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!

Volunteers, Students, and Teachers all reap the benefits of in Greece

Development Impact Greece

Building Local Capacity in Greece

In every case, volunteers are catalysts for lasting change on genuine development projects. Because our inspired community partners have the vision and local support to direct volunteer projects, individuals, families, and groups are the “helping…

Development Impact Peru

Help Improve Health and Hygiene for Peruvian Children

In the dusty hills of the district of Ventanilla, north of Lima, Peru, the community of Sagrada Familia houses and educates some 250 children living away from their families. During the school year, Sagrada Familia also is a school for more…

Why I Give Tanzania

Why I Give: Helping Developing Communities Become Self-Sustaining

Hairston Foundation CEO Roosevelt Hairston and his daughter, Sophia, say Global Volunteers' Reaching Children's Potential Program (RCP) in Tanzania reflects their commitment to advance self-determination for rural Tanzanian communities. As…

Staff Worldwide Cuba, Peru

Your Guide to Volunteer Travel in Peru & Cuba

Diego Acosta was born in Arequipa, in the south of Peru. At age three, his family moved to Lima, where he was raised and attended school. After serving as our English translator for four years, he became Global Volunteers' team leader in…

CUB1812A2 ann sweeney right with local at community garden

Volunteer Voices Cuba

Cultivating Cross-Cultural Conversations in a Cuban Garden

Iowa Development Director and Global Volunteers Alumna Ann Sweeney has found a familiar second "home" in Ciego de Ávila, our partner community in Cuba, which will again host volunteers after a nearly three-year pandemic suspension. On her…

Group Volunteering, Service-Learning Tanzania

Students Discover Power in Partnership

Global Volunteers' Reaching Children’s Potential (RCP) Program benefits from a range of carefully nurtured partnerships in the USA and Tanzania. Two such partners are the University of Central Missouri (UCM), which facilitates scholarships…

Staff Worldwide Cook Islands

Your Guide to Volunteer Travel in the Cook Islands

James Puati and his wife, Debi, both New Zealand-born-and-raised Cook Islanders, moved to their ancestral home of Rarotonga in 2003 with their two children, Samantha and Jordan, to immerse their family in their Cook Islands heritage. Now with…

Why I Give Poland

Why I Give: This Was a Chance to Help Others

Geri Espy of Clearwater Beach, Florida said the Russian invasion of Ukraine motivated her to help however she could. As a Global Volunteer alumna in Poland in 2003 and in Montana in 2013, she felt we offered a reliable avenue for appropriate…

July team to Crete.

Family Volunteering, Volunteer Voices Greece

FAMILY DISCOVERS HOPE FOR THE FUTURE THROUGH SERVICE IN GREECE

Peggy and Bud Cope volunteered in Greece with their three children, Ellie, Adam, and Evan, after having a year that could’ve torn them apart, both physically and emotionally. Peggy had the feeling that the only hope her family had to heal…

Family Volunteering, Ripple Effect Tanzania

Family Retraces Mother’s Footsteps in Tanzania

In 1996, Wichita retiree Barbara Pate joined her first Global Volunteers Service Program - headed for Tanzania. A blooming adventurer, and recently a widow, she chose the African country partially to satisfy her curiosity about the continent.…

Conversational English Poland

Summer with Volunteers was the “Best Experience of his Life”

When Russia invaded Ukraine early in 2022, our Poland host partner knew the wider Siedlce community would soon welcome refugees who would flee their homeland. Within weeks, Global Volunteers mobilized to help community organizations prepare…

international community development

Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

International Community Development Profile: Fatness Kikoti 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…