Tips and my experience of volunteering abroad
Is taking a gap year, volunteering abroad, or traveling for a few months something you’d love to do? If so don’t let lack of funds stop you! I will share my experience of volunteering abroad and where to find volunteer opportunities around the world on the cheap. Read this and travel around the world with a student budget. You don’t want to regret not going in the future, so why not just do it if you want to travel. It’s definitely worth it. Fund your next trip through volunteer work not cash!
During the summer holiday in 2019, I traveled to Europe for the first time. I didn’t have enough money to travel there for a long time, so I decided to volunteer work there. The app I used to look for volunteer opportunities was Workaway.info which allows travelers to pay for their room and board by helping their host with household work needs, projects, or odd jobs. The program emphasizes cultural exchange between the traveler and host. I was drawn to this because I could learn new things with people from different backgrounds.
There are also other apps you can use to look for volunteer opportunities around the world. Here are 4 of the most popular organizations you can find volunteer opportunities through.
1) Workaway
Workaway provides a way to find opportunities for cultural exchange, working holidays, and volunteering in 170 countries. You can travel globally and learn and connect with local people through this organization. A traveler who is willing to help out for a few hours a day is compensated with room and board. The work you do could be a variety of things depending on the host organization. Common jobs include gardening, DIY creative projects, childcare, house-sitting, charity work, and teaching a language.
Cost : Registering with workaway.info is just US$ 44 for an individual account and US$ 56 for a couple account for a year.
2) WWOOF
WWOOF connects people from around the world who want to live and learn on organic farms and small-homesteads with people who own or maintain such properties. Volunteers (WWOOFers) help on the land and home for 4-6 hours a day and hosts provide food and accommodation. If you want to have a hands on experience, learn and share organic and sustainable ways of living, and get your hands dirty then volunteering with WWOOF is definitely the way to go.
Cost : WWOOFer (visitor) membership price is $40 (single) or $65 (joint) for a year. WWOOF Japan costs 5500 yen for a year.
3) Working Traveller
Working Traveller specializes in helping you gain work references in your chosen skills as you travel the world. Have a look at the skills section and see how many travelers are listed for your skills. This is a great way to see new places while also expanding your professional network. The Working Traveller also has helpful articles explaining how to finance a trip or stay away for longer by working overseas.
Cost : Free
4) Worldpackers
Worldpackers is very similar to Workaway. It’s a network for those looking to travel in a non-traditional way. There are more than one million travelers and hosts from 170 countries that are part of this community!
Worldpackers is a platform that connects you with hosts around the world where you can travel and exchange your skills for accommodation. There are hostels, inns, NGOs, communities and ecological projects that you can help with and in exchange receive free accommodation and food.
Cost : The fee to become a Verified Member is currently $49
You should definitely try one of these if you want to meet new people from all over the world and exchange cultural experience with people from different backgrounds. It’s a fantastic way to travel abroad without spending much, and also provides a great chance to learn new languages.
My first volunteer experience with Workaway
My first experience of using Workaway was volunteering at a small vegetarian cafe in a buddist community in a small town outside of York in the UK. There were three reasons why I decided to go there. First, I was planning to catch up with some friends from Austria and the UK in London. But after that I wanted to travel a little bit outside of London in the countryside.
Second, I wanted to get used to listening to British English by staying there for a couple of months. In my opinion, it’s harder for English learners to understand British English than American English, so I wanted to improve my English skills by interacting with local people through volunteering. Third, I wanted to learn about Buddhism. Even though I’m Japanese, I didn’t know about Buddhism at all. I wanted to experience, practice, and follow what they do for a few months.
I contacted a few hosts while I was in the US, however some places are fully booked because I was too late contacting the hosts. The time I wanted to volunteer was during summer break. A lot of students are traveling with this app, so places with good reviews tend to fill up fast. Sometimes the next available booking is a year out, so plan ahead!
