Why Volunteer with Travel to Teach?

How are we different? We think that we differ in the following points from most other volunteer organisations.

We have developed our programs in accordance with the Ethical Guidelines for Volunteering which we believe are valid guides for anyone choosing a volunteer program.

1. Information and openness.

We are transparent and reachable because:

»  We have email addresses of all previous volunteers who have written stories about their stay. You can read their volunteer stories and also contact them directly to ask them about their time with Travel to Teach.

»  On this web site, we have a number of photo galleries and also some video diaries of Travel to Teach volunteer life. We feel these features of our web site help prospective volunteers make a considered decision when choosing a volunteer program.

»  We try our very best to be truthful on the website and in all correspondence.

2. Access

We are located in the same places as our volunteer programs. We can easily adapt to circumstances and adjust programs to meet individual interests. We want to meet happy and satisfied volunteers.

3. Options

We know that a problem with short term volunteering is the constant disrupting and that the chanses of making a real difference, while teaching, comes with a continued precense of volunteers who take over from one another.

We therefore work in a limited amount of places and have coordinators there to facilitate the transitions.

We have developed programs with a unique character. Our aim is two fold: to give genuine experiences of the countries where we work and to help the people in those places. Our different programs have different balances between these goals, but wherever you work you are helping and your fees are helping to finance all the programs.

4. Combinations

We have a lot of set options for combinations of places within a country or between countries and we are very flexible and open to variations of them. Conditions are that you need to stay for at least one month in each place.

5. Level of support

We have both westerners and/or people from the respective country as coordinators in almost all places where we work. This is a much higher level of ambition than any other program we know. It helps us ensure that both our volunteers and the community get the maximum experience out of the program.

6. Prices

We charge less than almost all other agencies. This is because our ambition is to make our programs available to many. We have no western wages or other costs and we are not out to make a profit. We work out of and for developing and third world countries
For more information on our fees and what we do with them look at our Costs page.

7. Flexibility

Our arrival dates are open (although introduction dates are set for certain weekends). This means you may join us at your convenience as your schedule allows. Our organization is very fluid and decision making is therefore swift. We always try our best to accommodate reasonable wishes and concerns.