lauramsgarden

My 19 year old son is looking for volunteer options in South America. He is interested in environmental concerns, but would also be open to working with kids, in a school, etc. He wants to perfect his Spanish, and of course needs to keep it pretty inexpensive. His worried mother of course is concerned about safety issues, and that the organization be a legit one. Right now he seems to be narrowing it down to Peru or Chile though he is open to suggestions. He is thinking of a 10 week to 2 month stint. One organization he has looked at is Otra Cosa. Is anyone familiar with them, or know of any other groups you would recommend.? Any advice re organizations, areas, travel etc would be most appreciated. Thanks.

crellston

We did some work with http://www.livingheartperu.org/ whilst in the Sacred valley the also have a cafe in Ollantaytambo:

http://www.heartscafe.org/hc_projects.html

You might want to check these out. www.saexplorers.org also has some great, current info on volunteering opportunities, travel accommodation and is well worth joining if spending any time in SA. It is also a good place to meet other travelers and their website has loads of info from travelers on volunteer orgs etc.

At the SA Explorer clubhouse in Cusco we also signed up for some Spanish lessons with and organisation than provided immersion classes with local families - a great, practical to learn or improve language skills.

I have never heard of Otra Cosa but I am always wary of "voluntourism" projects as many can be a total rip off,

Travel is relatively straightforward in both Chile and Peru but the infrastructure in Chile is much more developed. Peru undoubtedly needs volunteers more than Chile if this is a deciding criteria. Peru also has the major advantage of being a substantially cheaper place to live and get around than Chile.

qwovadis

ninoshotel.com foundation reputable in Cusco.
saexplorers.org your best site for this.
good ops from $100 week never pay large sums
orbig up front fees to "volunteer"
Those are always scams and there are a tonne of them.
So Caveat Emptor. Usually wiser to pick up a cheap flight down
on spirit.com and scoping situations out carefully boots on the ground to have best experience and do the most good.
If there is interest in medical I helped equip this hospital www.hh4honduras.org serving underserved Mayans needed health care.That would be a good op very worthwhile Happy Hunting!

lauramsgarden

thanks so much, I will pass these ideas (and warnings ) on. He is currently very excited about Sembrando Semillas con Yoga

http://www.sembrandosemillasconyoga.org/en/links.html

has anyone heard of them?

almostdone12

I know VISIONS Service Adventures offers Spanish language immersion programs for teens that are based in community service but their cutoff age might be 18. You might want to check them out.