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How Do You Volunteer Professional Services?
keefus_a writes "My wife and I usually take a week long vacation in the Spring and I tossed out the idea of volunteering abroad. Neither of us has a problem with doing manual labor, or whatever task is needed. However, I thought it might be of some value, and substantially more rewarding than our daily grind, if we could volunteer our professional services (I'm a network guy and my wife has a master's degree in counseling). The problem is that I haven't found any resources for doing so on a short-term basis. So I ask Slashdot. Has anyone ever done short-term volunteer work in your professional field? What organization did you contact? Or are we better off donating money to a particular cause and just working on a tan?"
Craigslist Casual Encounters?
Find the nearest church. The leaders there will be able to help you find a cause.
Card in the 'phone box. Shouldn't this be in Idle?
I worked in Peru and Bolivia in 2001, and I say just go somewhere, most captials in 3rd world countries have multiple NGO offices, go there and ask. Network is hard since you will most likely work for a telecom company instead, but local universities could of course be glad to get help.
That's just crazy. Take a vacation, relax, enjoy life. There's plenty of time (51 weeks a year to be exact) that you can toil away at that grindstone.
Trust me, you (and your emotional/physical/mental well being) will thank me.
Yet a 3rd choice...
Keep your money for yourself, and go somewhere NICE for a tan.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
"Hi. I'm offering professional services on a volunteer basis. Contact me at ______________" Post this exactly on craigslist.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Based on recent tragedies in Haiti. If your just offering to provide local general volunteer services, approach your local charitable organizations that provide those types of volunteer services and let them direct you.
If you are considering volunteer work in disaster areas, please.. please, do not do it. There are professionals trained in those types of things, the last thing they need is for a group of volunteers who went to help out, suddenly requiring rescuing of their own. After the main disaster cleanup is done, and the areas are safe, then offer yourself up as a volunteer, but till then, stay out of dangerous areas.
I came, I conquered, I coredumped
If you live in the States. I'm sure they have some place they could use a bit of network help for a week.
Of course, is there really a project you can think of taking on and finishing week?
Yachana Lodge is a nice Eco-lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon along the Napo River that needed network help the last time I was there - of course they're looking for Spanish speakers, and a little more than a week.
On the other hand, they do need laptops, and Amazon networking is pretty extreme. The jungle eats pretty much any cabling you lay down in a year or less, so they have an all-wireless mesh network with solar and some small-scale (talking bicycle tires with cups on them) hydroelectric power for slow charging.
So if you could come up with a durable, lightweight, very low power (beyond netbook low-power) design for a laptop (solar?) and you wanted to raise money and build some, I bet you could make a trip of going somewhere where they need them and distributing them and teaching basic use. But a week is tricky.
I do a web site as a volunteer.
Its not a short term gig because it involves maintenance of backend databases etc..
Make sure any network you set up is maintenance free or very standard.
There are lots of ways to volunteer, and find appropriate work. A site called volunteermatch existed a long time ago. Sometimes I help with painting. Its not what I do professionally but its oddly satisfying.
Every country has an excess of networking engineers, and the last thing people need during a disaster is Deanna Troi.
Unless you have an expertise in food distribution/agriculture, medicine, or communication - in the first case, you are probably in the military or academia; in the second, Medecins sans Frontiers; and in the third, in the military or amateur radio emergency societies - you will probably just be excess baggage.
Of course, if you are not just looking for an excuse for holiday and want to help at home, where you will actually be useful in smaller scale projects looking for locals, go for it!
Not exactly a good fit for one week, but Geek Corps does this kind of thing.
This post cannot be rebroadcast without the express written constent of Major League Baseball.
I don't have any experience with these organizations, but you should check
Engineers without borders
Telecoms sans frontiers (without borders)
I did a quick search and found http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en/index.html and http://www.volunteermatch.org/. I haven't used either, so I'd be curious to know if somebody here has and what the experience was like.
