lonely planet -volunteer abroad guide

Faith Propagation

If you choose to volunteer through a religious organisation, you can feel fairly confident that

the aspirations and views of the organisation will be similar to your own. It’s encouraging

to know that the aims underpinning a project you’re volunteering on are things you believe

in. This was one of the main reasons why Ele Ramsey chose to volunteer with Christian Aid

in the UK and Nicaragua:

I wanted an opportunity to put my faith into action. I agreed with Christian Aid’s policy of

being a Christian-motivated organisation without being explicitly evangelical in its work. I

had been heavily involved with the Christian Union at university and was desperate to get

away from insular, theological debates and into the real world!... It was also great to act as

a peer educator and inspire young people to take action in the name of their faith.

It is always important to ascertain to what extent, and under what conditions, you will

be expected to propagate your faith. Does the organisation attempt to convert the local

population? Many religious projects are run and managed by a local contingent of the

same faith and so such issues don’t arise. It’s also important to be aware of how the project

is perceived by the wider community in which it runs. Is it well received by the community

and accepting of their culture? Find out the level of involvement of the local population

and to what extent the project works and interacts with the community.

07: Religious Organisations:

Development

Development Placements

placements

One of the overall aims of projects run

by religious organisations is to help

people in need, so it’s no surprise that

their programmes are almost all in the

development arena. While few of these

programmes require volunteers to have

specific skills, most organisations welcome

applicants with training or skills in rele-

vant fields.

International Organisations

habitat for humanity International

UK Office: 46 west bar street, banbury, oxon,

ox16 9rZ, uK

%+44 (0)1295 264240

fax +44 (0)1295 240230

[email protected]

US Office: 121 habitat street, americus,

ga 31709-3498 usa

%+1 1800 422 4828

[email protected]

http://www.habitat.org

this nondenominational Christian housing

charity is dedicated to eliminating poverty

housing around the globe and works

in around 100 countries. Volunteers are

sent overseas to work in teams alongside

the local community to build improved

accommodation. the family for whom the

house is built invests their own labour,

fostering community development, dignity

and pride of ownership. uK volunteers should

visit the website http://www.habitatforhumanity

.org.uk and australian volunteers should visit

http://www.habitat.org.au.

status: registered charity and company

limited by guarantee.

timing & length of projects: placements are

for one or two weeks, with set departure

dates throughout the year.

destinations: the organisation sends

volunteers to over 40 countries over five

regions: asia and pacific, africa and middle

east, europe and Central asia, latin america

and Caribbean, and america and Canada.

recently, projects have been in ghana,

tanzania, India, Kenya, romania, armenia,

Chile and south africa.

Costs: Costs vary depending on the sending

and hosting country programme. however

volunteers are required to raise a donation

of approximately us$500 to cover the costs

of building. In addition, they must be entirely

self-funding.

eligibility: applicants must be 14 years or over,

and acceptance of those over 71 is dependent

on obtaining insurance cover. every attempt

is made to accommodate applicants with

disabilities and acceptance is decided on a

Before we met, we had both spent a year
volunteering in rural Africa supporting the work
of the local church. So, coupled with a joint
background in community development, it
was no surprise to anyone that we wanted to
return to Africa after we were married. Having
both worked for Tearfund (an international relief
and development NGO), we were not short of
contacts with local organisations. However,
we wanted to go through an organisation that
specialised in building long-term links between
different cultures and that encouraged the
sharing of cross-cultural experiences in the UK
(our home country).
We soon chose to volunteer with the Church
Mission Society for a variety of reasons. We
are both Christians and wanted to work with
the church, which is generally seen as a local
network ideal for bringing about long-term
sustainable development. CMS has over a
hundred years’ experience in building links
with churches around the world – but we were
probably attracted more by the fact that it is
an organisation not afraid of change. With a
strong support base from across the UK and
the world, CMS is a global community-building
movement – allowing us all to learn from one
another and opening up opportunities for us
to question our own culture. And that struck a
chord with our own reasons for volunteering.
Having left our jobs, packed and moved in
with parents, we were ready to leave the UK
but ended up waiting three months for visas.
Even when we did arrive we were seconded to
work for a different organisation in another part
of the country – but that’s all part of the adven-
ture! We are supporting a national organisation
in Zambia that fights poverty through empow-
ering poor communities to stand up and speak
out against the injustice of poverty, training
leaders and building global partnerships. It is
really important to us that we are not coming
into a country and just imposing something, we
are working for an organisation that is run and
governed by Zambians, and which exists with-
out a foreign organisation telling it what to do.
Through such a set-up we are able to share
some of our skills and experience, as well
as learn new skills from our Zambian friends

and colleagues. That helps us to question our

own culture. The fact that we have experi-

ence of working for donor organisations and

have come through CMS with support from

churches and individuals in the UK means

we can help build the links between the work

here and there. Hopefully this helps build and

deepen relationships, which in turn builds the

worldwide church community and prevents

the donor–recipient imbalance that has often

plagued such relationships.

It isn’t always straightforward but that is the

beauty of cross-cultural exchange. We have the

privilege of standing with, and speaking up for,

those that are suffering in the world. Being part

of a wider long-term movement enables us to

share that experience, both the joys and suffer-

ing, with other people from our own culture.

Matt and Polly Freer have chosen to

devote three years to working with a

community in Zambia, through the

Church Mission Society (CMS, p206).

Photo: Polly Freer

Matt with local co-workers

Building Bridges