Charity

If you want to help out while on holiday, there are loads of charity groups you could join.

Hope International

Organises volunteer trips to third world countries. Has multiple excursions and a base in Japan. It also has info for anyone who wants to get involved in building wells, HIV/AIDS awareness in Africa, etc. http://www.hope-international.jp

GET Programme

If you're looking for a round-the-world trip of lifetime while meeting new people and teaching English immediately following JET check out the Peace Boat site. It's a mix of internationally-minded gaijin and Japanese people. You do a round the world trip stopping in Pacific Islands, North America, Central America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia from July. The trip leaves late July, after the school term finishes but just before most people's contracts officially do. It's fun but a lot of work and not very much free time. You may be working 12 hour days and living in very cramped quarters. Sometimes you can't leave the boat at port. Volunteer English/Spanish Language Instructors - Conditions of Employment: This position is for enthusiastic, highly motivated, dynamic individuals with a minimum of 18 months full-time teaching experience. Teacher certification and graduate degree are highly regarded. This is a volunteer position but voyage expenses are covered. Visit the website below for an application pack.

http://www.peaceboat.org/english/gvld/index.html

Contact: Natalie Ferris, International Coordinator, PEACE BOAT, GET Universal

2F, 3-14-3 Takadanobaba Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0075, JAPAN

Tel: +81-3-3360-0640

Fax: +81-3-3360-0626

http://www.peaceboat.org/english/index.html

Go MAD

Go MAD (Go Make A Difference) is a JET special interest group which organizes a trip every year to orphanages in northern Thailand along the Thai/Burmese border. Anyone can participate but space is limited. The kids are great and the orphanages are run by neo-humanists who practice yoga and meditation and create a real calm and inviting atmosphere. Because a lot of JETs and other volunteers are there a lot the kids can speak pretty good English. Activities and projects include celebrating Christmas (helping decorate, Santa Claus, Christmas pageant, etc.), participating in a program to promote awareness of the environment, riding elephants, hiking, singing, yoga, working on the farm, and pretty much just hanging out with the kids!

Cost:Approximately 32,300 yen for a week. Includes lodging, food and transport to and from Bangkok (vegetarians and vegans happily accommodated!). *Does not include airfare which is to be arranged by each individual participant.

http://www.go-mad.org

Here are the orphanages:

Baan Unrak "House of Joy" - A children's home providing housing, food, education, and hope for some 70 destitute children and abandoned mothers. http://www.neohumanistfoundation.org/baanunrak/

Dada's Boys Home/Garden - A children's home and organic farm housing some 20 teenaged orphaned boys.

WWOOF

A great organization for those interested in working on organic farms around the world. http://www.wwoof.org

UVIKIUTA

A youth development organisation involved in various activities including cross cultural exchange programs. Since its inception in 1994, international work camps have become a year around tradition for UVIKIUTA. The programme has served to enrich the lives of approximately 5,000 youths through fostering international understanding and promoting ideas of peace, human rights, cultural diversity and sustainable development. Volunteer workers come from all over the world. Miyazaki JET, Alan Hawley, worked as a volunteer in Africa with this organization on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. The small village was just south of the border with Kenya and is today in the grips of famine, as is most of East Africa. "Those interested in volunteering and traveling to East Africa to one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with some of the kindest individuals you will meet", please send an email and he will put you in touch.

Alan Hawley: alan_hawley@hotmail.com

PEPY

PEPY stands for Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself and is an NGO started two years ago by former JETs to connect JETs and other international volunteers with NGOs in Cambodia where they can help to make immediate, life-changing improvements in the lives and futures of Cambodian children and families. They raise money to build/fund a school for rural children as well as helping other educational and health institutes. PEPY just won annual AJET awards for both Outstanding Special Interest Group (SIG) and Best Charity Group. It's quickly growing to be one of the largest charity/volunteer programs for JETs. They run trips to Cambodia in August for recontracting or leaving JETs. The core of each trip is a week long program in Phnom Penh, the capital of the Kingdom, followed by an optional 5 day journey to Siem Reap, home of the ancient Temples of Angkor. They do sponsored rides across Asia, visting orphanges, schools etc, and also arranged volunteer/fundraising trips to the PEPY school in Cambodia near Siem Reap.

