Boomers Abroad

Description

Volunteers are needed NOW through International Volunteer HQ's partner organization in Costa Rica! With a wide range of volunteering placements available, volunteers can choose from teaching English, childcare work, turtle conservation, healthcare, and construction and renovation work in Costa Rica.

* Teaching English

Teaching English to low-income communities in San Jose and surrounding areas is a rewarding project. Children, teenagers and young adults are very excited to practice their pronunciation and conversation skills with native speakers. Costa Rica is increasingly becoming the tourism capital of Central America, meaning English is a prerequisite for all people looking to make a career in the tourism industry and get above the poverty line. Volunteers will work in local schools, orphanages and community centers. Work varies but generally consists of providing tutoring to local students, setting up small workshops, assisting local teachers and organizing educational games and activities. NB Volunteers DO NOT need to be a qualified or experienced teacher.

* Childcare Work

Costa Rica on the back of strong resources, a stable Government and increasing tourism is becoming one of the more affluent countries in Central America. However this is causing problems whereby citizens from neighboring countries (such as Nicaragua) are immigrating into Costa Rica, causing an increase in unemployment, homelessness and poverty. The aim of our childcare program is to provide individual attention and assistance to children from difficult backgrounds in Costa Rica. Many children at the projects we work with do not receive the level of affection and education that they deserve, and volunteers therefore play an important role in working alongside local staff to improve the educational, emotional, and hygiene conditions of the children. Volunteers will work in orphanages, community centers, daycare centers, schools, soup kitchens and kindergartens. Work varies but generally consists of providing individual attention, sharing affection with children, paying with children, organizing games and activities, educating children regarding hygiene and assisting with home work.

* Turtle Conservation

At the turtle project, volunteers assist a Costa Rican biologist with their work at the beach. Volunteers help with studies and protection work of the sea turtles and with the sustainable egg harvesting programs. Volunteers live in one of three beach locations around Costa Rica and must be prepared to work hard. Living conditions are basic and volunteers work shifts (days and nights). Volunteer activities vary at different times of the year but general work includes; beach patrols, building hatcheries to keep eggs away from predators, beach cleaning, count and tag sea turtles, locating nesting females and work with local staff to harvest eggs. NB While we do accept volunteers for one week on the turtle program, because the sites are located six hours from our base where we have orientation and the program takes longer to settle into, we recommend staying for a minimum of two weeks or choosing one of our other placements in and around San Jose for one week. A surcharge of USD 5 per day is added to the program fees to cover costs associated with running the program.

* Construction and Renovation

One of the ways we provide support to the different projects we work with is through our construction and renovation projects. Many projects are under-funded and run-down, and are in need of renovation work. Volunteers usually work alongside a local construction worker who provides them with direction and motivation. Volunteers work on a variety of buildings such as schools, orphanages, community centers and clinics. Volunteer work varies but generally consists of renovating buildings, re-painting community centers, building required infrastructure such as orphanages and landscaping/gardening. You are not required to have experience with construction work but having good energy levels, a reasonable level of fitness and good dedication will go a long way to ensuring you get the most out of your volunteer project. NB A surcharge of USD 5 per day is added to the program costs of this placement to cover construction materials.

* Healthcare

The healthcare system in Costa Rica is relatively well developed. However, the projects we work with always appreciate the extra assistance that volunteers bring through supporting local nurses and doctors. Our projects work with a number of local institutions such as a hospice, ambulance services and AIDS home. Pre-med and Medical students should understand that they will generally shadow a doctor and will not be directly providing patient care. Insurance regulations and laws in Costa Rica make it rare for unlicensed professionals to have direct patient contact. It is important that healthcare volunteers have realistic expectations with regard to the activities that they will get involved in (see below). Medical students should understand that independence in medical projects will always be determined by:
- level of training and demonstrated expertise
- Spanish level
- age
- personality and ability to take initiative
- duration of program

NB: All healthcare volunteers must bring evidence of their level of education, their white coat and their stethoscope

* Eco-Agriculture Conservation Project

The IVHQ Eco-Agriculture Conservation project is based in the central highlands of Costa Rica where volunteers assist local communities through strengthening the entire coffee production operations. Volunteers provide assistance on this project not only through their help with coffee production and marketing, but also through reforestation and caring for their community. Your program begins with 1-2 days in San Jose where you will receive orientation and we will organize your bus trip to the project site. Once you arrive at the farm and settle into the home stay accommodation, you can familiarize yourself with your surroundings.

Project tasks will be determined by the time of year that you are on location but will always be providing support to the families that live on the farms in this community. Tasks such as coffee-picking in the fields, roasting of beans and packaging of the final product will be part of your duties. Other activities include: cropping of fruits, vegetables and reforestation efforts. The high coffee harvesting season is from December until early February, but there is plenty of work all year round in the process. Coffee harvest season runs from November through March, and during this time you will spend at least some of the days actually picking coffee cherries from the plants. From November through to approximately May, volunteers will assist in processing the coffee. This means passing it through machinery to get the pulp of the coffee cherry off, washing the beans, and then drying the beans on drying patios that need to be raked and moved around on a regular basis to assist the drying process. All year round volunteers will be roasting and packaging the beans, and working on improving marketing and distribution to get the beans out there to the world stage. In the non-harvest season, farming activities will include: Planting, caring for and harvesting of fruits and vegetables for local consumption, Coffee tree nursery: germination and care for baby plants, planting in the ground, Care for current trees pruning, seeking out damaged or diseased trees to get rid of them, Reforestation of depleted areas.

All year round volunteers can also supplement their volunteer time by teaching English in a local school. You will be working 4-6 hours a day depending on the amount of work the family has at the time. It is important to note that this work is seasonal and tasks will vary depending on the time of the year you are on location. Spanish lessons are not available in this location and are only available on San Jose based programs. NB A surcharge of USD 5 per day is added to the program fees to cover extra costs associated with running this program.