5 Websites to Volunteer While Traveling on a Budget
5 Websites to Volunteer While Traveling on a Budget
Many people desire to travel but think that it is too expensive and, therefore, completely unattainable to them. But the good news is there are inexpensive ways to travel on a budget, where we can still expand our minds, travel sustainably and give back to the communities we pass through. Today, I’m really excited to introduce you to my friend Melica, who is going to share a handful of websites she uses to travel on a budget and give back to the community.
Follow Melica and learn more: melliiic.com – Facebook – Instagram @melliiic
Transcript: The following is a transcription of 5 Websites to Volunteer While Traveling on a Budget.
[Robin:] Many people desire to travel, but think that it is too expensive and, therefore, completely unattainable to them. But the good news is, there are inexpensive ways to travel on a budget, where we can still expand our minds, travel sustainably, and give back to the communities that we pass through. Today, I’m excited to introduce you to my friend Melica, who’s going to share a handful of websites that she uses in order to travel on a budget sustainably and give back to the communities.
[Melica:] Hey everyone! This is Melica from Iran. I have been traveling and volunteering around Latin America for two-and-a-half years, and right now, I’m in a small village called Jaibalito in Guatemala. Today, I want to talk about volunteering, why volunteer, different types of volunteering, and I want to introduce you to some websites where you can find volunteer opportunities all around the world.
What does it mean, to volunteer? To volunteer means to help, to freely offer to do something. When we volunteer, we learn and practice not to expect from other people. People volunteer for so many different reasons! They volunteer because it feels good, they volunteer because it’s good for their career, they volunteer to develop a sense of purpose and motivation, and so many people, including me, volunteer for their personal growth, because the more opportunities you take to learn new skills and to gain knowledge, the more you develop as a person.
When I wanted to start this journey, one of my friends asked me, “Why would you like to go around Latin America, and do what you do for free? Why would you like to work with children for free?” There is a quote that says that volunteers are not paid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless. Yes, when you volunteer, you are donating your time, energy and knowledge, and in return you are getting accommodation and food, but beyond that you are getting a lot more. You are getting experiences that are good for your mind, body and soul. You are learning new skills, you are learning new languages, you are developing purpose, you are building self-confidence, and you cannot buy these experiences with money.
Volunteering has the power to change your life in many different ways. When you use your time and vacation days to volunteer, you are opening yourself up to new experiences. Breaking our cultural barriers and extending your comfort zone makes you grow as an individual.
I want to introduce you to ten different types of volunteering today. You can volunteer at NGOs, non-governmental organizations, you can volunteer in different schools all around the world and work with children. You can join different families, which is the best way to dive deep into a new culture. You can join different communities all around the world. You can do house sitting and take care of people’s houses while they are away. That is what I am doing right now. If you are into sailing, or if you are eager to learn and do not have any experience, you can join different boats all around the world. You can do animal welfare and pet sitting, in which you learn about different kinds of animals. And there are so many different permaculture projects, farm stays and sustainable projects that you can join.
I am going to introduce you to some websites, and the first one is workaway.info. I have been using this website for two-and-a-half years now, and I love it because it has different types of volunteering. It has a subscription of $44 for an individual and $56 for two people and it is valid for one year. It works well for me because, for example, I am a long-term volunteer and a non-stop traveler. And, for example, I want to volunteer at some schools for some months, and then I want to change and volunteer at a farm. I can use the same website and the same membership to volunteer at different kinds of projects. The thing that I love about workaway is that you can find other workawayers around you by location. I have used this option and I have found so many amazing people! If you introduce workaway to a friend and they sign up using the link that you gave them, you can extend your membership for three more months, which is nice. To be a workawayer means to work five hours a day, five days a week, in exchange for accommodation and food. Sometimes the hosts offer you only accommodation, and they ask you to work for fewer hours, and sometimes they offer you a wage if you work for more hours.
The second website is wwoof.net, worldwide opportunities on organic farms. I have used this website in Argentina. It was, like, I volunteered at a farm with 14 llamas. I didn’t know anything about sustainable building and growing my own food, and it was a life-changing experience. First, when you want to use wwoof.net, you have to choose which country you want to go to and become a wwoofer. So, first you have to choose the country, and the membership and the subscription depend on the country. It can be anything from 0 to $72. To give you an example, if you want to go and become a wwoofer in Canada, it’s a subscription of $50 for an individual, and $75 for two people, and it is valid for two years. Wwoofing is for permaculture lovers, for the ones who want to learn more about growing their own food and want to make sustainable changes in their lives. I recommend this website.
The third website is worldpackers.com. It is also very easy to use, somewhat similar to workaway, with different types of volunteering. It has different types of memberships. They have worldpacker academy, worldpacker trips, and worldpacker pack. But if you want to be able to contact the host, and you choose worldpacker trips, for example, it is a subscription of $49, and it is valid for one-and-a-half years. I have many friends who have used this website, and they liked it.
The fourth website is helpx.net. I have close friends who have used this website, and they volunteered in Australia. That is how I got to know about this website. You can become a member of helpx.net for free, so it has a free membership, but only the hosts are able to contact you. So, if you want to be able to contact the hosts, you have to upgrade yourselves to a premium membership, which is 20 euros, and it is valid for two years for both individual and twin memberships. This website is cheaper than the other websites.
There are so many different websites for volunteering out there, so many non-profit organizations. People have their own websites for their own projects and they get volunteers from their own websites. I can name a few like khayavolunteer.com, volunteermatch.org, volunteertherealuganda.com, which is in Africa, and a lot more. So you have to search and learn how to use the website, and make a profile for yourself, find your perfect host, and get going.
Another thing so many people asked me, “Why should we use these websites? Why can’t we go out and find hosts?” Because I have seen so many travelers that go out, go traveling, they ask around and they join a host on a farm, or a family. I recommend it for safety, especially if you are a solo traveler or a female traveler. I think it is safer to use these websites to volunteer around the world, because of their references and their reviews. When I want to contact the host, I see the reviews and I see how other people felt, how other travelers felt when they were living with this family for a while. If, which is very rare, but if you have a bad experience, you can honestly write about your experience with that host and let other travelers know how you felt while living with these people. Also, if a host does not feel good with the volunteer, they can honestly write a review about that volunteer, and this makes the whole community way safer. So when I see the reviews, I feel safer to contact the host when I see how other travelers felt while being with that host.
I hope that we can all go out and have a wonderful experience volunteering all around the world, and I hope that this information was useful for you. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful day!
[Robin:] I hope that you have found Melica’s experience and knowledge to be very helpful to you if you are desiring to travel on a budget. Check the links in the description in order to follow her as well as read more of her work. And make sure to subscribe to this channel, where there are many more inspirational and educational videos to come. I love you all very much, and I will see you again real soon.
