We wanted to volunteer in a country where the need for volunteers was greatest and where
government support for small projects was in short supply.
You have direct ontact with people running local organisations or projects
Many volunteers prefer the more personal experience of dealing directly with the grass-
roots organisation. In this way, they can inform themselves about the project’s mission
and iron out any problems in-country rather than relying on a third party – who may or
may not have first-hand knowledge – to dispense information or direct matters from afar.
deeper interaction with the local community
Volunteering independently means that you’ll probably have to organise your own accom-
modation and entertainment, and you may be the only volunteer in a community. As a re-
sult, you’ll generally be more motivated to mix with the local community – Benjamin Blakey,
who helped on a construction site for Casas de la Esperanza (p228) in Nicaragua, found:
For the majority of the time I was the only foreign volunteer on the project site. This
allowed me to practice my Spanish and forced me to integrate with the locals with whom I
was working.
Speaking the local lingo obviously facilitates the immersion process – Kirsi Kohonen, who
volunteered in Bolivia, emphasises:
In Bolivia not many people speak English, so knowing Spanish is almost a must, especially
if you want to work with the locals. Otherwise you will just find yourself hanging out with
the other volunteers and you won’t learn anything about the country and its culture.
Cons
hard work
There’s no denying it, organising your own placement can be time-consuming. Benjamin
Blakey, who volunteered in Nicaragua, spent many hours researching opportunities:
Conducting my own research and contacting organisations directly allowed me to find an
NGO that did not charge a fee for volunteer placements. The difficulty was that the process
required hours of internet searches, emails and dead ends before I contacted an organisa-
tion that matched my criteria and which had volunteer opportunities.
Kirsi Korhonen admits that going through an agency can be a much easier route to take:
Using an agency provides safety and support and is often hassle free compared to finding a
placement independently.
no guarantees
However much advice you’re given by people who have volunteered previously, to a cer-
tain extent you will be dealing with the unknown when you arrange your own placement.
Local organisations or projects will not be vetted by a third party, so you may end up with
something that doesn’t match your expectations. As Rachel Oxberry, who volunteered in
an Ecuadorian home for street children, recalls:
I was appalled at how the home was run. The bishop who ran the home beat the children
and used a lot of the donations to fund his own family’s education. The bishop’s family ate
a balanced diet, whereas the street children ate rice and beans.
Brenda Carter’s placement in Ghana didn’t turn out as expected either:
On my arrival, despite all the information I received that led me to believe I’d be work-
ing with a local women’s group, I was taken to an expensive private school, where I was
expected to teach. Not exactly the grass-roots community approach I had been hoping for!
To top it off, my accommodation was a room where a lady had recently died and no-one
had even taken the time to remove her belongings.
If you organise a placement yourself, you’ll only really find out how the local project is run,
whether it is meeting genuine needs, what you’ll be doing and whether you can make a
valuable contribution once you are in situ.
roles may not be clearly defined
Although some local charities and NGOs are used to taking on volunteers and can offer
detailed job descriptions, it’s more likely that you’ll have to carve out your own role once
you start the placement. Mary Sears’ experience with Luz del Mundo in Bolivia (p230) is
typical of many DIY placements:
It was up to me to make lesson plans and evaluations, to decide what I wanted to teach and
how to go about it. I was the first foreign volunteer, so there was nothing in place.there’s ittle pre-departure and in-country support
Relying on a small grass-roots organisation to give you significant pre-departure or in-
country support, with little or no payment, is unfair and a real burden on your hosts. Nor
should you expect an organisation to repay you for your help with free accommodation,
food, in-country inductions, extracurricular activities etc. Jordan Jones, who volunteered
at the Casa Guatemala orphanage, admits that he expected otherwise:
I hadn’t done any research into it, but I assumed that volunteers would be provided with at
least free accommodation, if not board.
Other key things that you will not receive support for are medical emergencies, securing
visas and language tuition. Nor will you have an established safety net back home or in-
country support with logistical or emotional problems.
You may feel isolated, volunteering alone
You may be working alongside other volunteers, but equally, you may be on your own,
and in that case you have to deal with your experiences alone. Elizabeth France, who vol-
unteered in Cameroon, really valued the support she received from her fellow volunteers:
For me, the greatest advantage to volunteering with another person is that you have the
support of someone you trust and who can relate to you and your new experiences.under-supply or over-supply of volunteers can be detrimental to a project
Well-established sending agencies will carefully plan the supply of volunteers in conjunction
with the local project director, to ensure that placements result in a significant and sustain-
able contribution. The danger of volunteers organising their own placements is that there is
little continuity for the organisation, and previous work may be repeated or even undone.
Volunteers can become a burden on their host if they can’t deal with uncertainty
If the going gets tough and you’ve paid an agency to arrange your placement, then you’ve
usually got back-up to resolve problems. On the other hand, if you don’t have a third party
that you are accountable to; if the arrangement is pretty flexible; if you have paid little or
no donation; and if you’re the type who gives up easily, then you may simply decide to
quit. But it’s important to remember that you are accountable – both to the organisation
that you have agreed to help and to yourself – and you do have a responsibility to honour
your commitment. Should you quit, you could be disappointing the organisation, draining
their resources and damaging the image of international volunteers.the search begins
There are thousands of organisations around the world desperate for volunteers. Having
travelled for many years and volunteered in several places, I know that it’s a unique way to
get to know local people and the way they live.
If this assertion from Mary Sears, who volunteered in Bolivia, is to be believed, then surely
it can’t be too difficult to find the right DIY volunteering opportunity? But which approach08: Do-It-Yourself Volunteer Placements:The Search Begins