So here goes nothing…. I’m going to start with my first country abroad, Peru. I was there in December 2013.
I want to demystify my volunteering experience. I’m sure that many people question the idea of “paying to volunteer.” Unfortunately, or fortunately, many people around the world have started cashing in on creating companies that help administer the process of volunteering abroad. So what does that mean exactly?
Well, most people turn to the internet these days to research and/or find anything and everything they want to know about, including places they’d like to visit, restaurants they want to eat at, hotels they want to stay at, and even how to volunteer abroad.
So with this growing desire of many of us around the globe wanting to help others and the internet being at our fingers, clearly people found “opportunity” in setting up companies online that help us find places to volunteer at. So what are these companies for?
They are
essential the “middle man.” You contact
them and you pay them a fee to do the project in the location you want and you
even get to choose the type of project you want to be associated with. Do you want to build a house or do you want
to teach children English or do you want to work with endangered animals,
etc. Once you pay the middle man, they
then coordinate with an organization that is actually on the ground in the
location that you want to work at. So
the fees you are paying go to the administrative costs but more importantly,
they also pay for the security of knowing that someone out there is “responsible
for you.” They also cover your housing
expenses and quite often at least 1-3 meals a day. And they pick you up from the airport and
take you to the project so you’re not stuck in a foreign country where you don’t
know the language and don’t know how to get around nor how to communicate, all
of which is quite reassuring when you arrive to the airport and frantically
look for a sign with your name on it!
The other
good point is that the cost of living abroad in poor countries is very
cheap. Therefore, the cost you pay to
the agency to place you in a project is usually at least 50% LESS than what you’d
be paying to live in a middle class neighborhood in most of the USA. So for us first world people, this is a HUGE
blessing and it “seems” that we are getting a lot of bang for our buck and we’re
actually “winning!” But are we,
really? The reality is, while the cost
we paid to the agency is about 50% LESS than what we’d pay at home for rent per
week, it’s usually actually about 50% MORE than what you’d actually pay for
rent in that country. So where does the
extra money go?
Well, like
any “charity” or “not-for-profit organization” or “volunteer organization”,
they are paying for overhead, administrative costs and most likely, unless they
are a NFPO, they are likely using this as a “business”, therefore they have to
and want to make a “profit.” But how
much is too much?
Mishaps in Peru - thank goodness for the volunteer company
That is also a good question! It’s hard to say. Personally for me, the trade off of knowing someone was waiting for me at the airport of all 5 countries I worked in was a bigger deal than I thought it would be. As soon as I got to Peru, I first took a week on my own to explore Cusco, then I flew into Lima and waited at the airport for my pick up to go to my volunteering project. The irony was, no one told the guy picking me up that I was already in the country beforehand, therefore I was coming on a domestic flight, not an international one. So as I circled the area where the people were holding signs and saw not one with my name a little jolt of panic started to go through me. I did not have an international plan on my cell phone and I didn’t have a SIM card yet, so I really didn’t have a way to call anyone. I waited over 30 minutes and no one came. Then I started to think, well, the good news is I know some Spanish and can likely communicate to get some help, but, and this was the BIG but, what if I were in China when this happened? How would I communicate when I don’t know ANY Chinese? Well, I stayed calm and reminded myself that there was a day and age of “no technology” and we all figured out how to travel and deal with travel mishaps without all the technology we’ve grown accustomed to having at our fingertips. So I said to myself, “think Lucy, think, don’t panic, what should you do now?” So I walked over to a counter and with my broken Spanish I asked for some help, showed them the phone number I had, and now, wait come to think of it, I DID have a SIM, I bought it while I was in Cusco, but had I come from the US directly, I wouldn’t have. Nonetheless, none of the contact phone numbers I had with me were working, so it occurred to me that it was likely the numbers were given to me the way you’d dial them from “outside of the country” but now that I was inside the country, not only did I have to drop the “country code” but I may have to add or omit a zero and so I asked the lady behind the desk and she quickly revised the numbers for me and told me how to dial properly, but still NO ANSWER! I had 3 phone numbers and NONE were answering so again, I went back into panic mode! Now, time for plan B. I needed to find a “help desk.” But guess what? It was located on the other end of the main floor and I was not allowed to walk straight across to it from inside the airport and was told I must “exit” to the sidewalk outside and walk over to the door on the far end and enter from there. But then it hit me, “what if someone comes for me after I’ve left this area AND what if I cannot enter this area again after I leave?” But alas, after about 45 min. of waiting I knew it was a risk I had to take. Finally a gentleman saw I was stressed and needed help and offered to escort me to the right place after talking with someone who worked there.