Call one of the national NGOs whose purpose you support and ask where you would be useful, or if there are regional orgs or offices that do something similar where you are that maybe you can help out at. For example, if you want to help with modern day slavery (about 200K teens in the US are at high risk of being trafficked each year), try calling the Polaris Project. They can probably either let you know a few orgs near where you are or get back to you within a few days.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Professional service is not suitable for short-term volunteering - better dig a ditch or something simple like that.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
like your daily grind is unsatisfying.
Do what you love instead-- that will be infinitely more rewarding to you and the world than working a "job" and trying to "do good" by volunteering.
Find the thing that is right for you and focus all your energy into that-- good things will abound. You will not need a vacation, and your sense of duty and accomplishment will be sated. Plus, you will be doing the thing that only you are qualified to do-- the thing that you want to do.
Especially small to medium sized local ones, they're always looking for all the help they can get since they can't afford to hire out services on a regular basis. They're usually also the ones that are best connected into the community and are more concerned with quality than scale. Its a good idea to look into groups that are used to international volunteers as well, just to make life easier. An example of this type of organization would be Manav Sadhna in India, which operates out of the Gandhi Ashram in Gujarat.
Having been robbed in both Mexico and Jamaica, both of your professional skill sets could be of great use depending upon where you vacation. Trying to get an internet connection to cancel your credit cards should test your network abilities, and your wife could provide you with counseling after dealing with customs.
FWIW, my post-Jamaica tan was far better than post-Yukatan tan...I'd book a trip to Monitigo Bay if I were in your shoes.
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
A week isn't much time to do anything anywhere. Six months, mabye.
Johannes Wilm did some good work recently: "Nicaragua Builds An Innovative Agricultural Information System Using Open Source Software" http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nicaragua-builds-innovative-agricultural-information-system-using-open-source-software
Phil Hughes, former publisher of Linux Journal, is living in Nicaragua. You may find some information on his web site, Nicaragua Living: http://www.nicaliving.com/
I like the one suggestion above, to just go and ask. Few organizations are as mired in bureaucracy as the head offices of NGOs. It's the field offices that may be able to come up with some work on the spot.
Short of that, get a tan. Sorry, but there's no such thing as "intellectual day labour" - most jobs that use education require you to mesh in with a team, with an office environment, with a set of clients and problems. It takes a week, minimum, often a month, to be productive enough to pay back the hours spent showing you around, introducing you, briefing you.
If you want a great story about the fun of dealing with NGOs, try this 3-screen Atlantic article on the lady who had the terrific idea of a co-op of Afghan farmers that would produce essential oil from their pomegranates for use by "The Body Shop" and others for high-end soaps. It involved purchasing, at first, a single hand-cranked seed-oil press.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/afghans
My favourite bit on page 2 - asked to fill in a 14-screen spreadsheet with numbers on "production coefficients", the "equipment procurement, loan-repayment summaries, sales figures, labor costs, packaging and shipping costs, and cash-flow statements. It took me two weeks, full-time, just to fill in the cells with real numbers. And I have a master's degree from a U.S. university. I began to wonder how Afghan entrepreneurs would ever be able to negotiate such requirements." Presenting it to them at the end of the two weeks, she's told, the "...agribusiness team greeted the spreadsheet with a snort. "We don't need anything like that. He just loves to cook up these spreadsheets," they remarked of their colleague."
Most professional type stuff requires longer terms. The reason is that often you are dealing with complex situations and a week isn't even really enough time to learn the system, much less accomplish anything. I think about where I work and if you can in and said "Hey I'd like to help out for a week," I'd have to say "no thanks" because you couldn't do anything useful. While I could certainly use more sysadmin type help, it'd take longer than a week to get you trained up on what we've got.
Short term volunteer work is almost always going to be grunt labour type stuff because there's almost always a need since it doesn't pay well and it takes little to no training. Your more advanced skills aren't likely to be used.
Take your vacation somewhere where your tourism dollars will really help the locals: Goa, India (or just travel in India); lots of places in South America; Phuket, Thailand; etc. Skip big tourist drawing areas like the Bahamas where your money goes into the pockets of wealthy hotel and tourist industry owners.
