basically you need to be VERY careful which project you pick. I have heard all sorts of funny things about various organisations, some of which I might elaborate on after I return to the UK. At least one organisation which I contacted from Ecoteer which I understood to be "free", ended up asking me for $300 US in advance for "accommodation expenses", (laugh? I nearly brought a drink!), and I have heard some odd stuff about a large UK based organisation called Eye to Eye, who I would avoid.
However I definitely would not write voluntary work off, I have met people who have loved their projects and I would give some of the projects on Ecoteer a try, if I get around to it! The precaution I would take from my previous experiences is that I would not pay in advance for more then a couple of weeks of accommodation or expenses until I have already spent some time at the project, and I would not pay in advance for anything at all if I could avoid it or if it took up any large sum of money.
What were you doing in Hackney? I lived there for about five years, and I have a big Brighton connection as well! Send me a link to your blog I'd be interested to take a look.
:0)
Cathy
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Cathy: Have you been with Ecoteer since the post - if so, what did you think of them?
Cheers,
Ben
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Hi Ben,
No, I have not volunteered through the ecoteer organisation. I can only go with what I said in my previous comments to Jose. Particularly in terms of not paying to much in advance.
If you do go out through them, or if any one else has, please do leave some feedback here as a lot of people seem to be navigating to this page.
Good luck!
Cathy
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Hi! The above comments have been very useful. I'm looking for a volunteering experience for summer of next year and was wondering if anyone had anything to reccommend? I've done Camp America and found that amazing, so m now looking for a similar, scheme, but with a volunteering emphasis; conservation work would be ideal. But I'm a bit wary when it comes to picking a company... any reccommendations would be much apprecaited!
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Hmm any other opinions on this chicken and egg question would be great. For me I just think you can pay an inordinate amount of money and go with one of the large "recognised" companies like Raleigh, or you can go with a smaller company, pay less, take the plunge, but not pay for weeks on end until you are on the project and are happy with it. In backpacker land, certainly in Central and South America, and I would expect in India, Asia and Africa if you start out in the back packer haunts, getting recommendations is a very good source of information. Try the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree as well.
I still think the amount of money charged by the UK companies are not reflective of the experience you get, you can often get it cheaper. In central and South America. If you can find projects tied to American Universities then at least you pay in US$ not £.
Oh and avoid Eye 2 Eye like the plague, I have heard various allegations towards this company, including money laundering, 5 nannies to each child in the orphanage, (go figure), and staying in a 5 star hotel with not much to do, in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami which the volunteers were supposed to be helping out with.
If you are worried about taking the plunge treat your visit as any other backpacking expedition. Navigate your way in and be prepared to navigate your way out. You can do this if you know where you are, even if it is inaccessible. Have them pick you up from somewhere you know of. Given that you are likely to be whisked off to some remote location, don't have them pick you up at 4 am at the airport!
But don't be scared, I have never heard of a completely illegitimate organisation as yet. Most of them have there hearts firmly in the right place. Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet!
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Hi,
I came across your blog whilst looking for reviews about ecoteer.com as I am thinking of using them to volunteer this summer.
I just wanted to say that your advice is great and much appreciated as the more information the better when you're going away to a foreign country.
However, I have noticed you have made reference to i-to-i on several occasions in a very negative way. Have you ever volunteered through i-to-i? I used them to work in Ghana last summer for a month of teaching and although I do agree that they are a rip off I totally disagree with the allegations you have made on this blog. I can vouch for the fact that you do not stay in "5 star accommodation", in fact you either stay in homestays or hostels whilst on your project. They are of the same standard as most of the locals stay - e.g. no running water or electricity etc. and are not in the tourist spots of the country. We were infact in the worst area of Accra and even the locals were surpirsed that we had been placed there.
Although i-to-i charge through the roof and do not donate all the money to the projects they also do not advertise that they will. They are a profit making organisation and make that clear on their website. i-to-i offers volunteers the opportunity to work on safe and reputable projects and take full responsibility for any problems you have with your allocated project. They provide volunteers with 24 hour help and support if needed which some of the others do not.
Again, I wish to stress that I do not agree with the money they charge but I am glad that I used them for my first time volunteer experience. Even as an experienced backpacker, going to a rural area in some of the most poverty stricken countries can still be daunting and I thank i-to-i for supporting their volunteers to do this.
Hayley
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Hi Hayley,
No I haven't volunteered through them personally, but do consider my sources to be reliable. However I note and thank you for your input of your experience with them, which was clearly positive.
Hope you enjoy the summer, happy travels
Cath
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