Now mind
you, I was a GIANT in this country. Not
only am I on the plump side, but also I’m very tall (nearly 6 foot) and the
average Peruvian is more like 5 foot tall and very dark skinned compared to my
fair olive-skin. So as we’re walking
across the sidewalk to the other area, this short man walks up to me and in his
broken English looks at me and throws up a sign with my name on it and says, “are
you Lucille Sivov” and I was so excited I blurted out, “yes, yes, I am, but how
did you know that?”
I’m sure
being one of the few super tall and “white” people walking down the sidewalk,
that was also female, was a dead give away.
So why the
delay you ask? Because he had been
waiting all this time in international arrivals. And finally he gave up and decided he should
try the domestic arrivals before deciding what to do next and viola, we found
each other. Ahhhhh, finally I felt safe
again!
Mishaps in China - again thank goodness for the volunteer co.
The next time I had a stressful situation WAS in China. I took a week in Beijing first to explore on my own and then I was set to fly to Xi’an in the evening and be picked up at the airport. I got on the plane on time, luggage was checked in, carry on was on board and then bam, we’re stuck on the tarmac waiting and waiting and waiting. There were MANY announcements in Chinese on the plane and the few that came on in English were simply apologizing for the delay but giving no explanation of what was happening. I just kept reminding myself that it was better to be stuck on the ground if there was a problem, than to be in the air. So after a couple hours of waiting in the plane and not moving, the flight attendants came out with their carts and started serving drinks and I thought, wait a second, am I losing my mind, are we in the air already? I quickly looked over and found out, nope, we were still on the ground! I knew it was odd they were serving us when we hadn’t taken off yet, but I could do nothing but wait and “see” what was next as I couldn’t understand what they were saying in Chinese. Then about 30 min. later, the seatbelt light went off and everyone jumped up and started grabbing their suitcases. I looked around completely confused and a guy next to me said, “flight cancelled, take your suitcase, go to hotel, I will see you tomorrow.” OK! Now what?
The next time I had a stressful situation WAS in China. I took a week in Beijing first to explore on my own and then I was set to fly to Xi’an in the evening and be picked up at the airport. I got on the plane on time, luggage was checked in, carry on was on board and then bam, we’re stuck on the tarmac waiting and waiting and waiting. There were MANY announcements in Chinese on the plane and the few that came on in English were simply apologizing for the delay but giving no explanation of what was happening. I just kept reminding myself that it was better to be stuck on the ground if there was a problem, than to be in the air. So after a couple hours of waiting in the plane and not moving, the flight attendants came out with their carts and started serving drinks and I thought, wait a second, am I losing my mind, are we in the air already? I quickly looked over and found out, nope, we were still on the ground! I knew it was odd they were serving us when we hadn’t taken off yet, but I could do nothing but wait and “see” what was next as I couldn’t understand what they were saying in Chinese. Then about 30 min. later, the seatbelt light went off and everyone jumped up and started grabbing their suitcases. I looked around completely confused and a guy next to me said, “flight cancelled, take your suitcase, go to hotel, I will see you tomorrow.” OK! Now what?
So I
followed the crowd. Quickly I saw that
everyone went down to baggage claim and got their bags and then they all bum
rushed an airport counter on the baggage claim floor. I walked over, and by then, knowing that
Asians don’t believe in “queues”, I knew I’d have to be as pushy as they were
or I’d never get to the actual counter.