Stay at more modest accommodations. Spend your money on small local service providers, food providers, crafts makers, and so forth. Tip them well.
By doing these things you'll stretch your vacation dollars farther, be more in touch with the local culture, have a good time, and help disadvantage people just trying to make an honest living.
Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
Hi,
I'm actually starting a start-up to help for just this! It's focused on getting advertising and technology (programmers) to volunteer to create Public Service Advertising campaigns. The site isn't ready yet, at all! We are right in the middle of updating the copy, but what the hell: http://friendsofwe.org./ Check it out. Let us know what you think. It's really premature to show publicly.
Right now there are just two of us working on this, so if you're interested in committing sometime let me know. We're also looking for $1000 in donations so we can file and apply for 501(c)(3) status.
We're really good guys, so don't judge us too harshly. We just want to contribute.
Thanks!
-Mario
mario-at-friendsofwe.org
My experience, which is mine and only mine and so can't speak for anyone else, was that volunteering tech time was overwhelming.
I volunteered to do the web programming and graphics a few years back for a small organization. The thing it's just like work. There are deadlines, pressure, unrealistic requirements, the whole deal. And just like real tech work, it's not easy to hit the ground running on day one as there's a learning curve to how they work and operate. It's not something that's easily broken up in 4 hour casual chunks just when you want to do it.
I'd say just do habitat for humanity or send money or something. But don't try and be a network admin for a week somewhere. It wouldn't be fun to have you totally screw up their firewall on your last day before heading back to your job. Send them money so they can contract local services where someone is doing it as their job.
Neither of us has a problem with doing manual labor
Come by my place.
...you really want to goto Disney that bad huh?
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day
If you are willing to help do other work like building, cleaning, providing education...then you might have a chance of finding something. Most needy countries do not need your skills, networking and counseling are for the rich. Most need someone to install a water purification system, food distribution, education about safe sex and aids prevention, construction of homes, creating irrigation canals, driving supplies to remote areas, cleaning flood damaged homes, just giving the local kids some organized games together to forget about their plight, basic and health education.
Most organizations will want more than a week commitment for anything more complex than grunt labor. Just like with a job, it takes time to ramp people up, and it isn't worth the effort on their part to do so for someone who is only going to be helping for a week.
For example, consider the task of setting up a new network. They will need to familiarize you with the current infrastructure. Then you can design, purchase equipment, and setup the new network. Finally, you must explain what you did to whoever will be maintaining the network. That will take more than a week, and it would be just as easy if the normal guy that maintains everything upgraded the network himself. If you can find a charity that just happens to be in the middle of an upgrade the week you take on vacation, they would be happy to have the extra hand, but that's unlikely.
For volunteer social work like counseling (and even some tutoring), most organizations like you to go though several days of training before hand. Even if your wife is more than qualified to do the work off the bat, they need to make sure you are both on the same page (not to mention the CYA aspects).
If you can find time in your schedule to volunteer a couple hours a week, you will find more volunteer organizations that are able to use your skills. There are websites where organizations can post for help they need, such as Volunteer Match or 1-800-volunteer.
Just keep working most of us are so underpaid for the hell we go through we might as well be volunteering.
Which usually means creating websites for non-profits. The only issue I've ran into is support after the launch can be tricky: The non-profits will need updates and changes and improvements all the time, which can lead to some time-management issues. A good scope of work agreement usually solves this.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
I wouldn't say it's impossible to do well, but it sure is hard, for two reasons. First, it takes a lot of staff time, proportionately, to get a short-term volunteer up to speed. Second, a lot of people (especially people working in their own fields) are very insistent about doing things they way they are used to, and not the way their hosts do them. This means that not only they not helping, they're actually setting the host organization back.
