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[snowberry]

Have you or any of your children taken a month or year out to volunteer abroad?

My son is nearly 18 & has no direction in his life. He has just finished his Public Services at college, but there is no prospect of work in that area & he doesn't want to study at a higher level. Although his I.Q. is in the top 1%, his self esteem is pretty low & he has no friends, he spends all his time on the xbox or winding up his siblings....Despite this, he loved the time he spent volunteering at the riding stables & built my chicken WIR; he's very practical when he's motivated!

I thought he'd benefit from going abroad & seeing the reality of how many people live in worse conditions than us.

Which are the more reliable gap/volunteering firms out there (cheap as well!) & do you have any good advice to pass on? Thanks, Emma x

[Old Speckled Hen]

My daughter went with the British Schools Exploring Society http://www.bses.org.uk/ for three months to Svalbard where she was involved in accumulating data for the Royal Geographical Society as well as undertaking a personal expedition.

 

And with Raleigh International for three months to Namibia.http://www.raleighinternational.org/our-expeditions/aged-17-24

 

She would be the first to say that the first trip was an indulgence whereas the second a real challenge. Have a look at the websites.

Personally I was pleased.........no, over the moon........ that she didn't just strap on a rucksac and head East.

 

Many of her friends went with dubious gap year providers and even the most well known ones can be a little short on care both for the traveller and the community they are involved with being more profit orientated than seems morally right.

She had a friend who went with BUNAC and two with Gapyear.com and all three had to abandon their very expensive trips as they became ill as a result of bad advice from them. One contracted a tropical disease that still affects her seven years later.

 

PS she was that concerned with the attitude of some of these providers that she ended up doing her degree dissertation on that very subject.

You need to do your research ....best of luck

 

I hope this gives you something to start with.

[rosie]

My daughter did a ski season with Mark Warner holidays for 6 months between school and Uni. She was in the French Alpes. The girls were mainly waitresses in the restaurant and the lads were kitchen porters. Hard work, not much pay, but somewhere to live, all meals and flights there and back paid for, and lots of similar aged people to pal out with. They also provided free ski lessons, all equipment and lift passes. When not on duty they could use the hotel facilities, sauna, pool etc.

I felt that she was somewhere 'safe' and she had a great time and became awesome at skiing-her words! She also made some really good friends that she still sees. It gave her a lot of confidence. Many went on to work the summer season for the same company in the Greek isles where they did water sports.

I think that lots of the winter holiday companies do similar schemes. Some continued to work for MW on a permanent basis. My daughter wanted to go to Uni, although her time away made her redecide her course subject.

[bellekatz]

My son is currently away for a month with Camps International but they do Gap years as well. they have bases in Africa and indonesia. My daughter had a month out last summer with World Challenge and she went to India. They are not full years as they were both under 18 when they went and have had to raise their own money to go, but they are reputable companies who organise flights and stuff and the expeditions have some fun as well as projects work in them, so they get to take part in lots of activities. My daughter went up the himalayas and then to Jaipur to help in a slum school.. My son is based near Mombasa and will scuba dive as well as help in several villages building schools etc.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

My son is in Borneo as we speak with Gapforce (he's only 16 so it's a school trip rather than a gap year trip) but they seem to have loads of amazing opportunites on their website.

 

all three had to abandon their very expensive trips as they became ill as a result of bad advice from them. One contracted a tropical disease that still affects her seven years later.

 

OSH, what happened ? Didn't they get the right vaccinations advice?

[Old Speckled Hen]

 

OSH, what happened ? Didn't they get the right vaccinations advice?

No not vacs but what to avoid and how to behave once there. They went swimming in nasty water lots of times and there was no advice on the ground as to what was safe and what wasn't.They also ventured into dangerous local areas on their own and there was some sort of incident. The supervisors seemed more intent on having a good time and leaving their volunteers to their own devices. There was a hell of a stink when these two girls got home.They were in South America somewhere.

 

My daughter's dissertation exposed how many of these companies charge the earth to "volunteers" putting little back into the local economy. There's not much point in putting up a school building unless you have an ongoing project over many years to provide equipment and local teachers on a permanent basis, rather than visiting youngsters; infrastructure infrastructure.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That's awful, I bet their parents were horrified . Good on your daughter for doing something about it - I hope someone took notice .

[Alis girls]

I can only give my opinion as a nurse who has to give the vaccines.

1 please get jabs done no less than 6 weeks before you go unless you are already well covered from a previous trip.

2 research area well and find where you are going to, sort of area and nearest med facilites. not all nurses are well travelled and know that you nearest Doctor is 100miles away.

3 many vaccines are not covered by NHS so you do need to do your homework - some Gp's will waver fee if working with kids or you are medically/ nursing trained.

 

Often the people running these gap yrs give no medical adv at all. I think cos of age of compensation they dont want to be sued.

Do your homework and make sure you know what you are taking on.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

After reading all this, I'm very thankful YS has gone as a member of a school group - the risk assessment was very thorough, the advice seemed pretty comprehensive and they have 4 trained Gapforce staff including a doctor with them (plus 2 teachers with lots of experience of these types of trips).

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I have come across this advice which may be of interest:

 

Year Out Group is a governing body that vets Gap Year providers – ensuring that the member organisations adhere to a specific code of practice, have thorough risk assessments and safety procedures in place, are financially vetted and have appropriately trained staff. It is recommended that you travel with an organisation that is a member of the Year Out Group since then you know that they have been operating successfully for a number of years.

 

As well as that, if you do approach companies they should easily be able to answer the following questions for you:

 

Who will benefit from the placement?

Is the placement sustainable?

Are there any in-country representatives?

Has the project been vetted by a UK staff member?

Can you give me contact details of previous participants?

How are the in-country staff trained?

 

Any company that does not answer the above questions sufficiently should also be avoided like the plague. There is an extended list of questions to consider here.

[snowberry]

Thanks for all the replies; I didn't know how much there is to take in on the subject! I will do my research & let you all know what we diecide & how we get on! Emma x

[Old Speckled Hen]

My daughter went with the British Schools Exploring Society http://www.bses.org.uk/ for three months to Svalbard where she was involved in accumulating data for the Royal Geographical Society as well as undertaking a personal expedition.

 

 

Ahem..........I think you best ignore this bit of advice

Terrible what happened last week...

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That was awful, wasn't it . Sounds like it was just a tragic set of circumstances and not due to any negligence . I'm very glad my boy is back safe and sound though.

[ubereglu]

I wouldn't say to ignore this. It was a tragic, and fortunately rare, accident, which couldn't have been prevented in all honestly. My mum was slightly annoyed that it got that much press coverage though, as how many children are dying in Somalia currently? Yet this one schoolboy got all that coverage.

[squiffs]

which couldn't have been prevented in all honestly

 

Well. That's debatable - as the anti bear wire wasn't at all a deterrant - so there has to be a reason why it wasn't working. Whether it wasn't checked properly, or not set up properly, something happened to it to stop it from functioning properly.

[Old Speckled Hen]

The bear was undoubtedly starving and walked through the wires. They are basically an early warning system according to my daughter who was on the same trip some years ago. They are attached to shotgun cartridges which go off if a bear walks through the wires, ostensibly to get someone up and armed in time if the noise doesn't scare him off.

I was reading that Svalbard has a population of 2400 shared with some 1500 bears when they are at their peak there.....seems quite a lot and that it is the law that anybody leaving their villages/towns has to go armed.

Seems a very dangerous place to send youngsters.