Eventually my turn was coming and I saw a woman off to the side about to
push in front of me, I could just see it in her eyes. So as she went for it, so did I and I loudly
and firmly repeated to her, “No! No!” and then I moved forward. I asked if anyone spoke English and they
found someone who told me I was getting a voucher for a hotel stay and the
airline will call the hotel and tell us when our next flight is. Good information? Partially!
I didn’t know if that meant in 1 hour, 3 hours, the next morning, or
possibly days later? Again, all I could
do was follow the herd. I made it out to
the curb where the shuttles come by but now I had NO clue what hotel I was
going to, nor what shuttle to take.
Someone pointed to a hotel down the road and said that’s where we were
going. I nearly started walking when
something told me to stay put. Finally I
insisted on finding another person that worked for the airport AND spoke
English,…. not an easy task!! I finally
found someone, but his English was broken and he kept saying, “you take shuttle”
but when I asked “to which hotel” and “which shuttle” he didn’t understand so
again…. I was in panic mode! But again I
assured myself that I’ve traveled all over the world and could handle
this. So eventually I found the one man
that spoke GOOD English. After he
explained exactly what I needed to do I asked, “so will the shuttle say the
name of my hotel on the side of it in English OR in Chinese?” And he replied, “in Chinese” and I replied, “so
how am I supposed to read it?” and he replied, “hm, I don’t know.” So then I finally said, “ok, you are now
personally responsible for me. You must
watch me until I get on the shuttle and it is your responsibility to make sure
you tell me as soon as that shuttle comes and you point to it to make sure I
know which one to get on.” Btw, it was
pitch dark out, there was no lighting outside and there were tons of shuttles
of all shapes and sizes moving in and out of there every single minute I
waited. But eventually, the golden
ticket arrived! I don’t think the guy
liked me telling him he was personally responsible for me nor the fact that I
would not let him out of my sights, cuz if he moved, I moved! Eventually the shuttle came and he said, “get
on this one” and pointed to a big Greyhound-sized bus. I rushed over as did all the Chinese and
tried to get my 2 suitcases on under the bus.
Unfortunately though I started my travels light with one suitcase, while
I was in S. Africa, my luggage was lost for 27 days and once I left there I now
had to buy a large suitcase in addition to the carry-on sized one I had. So, needless to say with tons of people
trying to shove their stuff on the bus and no one to help me, getting 2
suitcases on in the belly of the bus was proving to be a BIG challenge. Quickly the whole belly filled up and there
was only one small space left when they finally let me squeeze in to try to put
my stuff in there. Unfortunately the big
suitcase did NOT fit, but I saw that the carry-on would, so I shoved in there
as I clicked into “survival mode” and “every man for himself”, so then I
dragged the big suitcase to the door of the bus and managed to shove it up the
stairs in front of me and into the aisle of the bus. The bus was already overfilled and the guy in
the first row that had his legs in the aisle was NOT happy when I started
trying to push through with my suitcase, just enough far back so the few people
behind me could board too. I’m truly
glad I’m NOT an introverted person, or I never would’ve made it on that bus and
who knows when or if a second one would’ve come. So when I got to the hotel I
told myself, “just follow the Chinese people and do whatever they do.” So I quickly saw them pulling out their IDs
and their plane tickets and they’d hand it to the people at the reception of
the hotel and photocopies were taken in exchange for a room key, so I did the
same and was successful, but still the questions lingered, “when was my new
flight and how would I know and how would I get back to the airport?” So I again insisted on someone who spoke
English to come help me. The Chinese,
btw, don’t like to give definitive answers and often will answer, “maybe.” For example, you ask for directions and they
tell you, “go straight and maybe turn left at the light.” What do you mean maybe? Either it is or it isn’t! Ah, I digress! Anyway, the lady then told me, “go to your
room, shower, sleep and MAYBE someone will call you in the morning to tell you
when your flight is, then you come downstairs.”
Um, ok, that was as close to a definitive answer as I was gonna get, so
I took and didn’t ask further. I went
upstairs and did exactly what she said, but I was smart and didn’t unpack a
thing. I showered and got right back
into my travel clothes, I didn’t even put on pjs, and I left my shoes by the
suitcase and was ready to go when the call came. I got a few hours of sleep before I heard the
neighboring rooms phones start ringing one after another and I knew I was
next. Sure enough, “you come downstairs
NOW!” was the only sentence I head over the phone and I obeyed as I had no clue
how quickly I needed to be there. I was
downstairs in less than 3 minutes ready to go.