So, take some time to reflect on your willingness to do someone else's tasks, in their way, on their schedule. To really be helpful requires an uncommon amount of humility.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
Just last evening I was approached by someone who has been *very* successful in starting non-profit org's, and asked me to "help out". Instead of compensation, we've worked out a deal where I can claim my time as a charitable donation (because after all, that's exactly what it is). That means that this donation offsets a bit of the work that I've done elsewhere. The charity is happy because they get "free" work, I'm happy because I get to do what I love, and it feels good to "donate". Besides, the networking contacts have already started to pay off!
I've done volunteer work through the RedCross. http://www.redcross.org/ Like others have mentioned if you are just wanting to help a week at best you'll be digging ditches or sorting donations. Small things like sponsoring a blood drive or working the refreshment stands at a blood drive is very helpful and can be done short term.
They've got chapters all over the world so they may be able to hook you up with a foreign "office" for something short term. They are a great group to volunteer with year round and they give you a ton of options so you can find something that fits in your life.
You may also want to try http://www.volunteermatch.org/ I've never used them, but RedCross uses them as the backend for their volunteer search pages.
Don't anthropomorphize computers. They *hate* that.
Your company gives you time off so you can relax and recharge. They recognize that humans need a few days to unwind and do something NOT work-related. If you go volunteer and do basically what you would have done at work, isn't that just doing your job somewhere else?
The point of vacation is to go on vacation.
Construction and Demolition specialists are needed to repair (or demolish and rebuild) structures.
For many of the people in those categories Haiti will be their first "real" disaster scene. Others may have previous experience and volunteer to help even though their "day job" isn't rebuilding nations after a catastrophic event.
While I agree that people should only go into a disaster area like Haiti as part of an organized recovery effort I don't believe the "Don't go there because you don't work for [insert disaster group]" attitude this post and the grandparent take is at all productive - These organizations do not have the manpower or expertise to do it all themselves.
Just my $3.50 as someone who has gone in after fires and floods to bring skeleton infrastructure up and support further recovery.
/~mikeg
Try volunteer opportunities page on idealist.org
If you want to make a difference, work the extra week at your normal job, take the payout on vacation time (assuming this is an option) and whatever you would have spent on travel, and donate the cash to the charity effort of your choice. It will go a long long long way.
With one week's time, doing anything professionally is a major resource sink. Just imagine if you (or your wife) were to walk into a new job, where very few others really knew what you did, and asked you "go make yourself worthwhile in one week". You would barely be cognizant of the position's needs in one weeks time, much less provide any real benefit to them.
On the other hand, if you want to merely feel like you did something useful, go fly yourself somewhere, nose around in someone else's business for a week, then up and leave. It's sure to generate some head scratching, but not much else.
For all those who have never volunteered, here is what the poster really said.
"Hi. I'm a really highly educated individual (in my own mind) who wants to help the poor unwashed masses out there with my vast experience. I know I could take my Spring vacation and just volunteer at a soup kitchen or Habitat for Humanity and feel really good about myself but I want to be treated as *SPECIAL*. I want the unwashed masses to see who wonderful I really am. In that light I'd like to use my vast knowledge in (useless corporate middle-management skill). Where, oh where, is there an organization enlightened enough to see they really really really need my help and would be lost without me?"
Here's the standard answer.
"Yes, everyone wants to be special. Here's your special hammer and your special broom. Get to work."
NO ONE NEEDS YOUR SPECIAL SKILL SET. IF THEY DID YOU WOULD BE PAID VASTLY MORE THAN YOU ARE. YOU ARE DELUSIONAL. SEEK HELP.
With the amount I get paid, I virtual am volunteering.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
In Australia, there is an organisation called goodcompany (http://www.goodcompany.com.au).
Blurb from the web site.
"""
goodcompany is Australias most effective meeting place for volunteers and community groups, inspiring a new generation of professionals who can make a positive difference in our communities.
goodcompany makes volunteering easy by matching skilled professionals with community group needs.
