Why and how to volunteer abroad (with AIESEC)

In these YouTube Videos I have summarized the mentioned information. The video is available in English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and French. There is also a small video on my volunteering project abroad.

Volunteering is very important and doing a volunteer service in another country during your summer or winter vacation can be incredibly enriching. First, you can provide help where it is needed. Second, you get to know a new country at the same time, live with its people and get many new and great experiences.

This depends on why you chose to go abroad. Do you want to learn a specific language? Do you want to get in touch with people from a different continent? Would you like to live in a specific country or culture for some time? Try to answer these questions and it will help you find out where to go.

As always, I recommend staying as long as possible abroad because it takes some time to get used to the new country. If you go volunteering for your vacation, then maybe two to four weeks would be good. But this is the minimum in my opinion. If you can make it longer (like 6-12 weeks) it would be even better. 

There are a lot of organizations that offer you to volunteer abroad. You can also search for something on your own, but this will be much more complicated. When searching for an organization make sure that they are reliable and don’t enforce things like "white saviourism" or "orphanage tourism". Unfortunately, many people make a lot of money with these kinds of “pity volunteering”. I recommend you look for two things when choosing an organization

1. Find out where your money goes. The money should always stay in the local community to benefit the locals
2. Find out how the organization treats and talks about the project or the host country. Is it a respectful treat engaged at eye level or does the organization feel they are superior? Do they promote the volunteering opportunity as "pity tourism" or do they promote it as a cultural and educational exchange where both parties can benefit and learn from each other?

Many volunteer programs abroad are very expensive. The reason for that is that as a volunteer you don’t get money but still you need to live somewhere, eat food, etc. If you find an organization that promotes volunteer service as education it will be much cheaper as part of the money is sponsored by someone.

AIESEC is exactly one of these organizations which promote an educational purpose as well as volunteering. It is the largest organization by young people for young people to gain experience abroad. You can participate if you are between 18 and 30 years old. AIESEC offers three programs in around 120 countries:

• Global Volunteering, where you work 6-12 weeks on a volunteering project. I did this program in Mexico in 2019. Check out how my experience was.
• Global Talent, where you work as an intern usually in Tech for 6 weeks to 6 months or even longer. I did this program in Pakistan in 2021. To read about my experience in Pakistan click here.
• Global Teacher, where you work as a teacher from 6 weeks to 6 months or more

The program fee depends on your home country as they are the ones who will keep the money (and not your host country). AIESEC is a volunteer-based organization which means that most of the work is done by volunteers (searching for projects, accommodation, etc.). The program fee is used for seminars and other activities. Some programs have additional costs for the host country, host family, or the organization that is hosting you. In addition, you have to cover your flight, visa costs (if necessary), and health insurance. The good thing is that AIESEC is much cheaper than most volunteer organizations because as mentioned most work is done by volunteers and also because it has a lot of sponsors. Secondly, AIESEC gives you a discount for every further project you choose with them.

Your time at AIESEC begins with an online application. After you have registered, you will be assigned to a contact person in your city, with whom you will meet and who will explain more details to you. Then you can look together for projects and countries. You can also do the research on your own. At AIESEC you apply directly for a project in a country. Sometimes an interview is done, sometimes not. After you get accepted you need to buy a flight, get a visa if necessary, and search for health insurance abroad. Sometimes there are preparatory seminars, but they are usually held online.

Once you arrive in your destination country an AIESEC volunteer will wait for you at the airport and drive you home. Then you can start getting familiar with your accommodation and the new country. On your first work day, you will also be accompanied by an AIESEC volunteer in order to make sure that everything is alright. On top of that, you will be assigned a supervisor for your entire stay abroad who will support you and help you with any kind of problem. 

After the experience, you can join our local AIESEC committee and help other people find suitable projects for themselves. And you can of course go on another AIESEC project!

In conclusion I can only recommend you to volunteer abroad. Check out my AIESEC volunteer project in Mexico!

These terms are often discussed nowadays in our society and I have my own opinion about them. What is meant by these terms is that white people spend their vacation in the so-called “Third World” countries to "help the poor people”. Although the intention to help is great and should be appreciated we need to be careful about how to execute the help. The "savior complex" unfortunately creates a lot of stereotypes because not everyone in a certain country or on a certain continent is “hungry and poor”. On top of that many people misuse the local people for this kind of tourism and make a lot of money which is not going to benefit the local community in any way. 

I don't think volunteering projects should completely stop. Instead, they should be seen as some kind of cultural exchange and learning opportunity for both parties. I don't agree with hardliners who don't wanna see any white person helping. I mean just look at what Bill Gates has done in many countries around the world (he has provided people with vaccines and eradicated entire diseases). As these hardliners usually live in the USA and Europe they don't know what the eradication of polio meant for many countries.

I do agree though that we shouldn't make stereotypes bigger than they already are. Instead, we can show the diversity of a country. When I travel abroad I always share pictures of luxury hotels, big cars, and universities on my social media as well as local food and traditions. It's about finding an equilibrium between addressing the problems of a country and highlighting that the country has so much more to offer. What you can do is look for good volunteering organizations and work on your mindset.