A buddhist community
The buddhist community, where I stayed for about two months in the summer, was outside of York. I arrived at York Station from London by bus because it was the cheapest way. Then I took a local bus to get to the town where the buddhist community was, this took about one hour.
I was really tired because it had been a long trip. But I had to walk another 30 minutes to get to the buddhist community from the bus stop. I was carrying a heavy backpack on my back and a small backpack in front. The sun went down quickly and it got dark. There was literally no one and all I could hear were some animals and insects. To be honest I was a little bit scared because it was the middle of nowhere.
After an hour, I finally got to the entrance of the community and was happy to see human beings, lights, and buildings. Organizers welcomed me, gave me some dinner, and told me I would work at a vegetarian cafe tomorrow. That was actually my first time having a vegetarian meal but it was tasty! After that, I had a short tour of the place and the building was huge. I didn’t know where I was. There were male and female dorms. I introduced myself to the other volunteers from Italy, Spain, and the UK in the male dorm and picked out my bed. I went to sleep immediately to prepare for tomorrow’s work since I was dead tired.
Volunteer work
In the community, there are a couple of jobs that volunteers can do such as working at the vegetarian cafe, preparing the B&B, and cooking meals for residents and workers. I decided to work at the vegetarian cafe because I thought it would be fun to learn how to make coffee and communicate with customers. My work schedule was always the same 11am-5pm. I could have healthy and tasty vegetarian food during lunch time.
The most difficult thing at work was taking orders from customers at the counter. Some British English words are not familiar to me because I learned American English my entire life and stayed in the US for a while. So sometimes, it was difficult to understand what customers told me and I felt bad when I had to ask them to repeat themselves over and over. I honestly didn’t understand what they told me at all sometimes, so I just smiled back at customers and pretended to understand. If you’re a language learner you’ll understand the feeling. Smiling solves every single problem right? You got to fake it until you make it.
The buddhist Mindset: What I learned through the two months
There were some teachers and residents who live in the community. There were some meditation classes in the morning and at night everyday. All volunteers are allowed to take those classes for free, which is a really good opportunity for us to learn buddhism through real experiences. I usually attended a night class with other volunteers after work twice a week and learned about meditation. Each class was one-hour and the teacher talked about Buddhism for the first 15 minutes and then practiced meditating for another 45 minutes.
The first time I joined this class, I almost fell asleep and couldn’t focus on mediating because I was tired from my work. But I kept focusing on how I breathe in and out according to the advice of other participants. After two months of practicing, I was able to feel relaxed after finishing meditation and felt like I focused on what I have to do. Meditation definitely helps you to be calm. I felt like my body was connected through spirits from my toes to heads and it was easy to control myself. I recommend you to mediate for a while if you feel anxious. It’s worth trying even if you are not buddhist.
My free time on the weekend
I went to the city every weekend because I wanted to sightsee the beautiful places in York such as the minster, old buildings and small cafes. For the first time, I tried a real Irish coffee which tasted very rich. The Irish whiskey was very strong for me. All the buildings were just so beautiful because they are old European. One thing I noticed was that Yorkers wore nice clothes to go out with friends on the weekend, and in contrast me and my friends and coworkers from the US wear normal clothes. We felt like we stood out a bit.
Overall, it was absolutely one of my best memories while traveling abroad. I got to meet many friends and I’m still in contact with some of them. I highly recommend using these organizations if you’re thinking of taking a gap year, traveling, or volunteering abroad, as it’s a very affordable and cheap way to do so. Not only will you have memorable experiences but it won’t break the bank.
Thank you so much for reading this post! I hope you have a nice day! Please leave a comment if you have experience of volunteering abroad through these apps I introduced! I want to hear about your experience!
Please also check this article about 10 tips of saving money while living in Tokyo. If you’re thinking to live in Tokyo or you’re already in Tokyo, you should read this post in order to cut your expenses as much as you can and save some money to enjoy exploring one of the biggest cities in the world, Tokyo!