Volunteering Global, a Valuable Resource

Today’s Guest Post in our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference comes to us from Sarah Van Auken.

Many people want to volunteer abroad and help communities around the world but they often wonder if the organization that they have chosen is working for the greater good. Why do volunteer projects charge thousands of dollars to have you come out to lend a helping hand?

Volunteering Global is a wonderful site that researches host organizations around the world providing prospective volunteers with up to date information on types of work, openings, accommodations and costs. It is a site that every person interested in volunteering at home and abroad should visit and join. 

Not only does it offer valuable information regarding NGO’s, it also is an informative travel resource that I will be sure to visit regularly in the future.

Is volunteer travel a selfless or a selfish act?

On one hand, you’re serving a community that needs an extra push, but on the other, you’re traveling at your leisure to a destination of your choice.

Type “volunteer vacation” into a search engine and jot down how many hits you get. Now look at the first page of results and note how much those trips cost. Wait – they cost something? You’re willing to give your time and effort to a community project, but you’re expected to pay? And at $1,000 for a week, they’d better give you backrubs and ice cream, because your airfare isn’t even included.

This is what I encountered four years ago as I looked for a summer project. It was confusing and frustrating; these groups assumed volunteers had disposable income.

Accommodations in Costa Rica

After a month of researching, I came across a small group in Costa Rica.

They charged $6.00 per day for housing – not “other fees” that weren’t specified, and expected their volunteers to take their work seriously. They didn’t make turtle monitoring look glamorous; they emphasized that this was tough, physical labor, and we shouldn’t expect an immediate payoff. This was what I wanted: To know that I was giving my time to an organization that depended upon and respected its volunteers, rather than the payments the participants made.

About Volunteering Global

At the encouragement of my parents and friends, I compiled a list of every volunteer vacation I found, and wrote down where they worked, what they did, and how much they charged. Rather than taking a volunteer trip that summer, I built what now is Volunteering Global, a website dedicated to educating people about service opportunities worldwide.

Because I was a full-time college student, a teaching assistant for three classes, and a part-time work study employee off campus, Volunteering Global had a slow start. Research was relegated to the end of my fifteen-hour work day, but you know what? It was relaxing and inspiring to read reports from people in the field, to find another tiny group that taught children learn how to read, and to slowly realize that I wanted to turn volunteer support into my career.

So what’s the status now? Well, I make about 35 cents per day from advertisements, but I am more excited than ever about Volunteering Global. In the past five months, I turned a dreary little HTML site into an interactive one that’s engaging for its visitors. I’ve researched more than 600 international volunteer groups, narrowed the list down to 338, many of which you won’t find on other volunteer sites, and posted individual pages for each one. I created a membership option, where users can create blog entries and post in the forums, and in July, I released my first monthly newsletter. There’s even a general travel advice section to the site, and I post daily educational blog entries about statistics, safety, individual volunteer programs, and more. While it’s not my career yet, I’m confident that I’ll find a way to make this work my life’s focus.

The Volunteers

The best part of Volunteering Global is meeting the world travelers I strive to help. Here’s a story from Allison, who worked with Habitat for Humanity last year.

“…We arrived at a small light blue house owned by a young mother of six. As our group gathered outside to greet our house foreman, we got a sense of what we would be doing this day. Our foreman confirmed that we would be painting the interior of the house and preparing the floors for tiling the next day. After a brief speech, we grabbed our tools, paint and safety glasses and went to work. David, Elio and I started masking off the kitchen area and cabinets so we could paint the walls and windows. Others spread out throughout the home, picking their niche to paint.  Most of the day was spent painting. To pass the time, at one point someone mentioned Broadway tunes. We all started singing songs from our favorite shows. Then it turned into an 80’s one hit wonder name that tune fest. We had such a wonderful time and before we knew it, the interior was complete, the floors were scraped and we had extra time to plant trees in the front and side yards.”

And here are some pictures sent to me from Ruth, who worked with the Earthwatch Institute in Costa Rica and Mongolia – she’s traveling with them again to Kenya this November.

Volunteers working in Costa Rica

Taking a Break in Mongolia

Selfless or Selfish?

Now to come back to the original question. This, above all, has been the determining factor in how I’d like to operate my site. I don’t work on behalf of any group, and I don’t have an ulterior motive – I’m here to educate you, and it’s up to you to decide what to do with it.

I mentioned cutting 270 programs from the original 600. It’s because I want volunteers to see the “little guys.” They’re not popular groups, you won’t find them mentioned in travel articles, and they certainly won’t show up in the first 20 pages of a Google search for “volunteer vacations.” These are the organizations that prove they’re helping their community, and who, like that turtle monitoring group, depend upon and respect their volunteers. Participants’ living expenses are comparable to that of locals, and the establishments are up front about where the money goes.

