Current News, Field Reports and Volunteer Voices

Several times each week, we post stories about work we do in our host communities – through the voices of our partners, volunteers, and those we serve. Subscribe using the form below to receive updates in your inbox when they’re published. If you’re looking for deeper insight into service in a specific country, on a particular type of project, how you can share your unique skills or volunteering as a family or a group, you can find a wealth of information here. Use the categories next to the posts here or on any page (below right column) to explore more stories that suit your interests.

We welcome your ideas on topics you’d like to see here. Please contact us at marketing@globalvolunteers.org. Enjoy our blog!

Volunteer Voices Cuba

A Full Day of Activities in Havana

Our morning began with a stop at the US Interest Section. It operates under the Swiss Embassy, with the purpose of protecting US citizens while they are in Cuba. They also issue visas (both immigration and visitor). The line for visa appointments…

Volunteer Voices Cuba

Tangible Poetry

Tangible poetry: That is what the artists who work there call Muraleando. Our morning began at the "neighborhood of art". The community was there - the neighbors, the residents - filled the streets as they were enjoying a street fair. Children…

Volunteer Voices China

A Letter to Global Volunteers from a Student in Xi’an

Anna is a sophomore student in Xi’an Biomedical Technical College. She majors in Medicine Making but loves English and translation very much. She gets excited each time when Global Volunteers goes to her school and takes all possible opportunities…

Volunteer Voices

The Same Moon

"No matter what our differences are, we all look at the same moon." We are preparing ourselves to leave. That does not mean to pack clothes. It means we are packing memories. We may be discarding ideas or preconceptions we brought…

Internet access in Cuba

Cultures and Traditions Cuba

The Culture of Cuba

“To be cultured is the only way to be free.” José Martí For a small country, Cuba has a very large soul. It’s all owing to a culture which is rich, vibrant and immensely varied. At the island’s heart are the Cubans, brought here…

Volunteer Voices

Real Progress Delights and Surprises Us

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” -Ambrose Redmoon Today started out with the nice relaxation we all needed: We watched the Aristocats and Cars (In Romanian,…

Cultures and Traditions, Free Time Options

Kancheepuram – Pondicherry – Mahabalipuram

Up early on Saturday in anticipation of our adventure to Pondicherry. We are leaving Chennai in high spirits with flowers in our hair. The road out of town is filled with new construction of apartment houses and businesses to meet Chennai's…

Volunteer Voices

A Good Week

Today is the end of our first official week as Global Volunteers in Chennai, India and what a week it has been. The culture that seemed so overwhelming when we first arrived is starting to feel like the norm. The group working at Assisi…

Volunteer Voices

Where Would They Be?”

"No matter what our differences are, we all look at the same moon." – Anonymous Today, we met with Dan before our first day of volunteering at the Children's Hospital. Carolyn, Tabatha, Justin and I were anxious to begin our day…

Conversational English, Reaching Children's Potential

Getting Our Feet Wet

Our first day of classes. We set out in 2 teams with excitement and trepidation. Steven had given us a description of the schools and number of students to expect, but we did not know what level of English we would find in our students.…

teaching English to Vietnamese students

Conversational English, Volunteer Voices Vietnam

Teaching English to Vietnamese Students is an Act of Love for Vietnam Vet

Jim Gorski, a Vietnam veteran and volunteer from St. Paul, MN, describes how teaching English to Vietnamese students with his wife Mary Lou enabled him to "pay a debt" to the country's people. After serving with Global Volunteers in 2014,…

Volunteer Voices

Traveling is a Prime Way to be Rich in What Matters

"Traveling is a prime way to be rich in what matters. I just returned from eight days in Costa Rica, tired and happy from my first volunteer vacation." Alison Wiley of Oregon just got back from a week of volunteering in Monteverde, Costa Rica…