Affordable volunteerism through International Volunteer HQ

When I tell people I spent six weeks in South Africa last year and am about to do the same thing this summer, they always ask me how I can afford staying there for so long. Simple answer: I volunteer. Now, you're probably going "huh?! but volunteering is expensive!". And that's true. If you look up any volunteer organization, you'll notice how expensive their fees are; thousands of dollars for only a couple of week. But here is where International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) comes in. I was like everyone, thinking volunteering was too expensive and, even though I really wanted to do it, I wouldn't be able to because of the excessively high fees.

But then I stumbled across this website. I was shocked by how affordable their fees were! Four weeks in South Africa? US $675! Four weeks in Thailand? US $500! Four weeks in Peru - Lima? US $555! And so on... You're probably thinking this must be a scam, and I thought so too, at first, but trust me it isn't! I went, and it was the most wonderful experience of my life.

How does it work? Well, you don't actually volunteer for IVHQ. IVHQ has partnerships with organizations in countries all over the world and it's for those organizations you volunteer. So for example, in South Africa, I volunteered for Dreams to Reality, an organization based in Muizenberg. If you go on DTR's website and you look at their fees if you go directly through them, you'll notice it is much more expensive: four weeks, US $930 (vs. the $675 through IVHQ). Which is why IVHQ is so amazing when you're on a budget.

Accommodation and meals are included in the price. For accommodation, you usually stay either in a volunteer house or with a host family picked by IVHQ. I've heard only good things about the families the volunteers live with, so you have nothing worry about. Personally, in South Africa, I stayed in a volunteer house, which was really great! You always have people to hang out with and you can be sure you'll never get bored. As for the food, in South Africa, it wasn't amazing, I have to admit. But for the price, I can't complain (even though we liked doing so). But I heard in other countries, such as Morocco, because you stay with a family, the food is absolutely incredible.

But for me, the best part about IVHQ is that they actually choose ethical organizations in the different countries. That is something very important to me because I've heard all about the horror stories of fake orphanages that take children away from their families just to attract people to give money, or the houses that are built by volunteers for absolutely nothing because when they leave, the house is destroyed just to have new volunteers come in and rebuild the same house again. But with IVHQ, after tons of research, I found that they make sure to choose legit and ethical organizations that do need help.

I would recommend to stay a minimum of four weeks wherever you go. You only start to settle in after two weeks, and you need those two extra weeks to really see most things. That was especially true for me in South Africa. I registered for four weeks, and I did do most things I wanted to do, but because I fell in love with the country so hard, I ended up extending one and a half more weeks.

So try it! You won't regret it. You will make some of the closest friends you'll ever have while volunteering and you'll meet amazing people... all while you're doing something good. And at the end of the day, that is the most rewarding part of it all.

I wasn't asked by IVHQ to write this post, these are my own opinions.