Preferably Eastern Europe this year but would like to do Asia, and Africa some day. What I'm looking for are short 1 week programs that don't cost a lot of money. I found one for 400 but you have to be able to speak russian to do it so I can't do it.

4/21/2012 12:32:11 PM

There were a lot of Peace Corps people I met in Ukraine, I'm guessing there's a big need over there. It's also the cheapest country I've ever been to, so money shouldn't be an issue.

Lots of people speak English in Romania, just stay the hell out of Bucharest that place is nuts, the rest of the country is beautiful and I'm sure you'd find places to help.

What kind of volunteer work do you want to do?

4/21/2012 12:41:42 PM

and romanian women are hot, maybe a family will volunteer a broad

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/21/2012 12:44:28 PM

I would love to do something like this...assuming bare necessities were taken care of

4/21/2012 2:21:27 PM

What kind of volunteer work are you going to do in one week?

4/21/2012 2:22:30 PM

Peace Corps is like a cult.

Just couch surf and offer to help people out as you go.

4/21/2012 2:38:20 PM

I looked into this post college, there really isn't much out there that isn't a 'volunteer vacation'

4/21/2012 5:02:28 PM

^^i swear, people will criticize anything

4/21/2012 5:06:25 PM

Yea, what's wrong w/ the peace corps?

4/21/2012 5:09:20 PM

Some of you who are not soap box regulars may not be familiar with smc. This is pretty much the norm for him.

I've not seen a lot of good opportunities in terms of short-term international volunteering projects. They're all expensive as hell and don't really permit you to do much good.

For my part I'm going Peace Corps. I finished with the medical review a month or two ago and am now awaiting the final questions before official invitation. Can't happen soon enough, I'm ready to go be sick and frustrated for two years (seriously).

My dad was a PCV in Ghana in the 70's and my cousin is currently serving in Georgia. They've provided me with some perspective. From them and others I've heard that over the course of two years they counted themselves lucky to improve the lives of a few people. Makes me suspicious of what can be done in just a week or two.

4/21/2012 11:09:22 PM

go set up a microfinance schema! that seems to really work in doing real lasting good. it's basically where you empower a matron with cash to run her own lil bisness. hteir bayback rates are rly good and they . guy got peace nobel prizeeconomics. do some real good! vacation volunteer is worse than useless!! you disrupt the local economy. better to take that airfare money and donate it to a well researched charity. as an American, you're better positioned to be a financier of good work. rather than go be a peace corp doctor, you should make lots of money here then use that money to sponsor a scholarship to bring aboriginees to america to study medicine.

4/22/2012 3:07:54 PM

I have to agree, the airlines are the biggest beneficiary of foreign volunteering.

4/22/2012 3:34:01 PM

Well I'm spending the summer backpacking all over and figured i might as well find a constructive way to experience different countries instead of just eating/clubbing/touring.

4/22/2012 3:49:07 PM

Quote :

"I looked into this post college, there really isn't much out there that isn't a 'volunteer vacation' "

This was my experience in Southeast Asia. I'm sure there are good options out there but research the hell out of them.

4/22/2012 7:03:54 PM

I was serious about couch surfing. Offer to help out and ask for suggestions of nearby community charities everywhere you go.

Here's a English-speaking expat in Norway, for instance, that welcomes people as long as they help out around the farm or repair his fishing boat. As always, bonus points if you're a hot Ukranian female, but if you're handy in general no one is going to turn you down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYeuQk9ZAFI

4/22/2012 7:45:34 PM

Not interested in helping some fuck just to have a place to stay. Rather stay in hostels than do that. I was interested in helping kids, building houses, painting orphanages, teaching english or cleaning up the environment. Things like that.

4/22/2012 8:22:53 PM

http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/index.jsp?r=msa&l=27722

4/22/2012 8:32:22 PM

If you're interested in volunteering in the balkans I can recommend some places that I have experience with that will cost you very little and that would be a lot of fun. My gf spent three weeks there and spent under $300 excluding flight

4/22/2012 8:44:56 PM

please do

4/22/2012 9:53:31 PM

You can always just go pick up trash wherever you go. It takes a lot of time to train you and a lot of effort someone to communicate with you (if you are in a non English speaking country). In my opinion if you have a passion about something in particular (helping kids), then do something on your own like bring a ton of candy bars and hand them out to some underprivileged kids. Most organized volunteer benefits are more for you than they are for someone else, unless you do something long term like the peace corps - and even then its debatable.

4/22/2012 11:10:40 PM

Quote :

"Most organized volunteer benefits are more for you than they are for someone else, unless you do something long term like the peace corps - and even then its debatable."

Yes this has been my experience as well. Although I will say having worked with lots of Peace Corp folks, that while some of them I'm like, "So wtf did you actually do for two years in Bolivia?" a lot of them have done some pretty amazing things during their service. But they also had vital skills like being doctors or civil engineers, not just some bum with an Art History degree and no hope of getting a job in the current US job market.

4/23/2012 11:21:20 AM

In defense of the Peace Corps, they don't take random Art History majors with no applicable skills. The only reason I got a posting was because I volunteered at a museum for years doing environmental-type education, had a reasonably strong foreign language background, and had worked in schools (both volunteering and as a substitute).

Quote :

"Most organized volunteer benefits are more for you than they are for someone else, unless you do something long term like the peace corps - and even then its debatable."

This is fair. My life will probably benefit as much or more from the experience than my host community will. It will help my employability, teach me new skills and languages, and (hopefully) be fun. If I'm lucky, I'll provide some marginal improvement to the area I work in.

But on the other hand, what's so wrong with that? We haven't come up with a better idea, including your "Pick up garbage and give the diabetes" plan. Unfortunately, the lesson of history seems to be that you don't go from poor to prosperous through helping hands -- you do it through a painful and disruptive process of industrialization, technology development, and trade.

So maybe I'll benefit more. There's not much to do about that. I suppose you could provide me minimal training and have host country nationals just use me as manual labor, which would lower my benefits but not raise those for the community.

I'm going to be in Africa for two years, maybe more. God knows I'll have a lot of free time on my hands. Hopefully I can go beyond my official duties and help in other ways to balance things out a bit.

4/27/2012 10:59:20 PM

the head of African Studies at UNC was a speaker at a "professional development" we had today... she was talking so much shit about all these kids going out trying to "save africa" and all that.

4/27/2012 11:03:11 PM

I'm a trilingual teacher and could easily get a paying job but they all require a month commitment and I am only looking for 1 to 2 weeks.

4/28/2012 9:33:42 AM