Giving one’s time to help a community that one has never visited, or even knew existed before, is one of the most selfless acts I can think of. Yes, we start the search for an exciting destination, and even fantasize about being the Superman of an entire community. But when we travel on the project, we find something more. The experience of connecting with others across the world, knowing that we’ve come together to help people we’ve never met – that’s something we’ll forever take with us, and something we’ll always encourage others to experience.

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Sarah Van Auken is the creator of Volunteering Global, a website that teaches individuals about international service and general travel. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she works full time in returned volunteer support.

If you’d like to join as a member of Volunteering Global, please click here — you’ll be able to post in the forums, create your own blog entries on the site, receive the monthly newsletter, and more.

Volunteering Global Scholarship Fund is awarded to a high school senior who demonstrates commitment to community service. To contribute visit  http://www.volunteerglobal.com/node/679

For More information about Sarah and Volunteering Global follow her on

• Twitter: @VolunteerGlobal
• Facebook
• Blog (updated daily)

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back by Courtney and Tom Marchesani of  Villas Tranquilas

Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network by Erin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network

Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You

This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project

Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift

ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta


Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape

Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference

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Giving Back, Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive

We are honored to have Keith Jenkins of VelvetEscape as our first contributor to our series Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference. We have found that travelers tend to be a very generous breed indeed. His article today is an inspiring contribution as to what people can do to help communities in developing countries  thrive and succeed.

Ngwenya Glass, Making a Difference

A few years ago, I was walking around Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront when I stumbled upon a little shop selling beautiful glass figurines. I started talking to the lady in the shop and I felt really inspired by her story of the origins of the figurines. Ngwenya Glass is indeed an incredible story. In 1979, a Swedish non-profit organisation ‘Swedish Aid’ started a project in Swaziland to educate and provide jobs to poor Swazis whilst instilling in them a greater awareness of the environment.

Courtesy of Ngwenya Glass

The Swedes decided to start a glass-blowing project, at the time a skill that was totally unheard of in this part of Africa. They brought the machinery with them, built a factory and trained the locals in the art of glass-blowing. The factory’s biggest talents were sent to Sweden for further training. The organisation also provided classes to the local communities, teaching them the importance of the environment. School children were encouraged to scour the countryside for used glass bottles. These bottles were then recycled and used to create gorgeous glassware. Within a year, the factory was producing 100% recycled, beautiful glass figurines and tableware that became very popular, especially in South Africa.

Courtesy of Ngwenya Glass

In 1981, the Swedes handed over the factory to a Swazi developmental corporation. Unfortunately, the factory stopped production several years later, until a South African family bought over the operations in 1987. The Prettejohn family, who were avid collectors of Ngwenya Glass, picked up where the Swedes left off and restored the factory to its former glory.

The original glassblowers were brought back, environmental awareness campaigns were restarted and children were encouraged to search for glass bottles again. Other eco-friendly projects were initiated such as collecting rainwater from the factory’s massive roof, recycling engine oil to fuel the factory’s furnaces, and recycling newspapers for packaging the glassware.

Courtesy of Ngwenya Glass

In addition, the factory contributes to its community by helping with small building projects and sponsoring the local football team. The factory also founded a wildlife conservation fund, the Ngwenya Rhino & Elephant Fund, which helps endangered species in the Mkhaya Reserve in Swaziland. The fund has since become the most successful wildlife conservation fund in Swaziland.

With help from master glass-blowers from Sweden and the Netherlands, Ngwenya Glass also organises annual glass-blowing workshops to introduce new techniques and skills to the local glass-blowers. The results are amazing: the new products feature European glass-blowing techniques with an unmistakable African flair.

Courtesy of Ngwenya Glass

Ngwenya Glass is a great example of how one can help people in poor countries learn a new skill and contribute to poverty alleviation whilst embedding in them a greater awareness of the environment. I’ve visited many eco community projects around the world but the Ngwenya Glass story is one that I found particularly inspiring, probably because I’m a big fan of projects that stimulate and promote local arts and crafts. I have yet to make the trip to the factory in Swaziland though it remains at the top of my list of things to do on my next trip to South Africa. I can’t wait!

Additional information provided by Ngwenya Glass:

Our Mission Statement is ‘to advance the welfare of the local community by employing them to produce the best quality handmade recycled glassware in the world in an environmentally sensitive manner employing as many people as is economically viable in a safe and healthy green country environment, and to encourage all people to be aware of their HIV status’.

In line with the above all our glass used is recycled bottles and we are melting in the region of 15 tonnes per month.  Our large factory roof is used to catch rain water which is then used in our production area and toilets.  We have created a recycled engine oil project that is used as fuel to heat our furnace and melt the glass, which, prior to us collecting the oil was discarded into rivers and landfills (by the companies concerned).  We also use old newspapers for our packaging of the glass, approximately 18 tonnes per annum.

