Volunteer Abroad For Free

Open mind projects - CNN recommends 8 volunteer organizations world wide in their Be the Change Initiative. Open Mind Projects is one.Volunteer to help underprivileged children, poor and sick children and orphans in Nepal. Work with local people, to see and experience Nepal its charm but also the problems and difficulties that face the young and poor.All volunteers are picked up at the airport…

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Orphanage Outreach - Volunteers will be teaching in local Dominican grade schools and the Orphanage Outreach English Institute during the school year, and conducting camps during the summer.

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Open mind projects - CNN recommends 8 volunteer organizations world wide in their Be the Change Initiative. Open Mind Projects is one.Volunteer to help underprivileged children, street families and orphans in Cambodia. Work with local people, to see and experience Cambodia its charm, its problems, its dark past, through their eyes. All volunteers are welcome to a free and very useful 3 day Orientation…

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STAR Kampuchea - Role of the volunteerFor all organizations, especially in the countryside, it is a great honour to host a foreign volunteer. The volunteer is warmly welcome and will be included in all daily activities of the organization and the staff. Volunteering in Cambodia benefits both the volunteer and the students, and it will be an unforgettable experience. Teaching English will not…

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World Youth International offers two programs to a variety of destinations. All volunteers must be a minimum age of 18 and there is no maximum age limit.

Overseas Action Program (OA) &  Overseas Service Project (OSP)

Depending on the which program you select, World Youth International offers their volunteer programs in the follow destinations. Kenya, Peru, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia

Overseas Action Program
Available to volunteers over 18 yerars old. Allows volunteers to be completed immerses in the culture. The 5 week program focuses on developing community projects based around health care, income generation and educational training.

The overseas action program is offered in the following destinations.
Kenya, Peru, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia

Overseas Service Project
Available to volunteers over 18 year of age. The Overseas service placement offers 3 areas of placements for volunteers, allowing volunteers to contribute their professional skills to help make a difference.

Professional Placement
As a trained professional you able to assist locals with your professional skills.

Teaching Placement
Qualified Teachers can be placed in a suitable schools. Non qualitfied teachers may apply though will need to complete a TESOL training to be able to qualify for the teaching placement.

General Placement
For those unsure what they’d like to do but want to make a meaningful contribution, then general placement allows you to test the water. The site inspection allows you to spend time with each organisation and see what’s involved and where that is inline with your passion.

Whatever your decision you know your time will be appreciated.

We’ll be reviewing and listing all the available volunteer programs available online.

The each volunteer program is unique, each providing meaningful contribution at different levels and at different destinations.

As we progress we’ll hopefully build an extensive list of the countires and volunteer organisations within those countries.

So don’t forget to bookmark the site so you stay up to date with the latest volunteer programs.

While the idea of volunteering may have looked good on paper, you really need to be ready to step outside your comfort zone and go with the flow.

Here are some tips to make your volunteer travel more enjoyable.

Be open to the local culture.
Researching the local culture of the country will help you get an idea of what you’ll initially expect when you visit that country. You should take note of dress codes (if neccesary), religious events,  greeting, political situations.

 Create relationships
One of the most rewarding features of volunteering is the close relationships you make with your host family, other volunteers and the community around you.
You’ll soon see how appreciated your time and effort is to all of those around you.

This is a great opportunity to build lasting relationship with other’s who share the same passions.

 Learn the Language
A great way to become more involved is try learning the language, which helps breaks the ice and can be alot of fun.

While these tips maybe simple they can make a big difference to your overall travel experience, and when things just don’t to plan, you can use my favourite phrase when travelling to the Philippines… “Only in the Philippines”.

Travelling overseas can be a fun and exciting when everything goes right, one of the hassles when traveling overseas is having easy access to your money. While carrying wads of cash isn’t the safest option when travelling overseas, carrying a prepaid credit card could be.

Just like a normal VISA or Mastercard credit card, you’ll have access to your funds via the millions of ATM’s around the world that accept VISA or Mastercard credit card. The difference between the prepaid credit cards and normal credit cards is that prepaid cards do not have a line of credit attached to the card.

Prepaid credit card users have to top up the prepaid card in order to use the prepaid card.

We’ve listed some of the benefits of the prepaid card.

• Available to people under 18 years old.
• Not linked to a bank account or credit card.
• Can be used for online purchases.
• No interest paid on cash advances or purchases.
• Prepaid Credit Cards can easily be activate/deactived.
• Transaction fees (in most cases) are on par with credit card companies.
• No monthly maintainance fees.
• No annual fees.
• Accepted where all VISA or Mastercard credit cards are accepted. (dependant on the type of card i.e VISA or Mastercard)
• Prepaid card limits as high as $22,000 (Through Bopo Prepaid Credit Cards, after completing 100 point identity check)
• Low risk of fraudulent transactions due to low prepaid entry level.(Risking hundreds of dollars instead of thousands on credit)

These some of the disadvantages to the prepaid card.

• Most banks offer a VISA or Mastercard Debit card which is linked to their personal account.
• When used regularly, transaction fees can add up just like credit cards.
• Some shopping centres don’t accept payment from prepaid credit cards.
• Adding funds to up your prepaid card can take 1 - 2 days. (faster if over the counter, though we’re unsure how funds will be topped up in third world countries, unless process was completed via funds transfer. We’ll try to get more information about this)

The prepaid credit card, as you can see do have it’s inherent problems when using it’s service when overseas, though this seems to be the cost of travelling overseas whether you use the prepaid credit card of standard credit card.

We’ve  has a look at several reviews for the bopo prepaid visa card for Australian travellers and currently weighing up other options for other travellers, which we’ll update over time.