We waited for a shuttle that took us back. Ironically 2 shuttles came but they were
marked differently and again I didn’t know which one to take but my gutt told
me which one to get on and I prayed the whole time that it WAS going back to
the airport and sure enough it was. From
there the process was easy, back to check in the backs and get a new boarding
pass, then through security to our new gate and new flight. But now the big question lingered, “does the
volunteer company know my flight was delayed AND do they know when my new
flight is coming in order to pick me up?
Well, the
answer was that they didn’t initially know the flight was delayed and they had
waited for hours the night before and finally found out about the flight being
delayed but no details for a new flight were released and finally early the
next morning, when they’d been calling the airport every hour all night, they
got the answer and sent someone to get me.
When I
arrived in Xi’an, I was praying yet again that a sign with MY name on it would
emerge. There was a big glass window
area in front of baggage claim and lot of people were waiting on the other side
of it with their signs so before I even got my suitcases I circled near the
windows and BAM, I saw my name. I waived
and acknowledged it was me and then pointed to show the man I needed to get my
luggage. To my surprise it had snowed
all night in Xi’an, and that had been why the flight was delayed. So it was VERY cold when I exited the plane! The driver did not speak any English so he
called someone and handed his phone to me and I heard an English speaking voice
who said the driver would bring me to them and they were waiting for me. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, relief, joy, reassurance
that everything was OK finally! I
remembered to ask how long the drive would be and the guy told me “at least one
hour.” I’m so glad I asked or I might’ve
panicked again while riding in the taxi for so long and not knowing when we’d
arrive as I didn’t know a single landmark and had never been there before and
couldn’t ask my driver.
Paying to volunteer vs. trying to do it on your own
So for me, these are the reasons that “paying” to volunteer abroad ARE worth it, but, I will not say that there haven’t been times when I’ve questioned, “where is all this money going?”, knowing full well the organization that I was working with within the actual country was clearly pocketing a HUGE amount of money!
So for me, these are the reasons that “paying” to volunteer abroad ARE worth it, but, I will not say that there haven’t been times when I’ve questioned, “where is all this money going?”, knowing full well the organization that I was working with within the actual country was clearly pocketing a HUGE amount of money!
Going at it alone - don't be fooled, time is money & you still MUST spend some money to get there & to survive
Could you save money by simply taking on a “back packing” approach and going to the country directly, back packing around and locally asking where help is needed and then simply showing up and offering to help? Oh yes, I’m sure you could! But how much would you save? Could you locate a place that needed help that was NOT affiliated with an organization that would want money in exchange for your services? Maybe, maybe not. And of course, time and energy are money! Also, for those that are in their 20s, this would be a great adventure and probably an adrenaline rush, but for those of us in our 40s or later, that same situation is actually quite stressful and overwhelming. Life experience has taught us what “could go wrong” and we are not as daring as our younger counterparts. Having the reassurance and knowledge that someone is there for us and not only picks us up, has taken care of our housing arrangements, but also is responsible to help us in the event of any crisis (health, death, accident, etc) in my book is priceless. It’s not like our US insurance works the same abroad and most “travel insurances” prove pretty worthless up front leaving us to frontload costs and wait for refunds months later, so for me, paying an organization to be responsible for all this is well worth it. Also, it’s more likely than not that if you found the organization on the ground directly and cut out the online middle man, you wouldn’t save more than about 25%, but you may have spent quite some time to find them and then spent more money on finding hostels to stay in and transportation from town to town trying to find the project you want to work on. The online company allows you to research everything out there on their website, allowing you to know and choose the area you will go to and allowing you to know and choose which project you want to be involved with.