In addition to the above we are a member of WFTO and COFTA.

Keith Jenkins runs the inspiring and informative travel blog velvetescape.com He has traveled the world visiting over 60 countries on 6 continents. Read about his journeys from the jungles of Malaysia to the deserts of Jordan, from the Alps to the Andes and from New York to Hong Kong. We have become great fans of Keith and his “velvet escapes” visiting his site regularly to see what new destination he will explore each day and what tips and insider information he will give to his readers.  You can follow Keith on Twitter at twitter.com/velvetescape

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Giving Back: Travel the World and Make a Difference

Last year Dave and I cycled from Cairo Egypt to Cape Town South Africa.  It was an experience of a lifetime to travel through some of the most remote countries in the world. Unfortunately, some of these countries were also some of the poorest and unstable in the world.

A Charity Built Well

That was why we decided to ride for a cause. Formerly Foster Parents Plan, Plan Canada is an international organization that works at a grassroots level to help communities in Africa develop a long term plan to improve their living conditions. They give them the means to become self sufficient and to no longer rely on foreign aid.

We are blessed and lucky to live in a country that is so rich.  We have the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world and to see different ways of life.

Cycling in The Tour d’Afrique was the perfect opportunity to raise awareness about our cause. It was a large international race that already had followers and a fan base. We easily gained exposure through their website and through media to talk about not only the race, but to raise awareness for our Cause and to direct them to our site and to Plan to find information on how to help.

Poor Community, being helped by Plan

It was an extraordinary experience. Plan is a well run organization. We left for Egypt a couple of weeks before the race started and we had the opportunity to visit a project in Cairo.  Plan picked us up at our guesthouse and we were off to the poorest part of the city. It was an eye opener. There is no possible way we would have been safe to travel to this part of town on our own.  It really was an entirely different world than the rest of the city.We were most definitely in the slums of Cairo.

You can read about our Plan visit in depth at our post Our Plan Project Visit

In 3 months we will be leaving Canada again to travel through Central Asia. Once again, we will be visiting countries that are in desperate need of help. We have not decided yet as to how we are going to give back to these communities, but we do know that we are going to in one way or another.

A School we visited in Malawi

There are so many ways for travelers to give back to communities.

We find that the simplest and easiest way is to write about it. We don’t have the luxury of having instant followers through Plan or the Tour d’Afriques website, but we have worked hard to build our own following with our own travel blog. Hopefully as we grow, we will be able to reach a larger audience and let them know about the social and environmental struggles of the countries that we are about to visit.

Being adventure travelers, we can raise a lot of awareness and gain publicity easily. We can climb for a cause, ride for a cause, cycle for a cause. The list goes on. Newspapers and magazines enjoy hearing about people that have conquered something extraordinary while at the same time supported an organization that is making change in the world.

An Inner City School in Cairo

Travelers can volunteer. Many organizations are looking for volunteers and you have a good chance of being able to help out if you are already in the country.

Teaching English is another way to help. English is becoming a universal language and it opens the door to a world of possibilities for employment. Dave and I volunteered for a night in Cambodia in a small town to help a teacher out. He was from Cambodia himself so his pronunciation of words was off. He stopped us in the street and asked us if we would be willing to lead the class so that they could mimic our pronunciation. Helping out in these remote villages where they don’t have the money or the means for organized western TESL can be a great contribution to the community.

A Child Thrives with the help of Charity

Another easy way to give back to communities is to add a button to your website.  It doesn’t have to be an in your face, give money to my cause hard sell. Simply add an icon in your sidebar linking to a cause that you believe in. It doesn’t cost a thing and you don’t have to do anything else. Visitors will come to your site, read your posts and explore. They may get the urge to click on your charity of choice and investigate or they may not. But no matter what, you will reach a few people and that is all it takes.

There are many ways to help out this world. We are so fortunate to live in a rich country and to have the opportunity to travel the world.  This world brings us a great deal of joy and we feel that the least we can do is to help the communities that enrich our lives so much by giving back to them.

Right now, we are investigating our options for our next trip.

To let people know what is going on can ignite a spark in someone to give. It doesn’t have to be money it could be time. It might not even be fore the cause that you are writing about, it could inspire a person to help in their own community.

Children Welcome us to their Playground

There is definitely no shortage in this world of people that need help.

Do you have any ideas of ways to give back while traveling. Have you volunteered overseas or raised money for a cause? What were your experiences? We are hoping to start a series involving guest writers to talk about their experiences involving ethical travel. If you would like to contribute, send us an email at theplanetd@gmail.com

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