The volunteer activities allow you to work side-by-side with and make friends with Cambodian people on a more personal level than a normal tourist. Also the excursions in and around Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, led by experienced local tour guides, help give you an idea of the "bigger picture" outside the volunteer site, and ensure you get the most out of your journey. You also have the free time to relax, bond with your other teammates, and have the time to get what YOU want out of this adventure. Much fundraising is done before the trip.

This year (2006) they'll be funding the creation of the PEPY Medical Center at the Cambodian Children's Fund Orphanage in Phnom Penh, and building a rainwater harvesting system for an elementary school and students' families who have no access to clean water. They also raise money for hurricane relief and did fundraising for the recent tsunami.

Email Julie, the Trip Coordinator, at volunteer@pepyride.org for trip details and a registration form.

For more infomation go to http://www.pepyride.org

The Friendship Foundation of American Vietnamese

Each year a select group of JET volunteers from Japan are assembled over the Christmas holidays to bring goods and goodwill to Vietnam. Volunteers visit schools, orphanages and homes for the elderly in various cities throughout beautiful southern Vietnam. During the two-week mission the group seeks to build bridges of friendship between Vietnam and her friends in the West.

Info and application materials are available each year from October for JETs to participate in the upcoming project in the December. The project is also open to former JETs as well. http://www.ffavn.org

Building Communities

A project through AJET's volunteer group Go MAD open to JETs and non-JETs alike which offers a great volunteer/travel opportunity in India. They seek to provide the means and resources to build communities, both the physical structures and the support and compassion necessary for a community to thrive. Their mission is to build suitable and permanent housing for Dalit villagers (untouchables) in Andhra Pradesh, India and to provide the necessary resources to help the villagers empower themselves, build a strong community and thrive. To help Raise FUNds and help Raise Houses contact them.

Volunteers would also participate in village maintenance/cleaning, preparing community meals with the villagers, bathing the children, teaching, Children's Day festivities, lots of hard work and much more. It is open to anyone and everyone (JETs, not-JETs, our Japanese colleagues, students & neighbors, friends & family back home, etc). If you cannot make the trip this year, you can still help raise FUNds. Their main fundraising campaign is a post card drive. For a gift of US$10 a donor would receive a set of eight beautiful cards adorned with images from our trip last winter. All proceeds go to building permanent homes for the Dalit villagers.

For the previous trip they suggested (though it was not absolutely necessary) that each participant make (or raise) a donation in addition to the program costs. The card selling, among other FUNd raising ideas we could offer, would help meet this suggested donation (about US$100-300)

Arrangements are made by Building Communities on your behalf, however the program costs including accommodations, food, water, transportation, materials costs, etc, are borne by each volunteer and may total US$400-600 depending on the length of the work camp. Travel to and from the work camp and accommodations during said travel would be arranged and borne by each participant.

Work Camps are scheduled year round so enquire about an expedition suitable to your time frame. Next Work Camp: Tentative Dates: Dec 23/24, 2006 - Jan 6/7, 2007 (Exact dates TBA). They will send a group of about 15-20 volunteers to the area near Kavali City this coming December, 2006.

Check out http://building-communities.blogspot.com for more information of the activities, pictures from last December' trip and to view the cards.

building-communities-india-owner@yahoogroups.com - Rick Mickelson (Building Communities International Volunteer Coordinator)

Hospitality Club

On this site you can contact local people directly and ask advice, or you can also post questions to the forum to get feedback on the charity trips they organise. It works especially well when you're trying to get firsthand info about somewhere a little bit off the beaten path! www.hospitalityclub.org

Baan Dada

If you're interested in volunteering for a short time at an orphanage in Thailand, check this out. The home was an all boys home until recently when more and more girls in the nearby villages had no homes and came there. It is a wonderful place and the people are great. Not near a beach (or even in a town or village!) but a great experience. The nearest convenience store is 30 minutes away. There is no phone, some electricity, cold showers and open drop toilets. The countryside is beautiful and a few local tours are included, as well as visit Burma and some mountain cave temples.

If you want more info about the place, please check out the website:

http://www.baandada.org/