Could you save money by simply taking on a “back packing” approach and going to the country directly, back packing around and locally asking where help is needed and then simply showing up and offering to help? Oh yes, I’m sure you could! But how much would you save? Could you locate a place that needed help that was NOT affiliated with an organization that would want money in exchange for your services? Maybe, maybe not. And of course, time and energy are money! Also, for those that are in their 20s, this would be a great adventure and probably an adrenaline rush, but for those of us in our 40s or later, that same situation is actually quite stressful and overwhelming. Life experience has taught us what “could go wrong” and we are not as daring as our younger counterparts. Having the reassurance and knowledge that someone is there for us and not only picks us up, has taken care of our housing arrangements, but also is responsible to help us in the event of any crisis (health, death, accident, etc) in my book is priceless. It’s not like our US insurance works the same abroad and most “travel insurances” prove pretty worthless up front leaving us to frontload costs and wait for refunds months later, so for me, paying an organization to be responsible for all this is well worth it. Also, it’s more likely than not that if you found the organization on the ground directly and cut out the online middle man, you wouldn’t save more than about 25%, but you may have spent quite some time to find them and then spent more money on finding hostels to stay in and transportation from town to town trying to find the project you want to work on. The online company allows you to research everything out there on their website, allowing you to know and choose the area you will go to and allowing you to know and choose which project you want to be involved with.
The issue of where the money all goes?
Now getting back to the cash issue…. when I was in S. Africa, I saw that there were 5 volunteer houses run by “Dreams to Reality”, the on the ground organization I was volunteering with. Myself and a few of the other volunteers started to question where all the money went. We now knew how much the rents cost in the area and how much food cost and we added up the approx. weekly cost that each volunteer was paying and then multiplied that times 4 to get the monthly rate and found that this organization was bringing in well over $10,000 USD a month. Granted they had 3 women that ran the program, that did all the admin and a lot of driving too, then they had 2 drivers just to get us to and from our projects, and they had about 3 cooks that prepared all the food for all the volunteer houses every day and of course the cost of the food and the electricity for the houses. It still didn’t seem logical that they could possibly come close to spending what they were bringing in so one of the other volunteers asked to “see the books.” She met with the owner of the organization but he said he’s not a registered “not-for-profit” so he’s not obligated to provide books as he IS allowed to make a profit and clearly he was. Am I mad at him? Yes and no! Yes because I feel that if we are “helping a cause” the majority of the money should go to that cause, and no because at the end of the day he’s a businessman and he is running a fine oiled machine that WORKS and all the programs are getting the physical help they need, though sometimes not all the financial help they need (which is my only quam, sure pocket some money but make sure the kids in the schools we volunteer at have the supplies they need AND the kids at the day care centers have the wet wipes and diapers they need, then…. go ahead and pocket the rest). Eh, but such is life, constantly there is a greedy man behind the scenes!
Now getting back to the cash issue…. when I was in S. Africa, I saw that there were 5 volunteer houses run by “Dreams to Reality”, the on the ground organization I was volunteering with. Myself and a few of the other volunteers started to question where all the money went. We now knew how much the rents cost in the area and how much food cost and we added up the approx. weekly cost that each volunteer was paying and then multiplied that times 4 to get the monthly rate and found that this organization was bringing in well over $10,000 USD a month. Granted they had 3 women that ran the program, that did all the admin and a lot of driving too, then they had 2 drivers just to get us to and from our projects, and they had about 3 cooks that prepared all the food for all the volunteer houses every day and of course the cost of the food and the electricity for the houses. It still didn’t seem logical that they could possibly come close to spending what they were bringing in so one of the other volunteers asked to “see the books.” She met with the owner of the organization but he said he’s not a registered “not-for-profit” so he’s not obligated to provide books as he IS allowed to make a profit and clearly he was. Am I mad at him? Yes and no! Yes because I feel that if we are “helping a cause” the majority of the money should go to that cause, and no because at the end of the day he’s a businessman and he is running a fine oiled machine that WORKS and all the programs are getting the physical help they need, though sometimes not all the financial help they need (which is my only quam, sure pocket some money but make sure the kids in the schools we volunteer at have the supplies they need AND the kids at the day care centers have the wet wipes and diapers they need, then…. go ahead and pocket the rest). Eh, but such is life, constantly there is a greedy man behind the scenes!