"""
Maybe there is something similar over there?
http://givecamp.org/
As a woman who can remember the dark days before Roe when pregnant girls "disappeared" out of schools and thousands of desperate women died every year from backalley and coathanger abortions, I know I have to do my part to help abortion rights. Since I'm not a medical professional and can't perform free abortion services myself, I do the next best thing and donate my time at local Planned Parenthood and private abortion clinics. The doctors, nurses and staff are all wonderful, welcoming people, but most of them know next to nothing about computers because the average abortionist is over 60 years old. Increased reporting requirements, insurance mandates, and electronic records means that computers are more important than ever and small abortion clinics have trouble even keeping their computers and networks running and can't afford expensive consultants and medical software.
All this means that you wouldn't believe the smiles on the faces of abortion clinics staffs when I volunteer at their offices. My latest deal is saving them money on software by installing open source wherever I can. I live in a mid-sized mid-western city, and recently redid a local Planned Parenthood network. I replaced their hokey Netgear router with an old Pentium II beige box running OpenBSD 3.3 as a firewall (BEST release of ANY OS for a firewall, IMHO), and I even reinstalled the secretary's Windows 98 PC with Ubuntu 9.04 and OpenOffice and told her it was Windows Vista. (HA!)
So if you want to put your skills to work for the greater good, call your local abortion clinic and tell them you can help with their computers. You won't regret it.
I would fly to Haiti and help. Boy do they need it. The whole infrastructure is totally fucked. I have never cussed in a post before but it needed to be said.
I'm here for the experience, not the Hyperbole.
The only useful professional service you can do in a week, outside of an operating room, is attend a conference.
Try to do a presentation on something from back home that the locals would not know about. Topic selection should involve things that you can't just download off freshmeat or print PDFs from cisco.com... the locals can do that perfectly well without you. Give a presentation on something the locals could not possibly experience. If in a tropical area, a short presentation on arctic data centers, or if in a monopoly phone provider area, a presentation on playing multiple telcos off against each other. If their country does not use -48VDC in the data center, and you do, or vice versa...
Also try to get on a conference roundtable discussion, the odds of you being the token-"whatever" are far better when you're the foreigner.
Network with the locals, you can get very interesting tours and trade advice with each other. At least you'll have some fun telling fish stories. Make some friends and send them some gifts when you get home (careful of customs laws!).
And remember learning goes both ways, not exclusively 1st world to 3rd, you can probably learn a heck of a lot from attending the locals presentations and listening very carefully.
The problem is finding a place with both a computer/hacker con and a counseling con at the same time. I suspect one of you are going to be pretty bored every other year. Or you'll be taking two short vacations per year instead of one long week.
The best part, is you might get the boss to pay for at least some fraction of your vacation... Once you get home give a short presentation at the next staff meeting about what you learned, then get the cheap bastard to pay at least your conference entrance fee.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Counseling and Networking/Telecom are not "short term" one week fields - Networking and Counseling are not like medicine where you can do quick meatball surgery and fix immediate problems.
For your wife to be of any value she would need to form a therapeutic relationship with people, which takes time and trust. This won't happen in a week, and such short term "counseling" may end up doing more harm than good.
For you to do any good you would need to engineer a solution to some problem (could take more than a week in itself) and be available to help with deployment, which could stretch into months or longer depending on the scale of the project.
If you want to volunteer I suggest finding local causes - Your wife could work a crisis center hotline one night a week, and you could volunteer at a local non-profit that needs the networking help but can't afford a full-time guy.
If you want to help out a stricken region but can't commit to a month or longer I think your money is more useful than your time (and probably tax-deductible).
/~mikeg
1) http://www.taprootfoundation.org/
2) ???
3) profit!
"If you're good at something, never do it for free"
There's really a lot of wisdom in this. On the one hand you're devaluing your means of earning a living. On the other you're risking burn-out. Volunteer if you want, but keep it simple and don't mix your work-life into it.
http://www.townshiptrust.org.za/ You can lay LAN cables throughout the houses?
