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!

Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

Happy Healthy Birthdays for These RCP Children in May 2022!

The Reaching Children’s Potential Program (RCP) of the Ukwega Ward in central Tanzania measures its success by the growth and development of the children in the program. Read about 50 girls and boys who reached their first, second, third,…

News and Updates Poland

“Their Light Brightened Darkness Above our Heads,” says Ukrainian Refugee

One month after Olga arrived in Siedlce, Poland, she felt "at home" among the Polish people who took her in after her country was attacked in March. Since then, she's become a translator for Global Volunteers, and looks forward to many new…

Volunteer Voices Montana

Special Needs Teacher Describes Serving at Summer Camp for Blackfeet Children

Special education teacher Lynn O'Brien of Indiana volunteered on her first service program last summer on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana. Her mother had worked with indigenous populations in Montana as a young woman in the 1950s, and…

News and Updates Poland

We Left “My Best, Free, Beautiful Country.”

As Ukrainian refugees headed to our Polish partner community of Siedlce in March, 2022, we quickly mobilized short-term volunteers to help provide humanitarian services. At the exquisite rural manor house, Reymontowka, Global Volunteers team…

Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

Reaching Children’s Potential in Tanzania: Welcoming New Moms to the Program in April

Every month, Global Volunteers’ caregivers in the Ukwega Ward of Tanzania meet with families who wish to participate in the Reaching Children’s Potential (RCP) Demonstration Program. The goal of RCP is to eliminate childhood stunting…

Staff Worldwide

Meet Your Team Leader: Ginny Giffin

Volunteer Team Leader Virginia (Ginny) Giffin began volunteering with Global Volunteers in 2008 in Ecuador and then in Poland in 2009. She went through Team Leader Training with Global Volunteers in 2009 and has since led eight teams: one in…

Development Impact, Ripple Effect

The Ripple Effect of Short-Term Volunteers

Most volunteers are characteristically modest when estimating their personal impact in Global Volunteers' partner communities. But when measuring the cumulative outcomes of service programs over time, we've demonstrated that the transformative…

International community development

Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

International Community Development Profile: Faunista Mhadisa Family

In this series, families in the Reaching Children’s Potential (RCP) Demonstration Program in Tanzania explain how their participation improves their lives. Global Volunteers’ RCP Program engages short-term volunteers to help parents deliver…

Volunteer Voices Greece

Volunteer Friends Celebrate Their Long-Awaited Return to Service in Greece

A friendship that includes a shared dedication to service is one that is sure to last. Californians Linn Joanis and Melody Covay have volunteered on four service programs together since 2015, and they have no intention of stopping. They first…

Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

Happy Healthy Birthdays for These RCP Children in April 2022!

The Reaching Children’s Potential Program (RCP) of the Ukwega Ward in central Tanzania measures its success by the growth and development of the children in the program. Read about 50 girls and boys who reached their first, second, third,…

Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

Short-Term Residential Program Focuses on Stunted Children

The central purpose of Global Volunteers' Reaching Children's Potential Program (RCP) is to eliminate childhood stunting, which leads to life-long physical, cognitive and psychological limitations. When the health of children enrolled in the…

ancient fishing town in peru

Free Time Options Peru

Ancient Fishing Town is Cultural Base for Peru Volunteers

Volunteers in Peru lodge in Ancón, some 25 miles north of Lima, and a short van trip up the mountain to our partner community of Ventanilla. Originally a humble fishing village, it evolved in recent decades to become a quiet Peruvian resort…