What's right for me, may not be right for you. We all must decide what our level of comfort is when we embark on missions abroad.
So I close by saying, to each his own! You have to weigh your own personal needs and desires. Do you want to be comfortable and safe and in exchange are willing to spend a bit extra that may not all go to the cause you are helping OR do you go at it alone and still have to spend money on airfare to get there, some sort of housing even if it is a tent in a campground or a bunkbed in a hostel and, of course, food! And then there’s the time and nerves spent to find where you want to go. Again, this is all up to the prospective of the individual. Some will find it thrilling to “search” for the next project to help at, while they wander around a country trying to find it and meanwhile meeting other do-gooder backpackers like themselves, whereas others want to “get in and get out” and feel that everything is a known factor, they know what to anticipate and know what they will get. But the reality is…. You NEVER get what you expect, so you must roll with the punches.
So I close by saying, to each his own! You have to weigh your own personal needs and desires. Do you want to be comfortable and safe and in exchange are willing to spend a bit extra that may not all go to the cause you are helping OR do you go at it alone and still have to spend money on airfare to get there, some sort of housing even if it is a tent in a campground or a bunkbed in a hostel and, of course, food! And then there’s the time and nerves spent to find where you want to go. Again, this is all up to the prospective of the individual. Some will find it thrilling to “search” for the next project to help at, while they wander around a country trying to find it and meanwhile meeting other do-gooder backpackers like themselves, whereas others want to “get in and get out” and feel that everything is a known factor, they know what to anticipate and know what they will get. But the reality is…. You NEVER get what you expect, so you must roll with the punches.
Going with the flow! How each project changes and you must adapt once you get there.
Please read my individual blog posts for each country I traveled to and worked in to see how I had to “go with the flow” and adapt to what I was offered to work with.
Please read my individual blog posts for each country I traveled to and worked in to see how I had to “go with the flow” and adapt to what I was offered to work with.
IMPORTANT
DISCLAIMER re THE COSTS I PERSONALLY SPENT vs. the DONATIONS I RECEIVED TO HELP
OFF SET SOME OF THESE COSTS:
Btw, if
you're curious to know where $14,000 went for all my volunteer and internship
projects went (of which I raised approx. $1,700 in donations from friends and
family), check out my fundraising page that documents nearly all of
it. I believe I had about $12k up front in costs, which I listed all of
them on my fundraising page, and another $2k or so once I got on the ground and
had some extra fees I had to pay. Also, I'd like to assure all my friends
that made a donation to support me in this journey all costs I've listed are
directly and solely related to the costs I paid for these volunteer
projects. Any site seeing I did on my own was 100% out of my own
pocket and was NOT accounted for in the $14k of expenses I dished out of
pocket to volunteer and intern in 5 different countries. Here's a link to
my fundraising page: http://www.gofundme.com/4hobcw
NOTE: Out of the $1,738 I've raised to date, only $150 were given
to me over the last week and a half as a personal plea of assistance while
I was left temporarily without access to cash in my account and I felt
that giving people the link to my fundraising page was the easiest way to
get cash to me abroad, though I had technically finished all my volunteering
and internship projects just two weeks prior, but I was completely honest about
this when I solicited some help to get me by for 2 weeks while I was waiting
for access to cash as Asia is far from a credit-card friendly environment....
cash is King here! :)
Links to the two main organizations I used for my volunteering and internship projects (which I researched extensively before I chose them). "International Volunteer HQ" aka "IVHQ" is the most reasonably priced, but they don't offer "internships" and they had put their "panda project" on hold, so I went with "i-to-i" for the Thailand internship and the China panda project. All the other volunteer programs I did in Peru, S. Africa, China (teaching) and Sri Lanka were through IVHQ.
It should also be noted that every single volunteer project and country I considered working in was available through BOTH of these organizations, only IVHQ's costs was about 30% less!
International Volunteer HQ/IVHQ:
i-to-i (I used them for my Thailand internship and my China panda bear project. My teaching in China was thru IVHQ):
Till next
time….
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