Overseas volunteer placements - who's done one?

[S.]

Half thinking of doing a volunteer placement overseas at some point in the next couple of years, who here has done one? Where'd you do it, what kind of work were you doing, who were you doing it with/through, what'd it cost? I'd kinda like to do it somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, for a minimum of 3 months, on a non-religious program, anyone got any recommendations? Never been anywhere in Africa, nor do I know much about any of the countries within, other than for some reason the king of Nigeria keeps wanting to give me millions of dollars, so I'd like to travel around the continent a bit.

 

[Graunched]

I did a volunteer placement when I was 19 for 5 months. I ended up in the far east of Poland volunteering as a 'Native Speaker' in a Polish high school. I was given a crash course in working as a native speaker/teaching english for a week in Warsaw and then sent off on my own.

After the first week of teaching they kinda left me on my own with a class half the time so I, by default, turned into an English teacher! It was pretty cool as most of the time the English teachers would leave lesson plans for me to follow or I would just improvise. They loved blond jokes for some unfathomable reason.

As for the cost I cant really remember. My airfares and a little bit extra from memory.
I cant remember the name of the organisation that I did it through but I don't think you would be eligible as they only took in people a year or two out of high school.

 

[trt-reece]

I did 7 months in Thailand after I finished high school, I was 18 I think. I didn't do it through one of those volunteer organisations though, it was lined up through a contact I made, so I actually turned out to get a job over there as a teaching assistant/english camp organiser and assistant.

I have a contact who has a lot of sway with international park rangers, knows a lot of people etc, so I'm going to be calling on him next year to line up some work in south america, or maybe africa.

Personally I just don't like the idea of paying an organisation thousands of dollars to get the fellgood vibe of volunteering in a place that needs it... But unfortunately, it can be hard work finding volunteer positions without them. Still, don't rule out the possibility of doing some research, making some contacts, and sorting it all out yourself