I have decided to take a gap year given the current job market and wondered if I could volunteer for 6 months in one place and 6 months in another allowing me time to see two different regions?  When volunteering, do you get time out to take brief trips elsewhere?

JMan,

Thanks for the post, it is great news that you are thinking of doing two separate 6 month stints.

To answer your questions first...yes, dividing your time over two regions is entirely possible. Depending what you were looking at doing, depends on the time off you will get, for example, time off on our expeditions would be every 5 weeks (if you were on a 10 week expedition), as you are on an expedition base, unfortunately we do not allow volunteers to wander off into the jungle or wildlife reserve! Some projects work slightly differently, where you may have evenings and weekends off to explore the surrounding areas yourself.

Do you know what kind of volunteering you would like to do or the region you would like to visit most? From that, I could give you an idea of what you might be able to do with your gap year and the projects that could be involved, just to start the mind working!

Thanks,

I really like the idea of your Buddhist Novice Monks volunteering scheme.  I am possibly going to travel around Asia for about 4 months, so could possibly do about a month, head off and come back again for the final month.  Is that a possibility?  I noticed in a different post you'd put that can do anything from a month to a year... 

Hi Diane,

That program in Laos is a newer one for GVI, but has proved a popular option this year, especially over the summer months.

What you are thinking of doing is definitely an option and possible, although you might find you will get more out of the project to do 2 months (8 weeks) or a longer stretch in the one go. This would allow you to connect and build a good relationship with the children over a longer period of time, as well as providing a bit of stability at the front of the class which aids the development of the children better, as volunteers will find and develop different teaching methods which students will adapt to.

Obviously this depends on how your schedule, time and money works out, but the above are some of things to think about to get the most out of the project yourself, and also in a way that benefits the community in which we work.

I hope this is helps!

Stuart