I've done it, volunteering overseas during a vacation for me has always turned out to be a LOT of work, esp if its something specialized. You will end up with people who DESPERATELY need you and who are in TERRIBLE shape. They will milk everything out of you and you will not get to relax or see anything. My boyfriend and I did this one summer in Italy and though it would be a fun lark, we quit after three consecutive 12 hour days, and we worked seperately. You don't go on vacation to not spend time together.
You will regret it.
Where I live, there is a provider for non-profits - cheap access, connecting them with cheap hardware and software licensing, etc. Every so often they ahve an IT day of service you can sign up for to wire a space, or configure a bunch of servers/workstations for a youth center, etc.
Look for names like community computing, communitynet, net, etc.
R
Though they may not qualify as a church ;)
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Hi,
I'm actually right in the middle of launching an organization to do just this. Initially, we're trying to focus on professional services of advertising professionals and programmers/tech pros to help create public service campaigns. The site isn't ready. We're right in the middle of a copy rewrite - we even still have lorem ipsum in some places. If you promise not to judge too harshly, you can visit our totally not ready site at: http://friendsofwe.org./
Like yourself, we're just trying to find ways we can contribute.
-Mario
mario-a/t-friendsofwe.org
I tried to contact them once, they never got back to me. Does anyone have any recent experience with them?
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Did he mention a disaster? No. Did he mention Haiti? No.
Your snide comments are not helpful.
The poster wants to volunteer his technical skills abroad in an area with need. I'm sure there are plenty of places in the world who could use some professional expertise. You yourself suggest that he can help at home, but perhaps he'd like the experience to help abroad.
Unless you have an expertise in food distribution/agriculture, medicine, or communication ... you will probably just be excess baggage.
Really? The Peace Corp seems to be very active in building schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. They aren't excess baggage.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Stay at home. Find a local organization that needs help -- although many more need help with simple HTML and hosting than with bigger networks. Plenty of local agencies can find a good use for counselors.
You'll spend far less money, waste far less time in transit, have a lower carbon footprint, and help your own community. I'm *sure* that there are plenty of people and organizations in your own area who need help... why not start there?
Support a few technologists in Washington.
In Atlanta, you should contact TechBridge. In many other parts of the country, there's nPower. These are companies that provide technical services for non-profits, and they both make extensive use of volunteers. For counseling, well, you probably want to consult a different board.
You are totally blocking my view of the wall. - Dogbert
As has been mentioned, volunteering any sort of tech work involves a lot of time and ramp up.
But it also can cause them to expect you to come back and fix things if they break later.
And if something you did was incorrect you can be liable for damages.
In today's society it's much safer to either (if you're feeling guilty for something) donate money or just don't do anything at all. You're safer for it.
I've done several givecamps in Michigan (http://michigangivecamp.org/). They get together a bunch of charities that need small scale dev and IT work (mostly setting up websites) and match a bunch of developers to the charities. Everyone gets together for 48 hours and the projects almost always get completed. It's a great experience.
Check the feedthechildren.org web site. They may not have your exact field of work but if you really do not mind manual labor they can definitely put you on a type of building project.
The French have a word for this: it's called a 'congé solidaire' (holiday in solidarity?) which makes it easy to google. I believe the French government actually grants citizens the right to take time off to donate time to support economic development in select countries, so there's an entire mini-industry supporting this in France. If by some chance you speak French, you might try googling congé solidaire and see what comes up. I see Routard has a site about this kind of vacation. I know there are also Swedish companies that specialize in volunteer holidays abroad.
English-language companies also exist that do this kind of thing. VSO in England is a large organization that arranges volunteer work abroad for non-experts (I mean people who don't have local knowledge or an expertise in charitable work). Instead of looking for someone who specializes in working holidays, which may in some cases be more good intention than good works, try talking to a volunteer abroad organization. You will be far from the only ones asking about short stints. Maybe you can negotiate something with them. You might be able to use your skills or you might not, only someone who has more specific knowledge about volunteer abroad programs will be able to tell you. Keep in mind that there's often a sunk cost for sending out volunteers, which is why there's more demand for people willing to make longer-term commitments.
