What Is a Volunteer Work Holiday?
by lexisclickWhat is a volunteer work holiday? Well you might think the answer would be a holiday from your normal day to day work during which, instead of lying around soaking up the sun on a Mediterranean beach, you spend your time doing voluntary work of some kind. If that’s what you thought you’d be absolutely right of course. In a nutshell that’s what volunteer holidays are all about.
You can take a volunteer work holiday in most countries of the world so you don’t miss out on the experience of foreign travel if that’s what you want. It also means you can take volunteer holidays in your own country as well if you prefer or if funds won’t run to far flung locations.
You may ask what kind of voluntary work might be involved. The answer could well be another question that is, how long is a piece of string? The variety of work you can undertake on these volunteer holidays is quite mind boggling!
Just to pick one or two at random, you might feel the urge to teach English to children or adults in a remote and poverty ridden region in Africa or South America. If conservation’s your passion then how about helping with any number of conservation projects that are underway all over the Globe? Hospitals in underdeveloped or developing countries welcome volunteer workers with open arms no matter if it is only for a week or two at a time. When you go home someone else will usually arrive to take your place. That’s the hope anyway.
The way it works is that first you contact one of a number of companies and organisations that specialise in making all the necessary arrangements to get you to the part of the world you want to visit and get you slotted into a programme that you particularly want to take part in.
All your travel and accommodation is at your expense although it has to be said that accommodation costs can vary enormously according to how you want to live during your stay. Generally, the closer you get to the way the locals live the lower the cost is likely to be. You’ll also find when you talk to the specialists that they usually have some pretty good offers available on travel.
You probably won’t be looking for luxury anyway. After all you’re a voluntary worker seeking to give a helping hand and, you hope, make a difference however small. That’s the whole point of it really. You’re going there, wherever it is, to have an adventure yes. To undergo what will probably be a life changing experience that’ll really open your eyes to the sort of lives other people in the world live, yes. But the real motivation for going is to try to do something to help to change things for the better.
It doesn’t matter really whether your taking part in a programme to bring clean fresh water to remote villages in Africa, Asia or South America, or to rebuild after the tsunami in Thailand or help to save rainforests in the Amazon Basin. You are going there to help to make something better than it is now.
We know that your two or three weeks or whatever time you can give won’t change very much on its own. It’s when you add your contribution to those of all the other volunteers who take part in the course of a year that you begin to see results.
So the real answer to, “what is a volunteer work holiday?” is that it’s a way for you and other like-minded people to do things like help to improve the lives of disadvantaged people the world over or to try to halt the destruction of vital parts of our planet and save wildlife species from extinction.
So now you know what a volunteer work holiday is you should have a good look at what’s on offer. Whatever you interests, be they in humanitarian projects, wildlife conservation, or environmental programmes, wherever in the world you want to go, you’ll find your niche where you can make a difference.
Just to take humanitarian projects alone, that simple catch-all heading covers dozens of different problems being addressed in this way particularly in the developing world.
Providing a supply of fresh clean water is a mammoth task in many countries. Even basic education is another huge undertaking. You don’t need to be a teacher or water engineer to help but if you are that’s even better.
It’s the same with medical help. If you’re a doctor or nurse that’s fantastic but even if you can only offer willing hands and common sense you’ll be helping.
You should go for it. It’s something you’ll never regret.