International Volunteer

‘Voluntour’ trips give the opportunity to people in feeling satisfied by offering them volunteer vacations all over the world. There are hundreds of trips where people can go to be part of a community and experience a different culture but still having the feeling of a vacation.

These trips are usually traditional travel trips combined with volunteer working. You can participate for 3 weeks or longer and choose activities like teaching English, help the healthcare services, work in a wildlife conservation,…The trips are really getting to win popularity and more people take their children with them.

Currently 10% of gap adventures are voluntour trips. travelers are getting more and more interested in the matter and there is a big rise of new possibilities for these trips in 2010. We all want to give something back, and the voluntour trips are just a great opportunity in doing so.
If you are interested in going on a voluntour trip, maybe you can contact Globalvolunteers.org, Amizade.org, Volunteersforpeace.org or Projectsabroad.org. And feel good about your vacation.

There are advantages when you will encounter as being a volunteer abroad and this doesn’t only mean that it will look good in your CV but also it has advantages and benefits for your health and well being. The benefits that you will get from volunteering are surprising and what it can do to you. Mostly the benefits that you will get from volunteering are:

• Improving one’s Health. There’s a study actually shows that volunteering improves one’ health and well being. This can improve one’s health because volunteering has strong social support and thus can lower heart disease, health risk and health risk. Volunteering can lower health risks this is because it has enhances the psychologically aspect as what to healthy people have and this also strengthens interpersonal relationship and the sense of identity.

• Building Long Term Relationships. This is the place to meet new people and eventually building long term relationships with them. This is the best place to meet people who have the same interests as you, having the same causes that you believe and working together are just some of the things that makes up a healthy community of volunteers.

• Building one’s Confidence. Volunteering gives you a variety of challenges yet sharing these experiences and skills to them is the most fulfilling thing about your volunteer work. Having that fulfillment builds confidence and confidence that you can take with you after your volunteer work.

• Career Opportunities. No doubt that having a job experience especially volunteering abroad it makes your CV look good and more marketable to employers. You will have a higher market value and you will be able to attract employers more. There has been a survey that has been conducted showing that in a two hundred companies in leading business establishments in UK, that there are 94% believe that volunteering add skills and 73% of it would want to employ candidates who have experience in volunteering.

Before volunteering abroad there are some things that you should consider, these are the things about the organizations and the charities that you are willing to render your service to. Like if they are stable enough or do they meet your expectations that you want in an organization and all, here are some of them.

You need to first research about them and what are the organizations interests and all. What are the goals that they opt to achieve for the organization and so on. You should also know the programs that the organization has, so that you will know what you are going to and getting into.

Second would be, is the organization stable. You should look into the fact if the one that you are going to give your service to is a stable organization that just doesn’t disappear.

Third, once you have researched on that, then I think it is time to render your service and make a commitment to the organization, a volunteer that has a strong work ethic and is willing to help the organization in achieving its goals.

Lastly, it doesn’t really mean that you have to follow all these guidelines and tips, you just have to know what kind of organizations you are involved with, know it more before rendering your service.

School for the deaf and mute has always been rare especially to Third World countries. If there are schools indeed they badly need the support of everyone to make one a very functional school for the blind and mute.

It was hard already for students to compete for job market deaf and mute as they are. So the best remedy is to train them to become teachers or jobs that won’t need that much sound communication.

Teaching profession for the deaf and mute school is the best first step job that these students should be taking as a deaf and mute person. But how can they be able to fulfill such wonderful dream if the only level of education they can attain is the grade school level for the school does not have the qualified deaf and mute teacher to even teach these kids up to high school level of education

For those volunteers who feel that they are inadequate to help these students because they are not adept with sign language are wrong because as persons with two hands. We can do a lot to help these students achieved their dreams and make the best of it.

Here are some of the works that some volunteers do on their volunteer work abroad in a deaf and mute school.

• Helping the staff with computer software program if you have any knowledge about computers.
• Plumbing works all over the school.
• Painting jobs.
• Donating hearing aids for the deaf students.
• Electrical works around the school. Some deaf and mute school are not very well funded that classes are held with inadequate light.
• Raising fund to buy hearing aids or for teacher’s training.

My skin tone and blue eyes made them happy and I am also happy about that. I was lavished with care and love by these black people.

There are just some races that are looked at and examined with such appreciation and awe. The people in the European countries and USA are just examples of these. The fair skin, blue eyes human specie is admired with great envy by other race.

I was equipped to be the best teacher volunteer to ever come across in this black land. And to my surprise, my mere presence is more than enough. My daily stories about my Spanish land is good enough to give them hope and encouragement. I don’t even know if they understood my stories or how they understand the English language I used.

For the fact that I am not the first volunteer to step on African land to do volunteer perhaps they understood for they already learned to say yes and no whenever I asked a question or two.

It is not what I could teach them that amaze them but the daily tussle in the mud and the daily activities I do together with them like carrying of water from the water supply that made me like hero to these black people.

Now, my first scent of Africa is very fulfilling. I didn’t only learn a few words of African heritage but also tried to live the African way for a few days. I shared the glory of my race for a few weeks and I am fulfilled. A memory best told to the next generation.

You may have the passion to volunteer abroad and already has an idea what kind of volunteer work you are going to participate into and so on. Here is a checklist for you in order to prepare yourself before finally going to your assignment.

Prepare your passport and check on the place you are going if you will need to have a visa. You have to make sure if you are going to get a travel or a tourist visa, it really depends on which country. The requirements on getting the visa do vary from country to country. You may also contact the consulate of the country that you plan to volunteer to, to know the visa requirements and the travel restrictions and others.

Check on the medical requirements of the country you are going to, there are some international programs where they require AIDS test and other physical tests. There are also some would require you to have malaria vaccinations and so on. If you also wear glasses and contact lenses, make sure to bring extra pair of those, just in case.

Prepare some traveler’s checks, this is one of the safest ways to bring money and mostly it is accepted in all countries yet there are some countries that they don’t accept both credit cards and traveler’s checks. To make sure, better research on the country first than bring any of those. If ever you are able to bring some credit cards, keep them in a safe place together with your documents.

When you pack for your clothes and other things, pack light. Don’t bring clothes that are valuable to you, instead bring some clothes that you would want to leave after. Also bring some photos from home and a journal, you may want to write something about your experiences and show the pictures to the local people that are curious about where you came from.