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Gap years and voluntary service:
- There are now a myriad of organisations
offering gap year experiences. Many charge large amounts of money
for your experience. Insist on knowing exactly what is being
offered and what they expect of you - questions you should ask
include:
- what is the cost? are there
any other costs to be met?
- is transport to the venue included?
- what accommodation is provided?
Is it shared?
- what meals are provided?
- how many hours work is required?
What type of work?
- do they pay anything?
- what facilities are there for
out-of-hours recreation?
- what is the status of the organisation
-charitable or profit-making
- what is their ethical policy?
- can they provide references?
- Once you have answers to these,
you should go and take up the references, and also search travel forums for comments by previous
volunteers.
-
- You really want the project
to be of local value, as well as giving you a valuable experience,
so do probe the organisation on ethical issues. There are good
guides to going about this at ethicalvolunteering.org
or its sister site gapyearresearch.org,
covering topics like how they present the work they do, how organisations
match volunteer skills to the project, how volunteers are selected,
what sort of pre-departure and return briefings are provided.
-
Useful organisations:
- Duke of Edinburgh Award -useful guide to thinking about a gap year including
budgeting, checklists and other useful tips.
- findagap.com -sets out to be the most comprehensive
Gap Year information source on the web.
- Gap
Activity Projects
-Volunteering experiences overseas for 17 - 25 year olds.
- Gaps for Grumpies -adventure travel and volunteering for the over
40s.
- Gapwork -gap year information site. gapwork
gives information on jobs abroad, gap years, summer work, UK
gap years and overseas voluntary work.
- gapyear.com -a complete guide to taking time out.
- gap-year.com -resource for planning a gap year -advice,
message board, volunteering.
- Gap Year Worldwide -a gap year guide, with ideas, volunteer placements
& more...
- Global Adventures -a division of the American Institute for Foreign
Study (AIFS), one of the world's leading educational and cultural
exchange organisations. More than one million young people have
participated in AIFS programmes since the organisation was founded
in 1964.
- Global
Vision International
-conservation expeditions, volunteer work, training courses and
career opportunities in Mexico, Ecuador and Costa Rica and take
part in volunteer conservation and community work in over 20
countries worldwide throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.
- Madventurer
offer a combination of award winning volunteer projects and adventures
in some of the most fascinating destinations in the world. They
aim to help local communities in developing countries with volunteer
projects, and at the same time enable travellers to gain life-changing
experiences through cultural integration, challenge and adventure.
Destinations include Fiji, Ghana, India, Kenya, Peru, Tanzania,
Thailand, Uganda. Projects combine volunteering, adventure or
sports projects -rugby, hockey, football, netball, cricket, basketball,
swimming, tennis and volleyball.
- MondoChallenge
-the career break specialists -currently has projects in Chile,
Ecuador, The Gambia, India, Kenya, Nepal, Le Sénégal,
Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Romania. A not for profit organisation.
- One World 365
-an online directory of gap year work, volunteer and teaching
opportunities.
- Qest Overseas
-gap year provider specialising in South America and Africa,
and offering ethical volunteering and expedition experiences
for 17-25 year olds.
- Real
Gap -gap year provider
with an ethical bias -volunteer with wildlife conservation, work
with children or teach English abroad for just a few weeks up
to a full gap year out.
- Simply Volunteer -overseas volunteer opportunities in their simplest
form -Placements include teaching English, conservation, community,
building, sports coaching, media and marketing.
- Volunteer Abroad -short-term volunteer development assistance
around the world.
- VSO -Voluntary Service Overseas is an international
development charity that works through volunteers and aims to
fight global poverty and disadvantage. They are one of the longest
standing volunteer organisations, and tend to look for people
with relevant skills and experience -there is a searchable databse
of opportunities on the site.
- Worldwide Volunteering -extensive database of volunteer opportunities
and advice on fundraising.
- WWHOOF -World Wide Opportunities on Organic
Farms offers "WHOOFERS" the opportunity to volunteer
on organic farms throughout the world in return for food, accommodation
and the chance to learn about organic lifetsyles.
- www.do-it.org.uk -national database of volunteering opportunities
in the UK.
- Year Out Group
-information and guidance on taking a gap year or career break
for young people and their parents and advisers.
- Yomps http://www.yomps.co.uk -a small gap
year and career break company based in Brighton who aim to provide
a very personal service, the most important aspect of which is
that they know their clients by name. They offer a wide range
of adventure expeditions, volunteer projects, overlanding tours,
scuba diving courses and safari trips.
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