Volunteer work

Amp34

Amp34

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I'm an unemployed bum at the moment (with no money, just finished uni and haven't got a proper job yet) and was thinking of applying to do some volunteer work, either in the UK or preferably abroad. The only problem is most of the voluntary work oversees you have to pay for (at least living costs) which means Billy no money hasn't a chance... Does anyone know of any companies/charities/websites that do voluntary work that you don't have to "pay" for (although I don't mind about air fares etc, although not paying for that would be preferable)?

I'm looking at either something to do with Geology/Environment or Animals (having done a degree in Geology). I'd be tempted to do some work around home (hertfordshire) however I doubt there would be anything like that round here...

Unlikely I know, but you never know, someone may have more luck than me. Unfortunately I did have a couple of weeks lined up in Italy helping a researcher from my old uni, however that's been cancelled.:(
 
If there are any wildlife trusts/reserves in the area, they're always looking for volunteers.
 
Thanks, i'm looking into that too, but at the moment I can't drive (and it would cot a bit in petrol anyway) so that limits my options in the local area a bit. Also I can't really find anything within half an hour or so anyway. :)

I'm more looking at longer term (few weeks to a couple of months full time) work (essentially a job) as mentioned before preferably out of the country (partly for selfish reasons, to experience other places as well as help the environment). :)
 
I used to do work with the homeless in Manchester which I found very rewarding but I found that it was very hard to get accepted as a volunteer even though you are giving your time to help others.
Good luck in your search
 
I'll have a look into the Job centre as well then. :)
 
Try doing a Google search for international volunteering :) VSO is one organisation that I know of, however, GVI may be more up your street!
 
minimeeze said:
Try doing a Google search for international volunteering :) VSO is one organisation that I know of, however, GVI may be more up your street!
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Thanks, I've had a look at VSO before and they are more people based, but they do seem to do some conservation based stuff. GVI seem to fall into the trap of costing thousands to volunteer with them for a couple of months, however they also seem to have paid jobs which look rather interesting (although slightly odd imo:shrug:):thumbs:

I'll do a search on for international volunteering as I didn't think of that search string before.:)
 
Amp34 said:
I'm an unemployed bum at the moment (with no money, just finished uni and haven't got a proper job yet) and was thinking of applying to do some volunteer work, either in the UK or preferably abroad. The only problem is most of the voluntary work oversees you have to pay for (at least living costs) which means Billy no money hasn't a chance... Does anyone know of any companies/charities/websites that do voluntary work that you don't have to "pay" for (although I don't mind about air fares etc, although not paying for that would be preferable)?

I'm looking at either something to do with Geology/Environment or Animals (having done a degree in Geology). I'd be tempted to do some work around home (hertfordshire) however I doubt there would be anything like that round here...

Unlikely I know, but you never know, someone may have more luck than me. Unfortunately I did have a couple of weeks lined up in Italy helping a researcher from my old uni, however that's been cancelled.:(
Click to expand...

HMWT check them out. They are the local and very active wildlife trust here. I help out at the moment on a reserve but if you look in their vacancies section
http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/herts/

Few jobs which you may get with a little bit of money while helping out.
Cheers,
Luke
 
I think you may be hard pressed to find volunteer work abroad without paying the earth.

I've done a couple of youth projects a few years ago with VSO. The age range for the projects were 18-25. They were a great organisation to volunteer with, all the suport you need, pretty much everything paid for and they provide you with an allowance. Although there are not many conservation projects with them, it may be worth contacting them, and seeing whats available. All they ask for in return is you do some fundraising, and you attend some training weekends.

On the first project I went on it was for 6 months with a group ok Uk and Thai volunteers (3 months in the uk, and 3 in Thailand), living and working in the community with host families.

The second project involved me living in Russia for a year working with disadvantaged youth in a social adaptation centre. I lived in Moscow, had my own flat etc, did as I wanted so to speak, an excellent experience, that I would advise any youngsters to do if they had the opportunity. Not all projexts were in Russia, some South America, Africa, Asia. All different types of projects to work on.
 
Luke_Herts said:
HMWT check them out. They are the local and very active wildlife trust here. I help out at the moment on a reserve but if you look in their vacancies section
http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/herts/

Few jobs which you may get with a little bit of money while helping out.
Cheers,
Luke
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I've had a look into the wildlife trust, however they only seem to do the occasional weekends not full time as such, and the jobs are for fundraising (and tbh door to door is not my cup of tea), i'd be much more interested in the hard graft.:)

-spb- said:
I think you may be hard pressed to find volunteer work abroad without paying the earth.

I've done a couple of youth projects a few years ago with VSO. The age range for the projects were 18-25. They were a great organisation to volunteer with, all the suport you need, pretty much everything paid for and they provide you with an allowance. Although there are not many conservation projects with them, it may be worth contacting them, and seeing whats available. All they ask for in return is you do some fundraising, and you attend some training weekends.

On the first project I went on it was for 6 months with a group ok Uk and Thai volunteers (3 months in the uk, and 3 in Thailand), living and working in the community with host families.

The second project involved me living in Russia for a year working with disadvantaged youth in a social adaptation centre. I lived in Moscow, had my own flat etc, did as I wanted so to speak, an excellent experience, that I would advise any youngsters to do if they had the opportunity. Not all projexts were in Russia, some South America, Africa, Asia. All different types of projects to work on.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately that's what i'm finding, there are plenty of free (even allowanced) opportunities, but the vast majority are people/communtiy based which i'm not interested in. I have found a few environmental/animal ones but they are mostly in the "western" countries strangely but unfortunately arent usually long enough to be worth my while buying a plane ticket to there (for example, a week helping remove invasive species from rivers near the Grand canyon).

I'm heading to the library in a bit to get a couple of books out on oversees volunteering so i'll see what they have to offer, but at the moment i'm thinking about scrapping the idea, as i'm not interested in working with disadvantaged youth/local communites the entire time.

My ideal voluntary opportunity would be to work as a field assistant to a researcher/lecturer in either a geology/environmental study, but there seem to be none around either.
 
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