Institute for Field Research Expeditions volunteer program

I spent a lot of time choosing which organization I wanted to volunteer with. There are a lot of different companies out there offering volunteer placements. However, a lot of these companies are for-profit and charge ridiculously high fees although very little of the fee actually makes it to the volunteer project.

I chose to volunteer with the Institute for Field Research Expeditions (IFRE), which is a non-profit organization based out of Texas. IFRE places volunteers with various projects in 11 different countries. It has the lowest program fee of all the organizations I researched and offered the most comprehensive placement. The fee for 4 weeks is $1305 USD (compared to $2235 USD for a similar placement from the popular company, I-to-I). Through IFRE I'll receive my volunteer placement, housing, 3 meals a day, free Spanish lessons, a donation to the orphanage, comprehensive travel insurance, and airport pick-up. Also, they didn't have any complaints registered against them with the Better Business Bureau in Dallas- always a good thing.

During the volunteer project I will be staying with a local host family who will also provide my meals for the day. During the mornings I will go to free Spanish lessons to bolster my limited Spanish, and will work in the orphanage from lunch till dinner. There I will be doing a variety of things including helping staff with the children, teaching English, playing games, and helping with homework. I'll probably also do chores around the orphanage like cleaning, laundry, preparing meals and working on the property. Weekends are free time to do whatever you like.

So that's about it for now. There will be some more posts in July with more information about the orphanage and my host family but the majority of posts will be in August during the trip.