Category: Travel and Tourism
hi, I have this yearning to travel and to do some voluntary work in underdeveloped countries. however I'm not too keen to fork out a lot of money in order to do volunteer work and I know that's what a lot of these organisations require. I would be happy to just slum it somewhere and pay for my flight and whatever other expenses there were. I do think that being blind makes a bit of a difference though as I don't think I could just turn up somewhere and just play things by ear like a lot of travellers do. I think it would be really interesting to work with blind people in a third world country since there are so many places where blindness is considered to be particular to that part of the world and not a part of the western world at all! I have an ba honours degree in english literature and will have a masters in english as well in a couple of months. Does anyone have any ideas? I am very resilient and wouldn't really ask for much so it seems such a lot of trouble to try and get funding and sponsorship for a trip where that is not really a necessity when things are broken down etc. so please I really would like to hear of any ideas or experiences!
I cannot tell you what to do on going abroad, but I have done some voluntary work. I have mainly done it for my education to finish my Associates degree. I have volunteered to work for some time in three areas to teach students how to read and write Braille. For the third area I was also a multi tasker--shredding paper, calling people for their donations, preparing donations--all in my own community
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I have used the experience of the third area to find another volunteer area while waiting for continuing my edication. This volunteer area was simulare to the last because I did office things such as taking messages or answering questions, folding papers for sending out, stuffing envelopes, etc.
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All of these I had to think or search for in my community and in some cases fill out applications. as a final idea I have gathered clothes from my church and given it to a charity for the poor to use. Now I say clothes, but some members gave household items such as radios to give the poor also.
Hi, maybe you can research a bit on volunteering with blind organization on developing or not-so-develop countries? As far as with general volunteer abroad is concern, it can be a bit hard cause of disabilities. Yes, it might not seems to be a great issue, but at the same time, it is an issue for the organization and also for that particular regional program as well. Your health and safety in a way, is under their duty of care. I'm working with a volunteer abroad organization, and they can't place me in any of the program just yet, deal to, again, deal to my blindness, and also safety reason. If you want to know more, please feel free to private message me or send me an email.
Good luck,
thanks for the replies, to Buttercup I am sorry to hear that the organisation you approached has not been able to place you purely based on blindness, I would ask you more about it but if they havn't been able to place you I doubt they would be able to place me iether! I am considering doing a TEfL course (teaching English as a foreign language) because then you can teach pretty much anywhere in the world meaning that I would not necessarily have to volunteer through any organisation. Of course its a bit of a drag doing this course on top of an english BA degree and MA degree that I have already but at least then I have that qualification to fall back on if I am ever stuck for employment. to poster two, I already do voluntary work in my community on an emergency helpline for people who are in need of emotional support or who are suicidal but of course its interesting to hear about your experiences-there are so many different opportunities in the voluntary sector.
I am glad we were able to help. I wanted to add you can do any act of service. It seems small and simple, but holding the door for someone, giving dirrections, picking up litter or moving branches off the sidewalk, taking things such as folders into the lost and found are an act of voluntary service. It is not the usual kind but appreciated.
TEFL is quite a good option, specially if you looking at volunteering/working abroad in developing country. Another option might be to join some mission trip from some church as well. In that way, you are volunteering with a group instead of individual or a small team of volunteers. This specific organization that i'm working on is pretty much on individual volunteer program, that means, they don't have the time and resources to support a individual volunteer that may have special needs. Also, 80% of their program is rather not suitable for blind people anyway. However, they do have some great program, doing community development work in Africa or South America, or Eastern Europe. Something that i have my eyes on, but i need to see as to how i can make it happen.
I have a friend that teach ESL at cChina about 3 years ago. I believe he was on working visa, and he was there for about a year or so. He's also visually impaired, but he got quite a good vision.
You may look into searching online at volunteer match:
volunteermatch.com
This is the sight which helped me find somewhere to go while waiting to continue my education. It asks you to create an account and how far you are willing to go for finding the volunteer work.