A family home visit in a shanty town outside Lima and a conversation with a displaced child’s grandfather raises conflicting questions for Peru volunteers Jody and David. Our final day of volunteering has come WAY too quickly! I’m honestly conflicted, feeling we’ve experienced so much in such a short time, but at the same time have barely scratched […]
On the International Day of Peace, 2016, Peru Country Manager Daniel Salazar interviewed retired pharmacist and 7-time volunteer Gary Gullikson in service in Poland. Gary said while he regularly prays for peace, he yearns to turn his prayer into more practical actions. That’s what led him to his first Global Volunteers Poland service program in […]
Reflections by Emily, an India Global Volunteer, on the cumulative positive volunteer impact on students in Chennai. Before I made the decision to come to Chennai, India, I debated with myself over what my true volunteer impact would be in such a short period of time. I didn’t know if my time and effort volunteering […]
Journal entry by Barbara, a volunteer serving in China. I am always proud to say I have been to Xi’an three times, returning after my first trip in 2007 when I chaperoned a high school trip. Upon retiring from my teaching career, I wanted to “give back to life, ” to “pay it forward” for […]
by Daniel Salazar, Global Volunteers Peru Country Manager. When you volunteer in Peru, you have the chance to significantly change a child’s life. It’s one thing to sight-see in Lima. But there is an opportunity to do more, to get to know the country, the stories, and also actually make a difference in a child’s […]
Global Volunteers’ Philosophy of Service guides team members on the principles of responsible volunteering. This alumni volunteer shares a practical example of how this works on site in Chennai, India and elsewhere around the world. By Fran, India Volunteer. At Assisi Illam, the daycare center in Chennai where we’re serving, we’ve just finished singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, […]
Oprah reported: “When Bud Philbrook and Michele Gran opted out of a honeymoon cruise to take a more meaningful trip, they stumbled onto a rewarding way to enrich their own lives and help thousands of children around the world.” Instead of their planned cruise, Bud and Michele spent a week in a rural village in Guatemala. After the local newspaper wrote a story about their unusual honeymoon, people started contacting them asking how they could plan a similar trip.
This unconventional honeymoon led to Global Volunteers’ founding in 1984. Since then, Global Volunteers has engaged nearly 39, 000 volunteers in over 200 communities on six continents. Watch the full honeymoon story on the Oprah Show>>
The next step is to chat online or call 651-407-6100 to consult with one of our Volunteer Coordinators. We’re ready to assist you with project descriptions, travel questions, registration guidance, and other program details.
First-time Global Volunteer Ken Higgins was excited to teach children in Poland after his wife served on a Ghana Global Volunteers program in 2012. “I wanted to be able to help others in some fashion and experience a different culture. Based on Debbie’s recommendation of Global Volunteers, it seemed like a good organization to attain these goals, ” he said. […]
A unique butterfly garden highlights our work in Costa Rica! You’re needed to help plant native species that attract butterflies, build walkways, lay gravel, and landscape the garden. Costa Rica’s Astounding Biodiversity While Costa Rica covers a mere 0.03% of the Earth’s land surface, it contains nearly 5% of all of the species of flora […]
By Ruth Curran, Brain Development Specialist and Global Volunteer Director of Partnerships. You can find plenty of articles questioning the value of short-term volunteers on long-term community projects. But I wonder how many of these authors have participated on authentic development projects managed by fully invested local leaders? As in everything, the truth is in […]