I haven't heard of any companies that specifically cater to the technically inclined.
Contact the JCI and they should be able to put you in contact with a local branch in the location of your choice who should then be able to find a way to use your services:
http://www.jci.cc/
Nevermore.
Look for a group, I Volunteered here as a kid,
Central American Medical Outreach
http://www.camo.org/
By the time you fly into a country, get yourselves settled into a hotel, cure your jetlag, get to the place you're volunteering and become familiar with the local practices, customs and ways of working your vacation will be over. That's even presuming you speak the language. What's worse is that by going to another country and donating your time you are effectively taking work OUT of the local economy, not benefiting it.
Whether it's a specialised software role or just digging ditches (probably worse with manual labour, which would be done by individuals who can't do anything better) you are stopping a vacancy being advertised and a local family from having an income.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Short term professional services in any developing countries are pretty much worthless.
Whatever you implement will be undone within days to weeks of leaving. You can't possibly teach the basics of whatever your professional abilities are in less than 6 months, otherwise a local expert could have been found.
If your services can be of use within a short-term stay you are just taking jobs away from locals and not helping the country at all.
If you want to help, some very basic things can be great for seriously impoverished areas. Project H (was on Colbert on monday) makes these long-distance water wheelbarrow things.
Buy a bunch of those and bring them to far-reaching villages. No villager will forget how to carry 2-5 times the water more easily than they ever did before.
Search and Rescue opportunities for recently destroyed Haiti, might have promise. But only if you can stomach turning up rocks to find 5 month old corpses.
Really basic and intermediate books are welcome at schools, orphanages, etc. Take a trip to Ghana, bring a bunch of books and enjoy the surf and beaches.
Sleep is for the weak.
As mature adults, I think mentoring is a great way to use the skills you've acquired. Sure, you won't be doing computer networking, but you probably have a great understanding of math that you could use to help out a middle school kid who's struggling. Your wife's counseling skills would undoubtedly come in handy.
My wife and I have been mentoring a young girl now for almost three years and she just told me yesterday she might be moving, so it's been on my mind all day. But the experience has been really worthwhile and you help out a local kid.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
What about volunteering for a kids program? For instance, I work in the civil engineering industry, and there are programs such as TechXploration where they have a week of hands on experience with mentors. You should certainly be able to find a similair organization somewhere. My suggestion would be to double up on it. Pick something out of your state, maybe a university summer course for kids/students, and offer to work with them for the week you are there. Picking another state means you can still feel like it is a vacation because you aren't driving the same streets, seeing the same people, and answering the same emails.
My day job has over 200 individuals who volunteer their professional services. We have electrical engineers who help repair stuff and design stuff, librarians who help catalog our donated books and such, among a few things. Have had IT professionals run network cabling on a volunteer basis; a team of volunteers completely rewired one room with over 65 shielded CAT6 drops, from the data center all the way to the room, in one day. We have volunteers assist in educational programs, etc. Lots of opportunities.
There are even a few of our volunteers who have earned various levels of the Presidential Volunteer Service Awards ( http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/ ).
I'd suggest spending some time with these folks. Not only would they most likely be happy to have somebody with networking knowledge (counseling is hard to accomplish in 1 week) and they always appreciate hard work (everything is design build).
Second best bet would be Habitat for Humanity.
To help in whatever capacity you can... Last year my wife and I had the same conundrum. We decided to go to Guatemala to work for a non-profit there. When we signed up to go, we basically went as manual labor (since the specialized positions required long-term stays). When I got there I let them know that I was a software developer and they immediately pulled me off of the house-building crews and set me to work in their office. I did a lot of basic help desk maintenance stuff, but I also made a lot of long overdue updates and additions to their web sites. It felt great knowing that I was able to contribute in a specialized way... Of course - if they needed me to dig ditches the whole time I was there, that's what I was prepared to do.
Serving others from the heart is far more rewarding to the soul than anything else I know.
