Work abroad for a month round £800-£1000, is it worth it?

Former Member

I sent off for a brochure or 2 a bit back about working abroad schemes and found one that seems to do insteresting thigns at the cheapest price I have found so far.

The got to south america, asia, europe and africa and they have different jobs you can do including teaching, journalism, manual work and others. The cheapest is for the month and thats usually £800 to over a £1000, the price goes up for 2 and 3 months placements.

I don't t hink this includes airfare though and I am not sure about wages. I am pretty sure they provide accom and food.

Is it worth doing one of these things? I mean if you do the journalism one, would that stand in good stead for journalism work over here?

What about prices? is it a fair price? I know I haven't given much info, the brochure isn't with me at the mo but I will check tonight but any advice is welcome.

Former Member

I would be wary of schemes like these. Where is your money going? Why does it cost so much money? Accommodation and food is quite cheap in those countries and I’m sure you don’t get a wage for that type of work. So why are you paying to go and volunteer?
When you add in airfare that is going to cost a lot, I think there are better things you can do with your money.

If you can just pay your way in, I can’t see it especially helping with jobs here unless you produce some good work while there.

A few years ago I went to Bosnia to do a voluntary journalism project. The fee was £90 which covers admin and a donation to the organisations work, no one made a profit out of it. I flew with easyjet then got buses. I would say the whole trip, which was a month in total, cost me less than £250 and that included a week in Croatia.
If you are interested I can tell you the organisation.

Having said all that, I’ve not done a scheme like that one so maybe am not well placed to comment. I’m just wary of ‘volunteering’ that costs hundreds and hundreds of pounds.

Former Member

You have to pay them £1,000 to go and work for a month? And it doesn't even include airfare?

Sounds like a bit of a scam to me - if you want to teach English there's plenty of places that'd pay you to do it, or if you want to volunteer, they wouldn't actually *charge* you for the privilege.

Former Member

wow, thats is very cheap.

I originally wanted to work with animals abroad but the costs were like £2000 a week.

I am interested Pussy Katty, I am wary of Bosnia though. What was it like? How much journalism work did you do? Did you get holiday/leisure time?

Former Member

If there's really people out there willing to pay £800-1000 a month to go abroad and do manual labour in a Third World country, I'm going to consider setting up the Gap Year Sweatshop...

Former Member

Wow.

I haven't found anywhere that doesn't cost at least over £500, usually in the £800 all the way up to over £2000.

I looke don net and everything. It all costs tons of money. Where are these cheap places?

Former Member

Walkindude wrote:

wow, thats is very cheap.

I originally wanted to work with animals abroad but the costs were like £2000 a week.

I am interested Pussy Katty, I am wary of Bosnia though. What was it like? How much journalism work did you do? Did you get holiday/leisure time?

You are wary of Bosnia, which is in Europe, where there was a war more than 10 years ago, but you were looking at going to South America, Asia and Africa?

I was there for 3 weeks, did as much or as little journalism as I wanted. I tended to go out and interview people/visit places for articles for a few hours a day.

We made a website and magazine.

I don't think the same project is running this year as it was a one off but the organisation has hundreds of types of projects. Have a look at www.unaexchange.org

Former Member

damn this thing is playin up today.

yeah, I mean heat and animlas I can take but unstable countries and general travel safety do concern me.

as little or a smuch as you want eh?? Interesting.

I'll check out the site.

Former Member

have to check it out later coz its hard to navigate at the mo.