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Volunteers are asked to give a minimum of one year and may serve in a variety of positions, including house parents, nurses, physicians, therapists, teachers, secretaries, gardeners, kitchen help, librarians or assistants in the clinics. In Haiti, volunteers have helped in the hospital. Because of the difficulties that surround training, language and accomodations for short-term volunteers, most positions require a strict commitment to one year of service.
There are short-term (2-3 months) volunteer opportunities in Haiti (July-August) and the Dominican Republic (June-August). Summer projects may involve volunteers in teaching English, music, dance, athletics, and arts and crafts.
In Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico all volunteers begin their service in January or July to facilitate the orientation process.
Volunteers must be at least 21 years of age and in good health.
Job placement in the Latin American homes will depend a great deal on degree of fluency in Spanish. For technical work and manual labor, a minimal knowledge of the language is needed. For most other volunteer positions, Spanish must be good enough to get along in daily activities.
The children and staff at the orphanage in Haiti speak Creole, while French is taught in the schools. At the hospital, a minimal knowledge of French is needed to communicate with the doctors and staff upon arrival. Creole is not a difficult language and each volunteer is expected to study it during the first weeks in Haiti. Most volunteers can learn enough Creole in their first two months to communicate with the children and staff.
Room and board is provided for all volunteers. Volunteers are expected to pay travel expenses to and from the country where volunteering. A small monthly stipend is given to full time volunteers in Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
The medical clinic at each orphanage is available to volunteers during their stay, but we recommend that volunteers call their public health service for any required shots or medical advice for living in any one of the countries. Once volunteers have been accepted to work at the homes, they are eligible for health, accident and liability coverage on a group policy, coordinated by our German office. For further information on this policy, please contact the German volunteer coordinator.
Anyone interested in applying as a volunteer, please fill out our online application form. Once completed, this will be automatically submitted to the Volunteer Coordinator in the country of your choice. If you would prefer to download an application in Word, please send the completed application to your local fundraising office. Once you have been accepted as a volunteer, you will be asked to submit a completed health statement with your doctor's signature.
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