Volunteer Work Abroad?

MKalus asks: "Looking at what is going on in the world right now and realizing that computers are not everything (yes, there is more than that) I was considering for quite some time now volunteering in an international project. I was looking at institutions like Casa Alianza and Doctors Without Borders but the problem I am facing is that all of these organizations mainly seem to search for volunteers in medical fields and not so much in High Tech Areas. This is, of course, understandable as I don't really think anybody needs a server farm if they don't have enough to eat at the end of the day." Update: 12/03 15:19 GMT by C :MKalus has been reading the comments sent in so far, but had this bit to add: "I am NOT from the US, I am german living in Canada, as such things like the Peace Corps for example are not a viable option."

"Now I am aware of several organisations where you can go for two weeks in a developing country and help on a farm etc. I also remember the Geekcorps but as nice as it sounds to bring the internet in parts of the world who don't have it I don't quite see the sense in it when at the same time thousands of people die everyday.

So here's the question: Is there a geek out there who managed to volunteer for a longer period (6 months to a year or maybe even longer) in a project abroad, something along the lines of those I've mentioned abobe?"

Comments

doctors won't really help in these cases either

[Anonymous Coward]

>I don't really think anybody needs a server farm
>if they don't have enough to eat at the end of
>the day.

They don't need a doctor at this point either.
What they needed was either farming in the last
growing season, and/or a transportation infrastructure, together with whatever economic means would have been require to make all that happen.

By the time widespread hunger sets into a place,
there's sadly not much to be done.

Have you considered the Peace Corps? You could
at least work in commo, if that's geeky enough for you.

Re:Geekcorps

[worldwideweber]

I apologize to the partial post...

I meant to add that there are similar projects in the Caribbean. In the Dominican Republic, The Amity Institute has a teaching exchange program that includes teaching posts for computer technology courses. Likewise, the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, where I worked for a semester, always needs technology instructors. Both of these organizations put geeks up in apartments. (Spanish is required).

International Year of the Volunteer

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey,
2001 is the UN year of the volunteer. I am curently teaching in the Cisco Academy in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia. THere are plenty of IT related opportunities with the United Nations in the ICT sector. As long as you have at least 5 years experienc and are at least 25 years old.
Check out www.unv.org for more information. Plus if you are willing to go to Afganistan, I can assure you you will probably be on the next flight with out bombs!

Engineers without Borders

[Anonymous Coward]

You're looking for "Engineers Without Borders":
here a few of their addresses:

http://ewob.colorado.edu
EWOB USA

http://www.ewb-isf.org
EWB CANADA

http://www.isf-france.org
EWB France = Ingénieurs sans Frontières (ISF)

There are lots of other local and national EWB groups, a google search should find em.

Join Americorps -- Help Domestically

[Llama Keeper]

Rather than looking abroad may I suggest joing a domestic (USA) organization. Americorps is a national civilian service organization that send people to different locations around the US where strong minds and bodies are needed.

A great friend of mine joined for a year and work with inner city kids in Las Vegas, worked at a soup kitchen in Denver, fight fires in the Sierra Nevadas, built trails and did eco-rehab in the Sierras and many other fun projects.

I looked at joining six months ago when I was between jobs, and deciding if I wanted to return to college. The people I talked to were enthusiastic about having a geek who was interested in joing (I'm also a hardcore outdoor enthusiast, so that was a plus side for them as well.)

Americorp is a great deal, you commit to work for a year, you get trianed, then while working get a small monthly per diem and at the end of your service are eligible for a decent amount of $$$ for college. I would highly reccomend it to anyone who is interested in helping people. When my current contract with my employer expires I'm joing for a year.

Re:Join Americorps -- Help Domestically

[JonToycrafter]

Americorps is about the last place you would want to go if you're looking to do charitable work. If you join Americorps, you're most likely to end up in a intern-level job at a large corporate non-profit making less than the minimum wage ($802 a month, I believe, $826 in urban areas). The program was conceived of to allow middle-class kids with parents who will help support them to do work in communities they don't know the first thing about. It's an exercise in cynicism. And the "decent $$" you get at the end is $4700, and you're severely limited to what you can spend it on. So after a year's work photocopying, since Americorps jobs can't be direct service jobs, you've made $14,612, which hopefully was enough to live on. Maybe in a rural area this works out OK, but in NYC, forget it. If you go to here there's more info. Check out the patronizing photo while you're there. It's so....Manifest Destiny.

Peace Corps

[Dan Sullivan]

The Peace Corps has specifically solicited for computer expertise. Check out

http://www.peacecorps.gov/assignments/focusareas .c fm#it There's plenty of work to go around.

other volunteer orgs/programs

[zdburke]

Netaid, part of the UN Development Programme doesn't offer work abroad, but uses the Net so you can work locally to help those abroad. A lot of the assignments are more oreinted toward research/advocacy/education, but there are tech needs associated with those things too: sysadmins, DBAs, Web developers, etc. This is part of the UNDP's Information and Communications Technology division.

Global Technology Corps is run by the US Department of State and sends people abroad to build LANs and such.

Trust For The Americas sends folks abroad to teach tech, and also to setup the infrastructure -- building networks, etc.

geekcorps.org

[braddock]

Folks should definitely check out the Geek Corps.

www.geekcorps.org

One of the nice things about the Geek Corps is that instead of trying to do it all themselves, they instead concentrate on educating local's and helping local businesses to build an information infrastructure.

In addition, it sounds like it would be a great time because Geekcorp volunteers all live together during their stay.

-Braddock Gaskill