Volunteer Abroad

[DjKanobi]

I am thinking of volunteering abroad next year and I need some input as to what program I should join. I would like to go to Africa, because it seems that people there could really use the help and I would love to be able to help out in some way. I want to help people and would also love to see and live in a different cultural setting for a while.

I want to be of some use, and I don't want to be involved with a program that is not well run. There seems to be so many choices that it is hard to narrow my search down. Thats were you guys come in.

Have any of you had any great experiences volunteering abroad? Can you recommend any organizations that have really good programs that really utilize volunteers. Clinical work would be a plus, but does not have to be.
Anyone?

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[Vvandenn]

islonline.org

 

[kypdurron5]

You should do a search...there have been numerous threads with links in the last few days. There was one thing I saw someone say that's worth repeating; don't do it just for the experience or to pad your application. Considering plane ticket and everything you could end up spending $5000 easily; think about all the good that money could have done if you had donated it to your community. Furthermore, it's not going to be very impressive if all you get is a little shadowing time similar to what you might get in a stateside low income clinic. There's a lot of need in Africa, but not so much for a pre-med student who isn't allow to so much as administer an injection. I don't know your background, so maybe you can be of more use than I'm imagining, but keep in mind that all forms of "helping out" are not created equal. So if you DO do something like this, make sure it's a very clinical position. (Unless you're thinking about doing something humanitarian rather than medical/clinical. If that's the case I would highly recommend doing it for at least a month. I've seen programs out there for 1-2 weeks, but really, that's not even enough time to get settled in).

 

[nabs86]

www.volunteerabroad.com

You can search for hundreds of programs and get links to their websites.