We are a small, personal, hands-on volunteer organisation with 15 years experience of working with volunteers in conservation and humanitarian projects on the ground.
Volunteer International Adventures
focus is on youth and animal projects which we are passionate about. We see the
need for assistance from international volunteers in developing countries and
have seen the difference extra hands-on help can make to communities and
conservation.
Our priorities are:
Culture and
Cultural sensitivity
We want our
volunteers to immerse themselves in the culture of the country that they are
volunteering in. Volunteering is very different from being a tourist. As
volunteers are much closer to grassroots level, you get an in-depth insight
into the challenges the country faces. We love it when our volunteers want to
take part in as many activities as possible, meet locals and educate themselves
on the history of the country no matter how dark the past might be. As locals,
we understand the huge need for cultural sensitivity. That is why we like to
work with our project partners and communities and not enforce what we feel is
best for them. We never tell them what they need but ask how we can be of
assistance. That said, we always appreciate suggestions and creative ideas from
our volunteers. Never be afraid to mention your thoughts or ideas. They might
just be feasibly possible to implement within the communities we work in - and often
are.
Remember: what you
put into your project is what you will get out.
We want all our
volunteers to know that they have achieved something when they leave, whether
it be assisting a child to grasp mathematics, teaching school children the game
of cricket, uplifting youth with sewing classes, helping to satellite collar an
African wild dog, relocating a rhino, collecting data on great white shark
populations, treating indigenous sick wildlife, helping to sterilize animals
from disadvantaged communities, instilling the love of reading in a child or
teaching marimba classes. These are just a few examples of how volunteers have
given back in the past. We also want volunteers to leave having fallen in love
with the country they are helping in, and having made lifelong friends, who
will become future ambassadors for their countries.
Ethical projects
We do not support
the trophy hunting or canned lion breeding trade. We will not be assisting in
any projects that use volunteers to raise lions for the bullet or for profit in
any way.
Our wildlife and
animal projects are either wild on free-roaming reserves, in registered
rehabilitation centres or sanctuaries where the animals are non-releasable due
to injuries, human habituation or because they are exotic and not indigenous to
the area.
We support local,
ethical animal sanctuaries and reserves as activities volunteers can visit
during their free time.
When volunteering
for any projects with children, whether teaching, care or youth development, we
insist on receiving a paper copy of your CRB check, no older than six months,
from your country of origin. The children we work with often come from very
challenging socio-economic backgrounds and have been let down by adults many
times. We are not prepared to put them at risk, or to allow anyone to endanger
them in any way.
Animals and
children come first as they are innocents and do not have a voice to stand up
for themselves.
We pride ourselves
on responsible, sustainable projects with enough locals on board to carry on
running when volunteer numbers are low. Still, many of our projects depend
heavily on volunteers as there are not enough funds to permanently employ more
locals to help.
Cost effective
Over nearly 15 years of working with volunteers on projects, we have realised that
volunteering often comes at a very high cost. We aim to make volunteering more
accessible, reasonable and inclusive, which is why most of our projects include so many
extras. By keeping costs low and having more hands-on help we can achieve so
much more. Family, friends and group discounts are negotiable so, the more that
volunteer together, the lower we can keep the costs. We will always reward
loyalty for those that return to take part in our projects again.
Costs include
donations to our projects too
Safety
All our projects
have been strictly vetted, risks assessed, and safety measures checked. We will
not risk the safety of our volunteers, so some areas are off-limits. However,
nobody can ever guarantee total safety in any area. We do have open channels
for reporting any incidents and have close relations with in-country support on
the ground. We have liability insurance and insist that all participants have
personal travel insurance. We perform airport collection and drop offs, so we
will see you through, right to the end. We also believe in the personal touch
and are available to our volunteers 24/7 in case of emergencies.
Please arrange your
travel insurance at the time of booking your trip.
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Social Impact
After 15 years of working with volunteers from all over the world for an international volunteer organisation on projects involved with marine conservation, endangered wildlife and animal rehabilitation, education from foundation phase to high school in disadvantaged communities, sports development, youth and social work, veterinary medicine and animal rescue both in South Africa and abroad, our founder has established her own volunteer social project having seen ways how she can improve the experience for both volunteers and projects and make it more inclusive both culturally and financially. Over the years she has rescued countless animals, upgraded a creche in a disadvantaged area, sat on the board of an NPO for youth at risk for well over a decade, been actively involved with fundraising in particular for a vehicle for a local NPO, assisted in getting donations and wish list items for project and overseen large sports school groups with after school sports activities and weekend sports days with lots of happy volunteers that have returned over the years. She has worked with volunteers from younger gap year students who provide motivated hands-on help to highly skilled qualified and more mature volunteers who bring a wealth of knowledge to share both of which have a long term effect on improving projects and keeping them running. During the Covid-19 pandemic with international borders closed and travelling restricted, her partner and her worked actively on the ground coordinating, fundraising and distributing large amount of food donations several times a week to local soup kitchens as part of feeding schemes in the community helping the many that had lost jobs and were suffering financially and needed extra assistance with meals for their families. We also currently sponsor pet food for a monthly veterinary outreach clinic in a township on the Garden Route of South Africa and also sponsored the end of year (2022) party with gift bags for the youth for a local NPO working with youth at risk. We endeavour to help where we can with verified needs in the community and with our projects.