The International Association for Human Values is a large organization actively doing phenomenal work around the globe with very little overhead, but they are little-known in the US. Disaster relief, youth empowerment, forums for peace dialogs, community developemnt, environmental action, and rural education are some of the focuses of the organization.
I've volunteered for a few organizations, and I've found that IAHV volunteers are consistently not only driven and hard-working, but also peaceful and wonderful to work with during the day.
http://iahv.org/get_involved.asp
http://iahv.org/show_address.asp?country=United%20States
(flash warning... some pages work fine with gnash)
What do you get more of, the more you give away? Love.
Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a wonderful time.
Against my will.
Might I suggest looking into Rotary International.
Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to live by the motto service above self. Rotary brings together business professionals from throughout your community and we unite together to share our talents in helping both our local community and the world. Odds are your community has a local club, and you could work with like-minded business professionals to fill your philanthropic desires.
I myself am a computer technician, and I have worked with our local club and a club in Pignon, Haiti, to provide computers in their local schools for administrative and teaching staff. We have worked with a club in Rajkot, India, to build a dam and provide clean water for thousands of people.
Many districts also partake in a program called the group study exchange. A group of 8-10 local professionals travel to another community somewhere in the world to learn and work with similar professionals in other parts of the world. What do network technicians do in Brazil, or Japan, or Germany? Contact your local district to see if they are offering a Group Study Exchange to any of these countries and work with professionals in those countries.
You can click on the club locator on the top of the Rotary International website to find a club near you. There are also a plethora of matching grants available worldwide, and I'm sure you could find multiple ones
Look, there is no true altruism. People donate their time and skills because at the very least it makes them feel good. This is a "gain" for you. So let's cut through it. Just continue working your job for the time you would be on "vacation" and then take that week's (or two week's salary) and send it to the organization of your choice. For the most part, a highly trained individual doing manual labor is not useful to the people who need help. There are better uses for your time. That leads to the question made by the OP. But you're still not there yet. Trying to utilize your highly trained skills for that organization is almost certainly not going to work out. You're not going to accomplish anything meaningful in a week. So lose all ego, work and give in the most effective way you can.
I've used idealist.org and Volunteer Match for listing opportunities at some of the nonprofits I've worked at. I suggest looking there.
"Her idea of wit is nothing more than an incisive observation humorously phrased and delivered with impeccable timing."
Yeah, the passages pretty much say it's going to be forgiven if you're talking about other people. What they do also say, however, is that it won't be forgiven if you're talking about "the Spirit". Now, that's subject to interpretation. The meaning may very well be God the spirit, but it may also be the spirit of goodness in general. If that is the case, then the passages almost perfectly point to preachers who are against various groups, and thus advocate any different treatment of said groups, as the ones who will not be forgiven.
You've got the best idea in this thread. I'd go one further, and try to really get to know someone there and talk to them about their family and interests. Maybe it will become a friendship. I've also found that learning a few words and phrases in the local language and making an effort to use them goes a long ways.
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
My wife and I spent two years in South Africa in the Peace Corps as education volunteers at rural schools. I had a BA in mathematics and she in journalism. IMO: 1) In poor areas, volunteering technical skills is a long term commitment. However, many rural schools all over the world need new outdoor bathrooms. If you go to a place like this, find a Peace Corps office and they can help contact a Volunteer that would be happy to have you help out with anything for a week or whatever. They will know more about the area than you will ever learn in a week or two and can share good info. 2) Southern Africa is a great place to visit for something like this. Getting there is a little expensive, but everything else is like half-price once you get out of the major cities. Also, there are trustworthy car-rentals and it is relatively safe outside of the big cities despite what people believe.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/could-a-virtual-surge-fix-afghanistan/
If you're interested in helping Afghanistan, that is.
(posted AC so I don't undo moderation)
I just started volunteer at taproot foundation you use your professional skills to help a non-profit on your area. You can help them to build a website, or create a donor's database ... and you do it pro-bono, you need to commit a few hours a week for six months. I have been working with them for a couple of months and it has been a good experience.
...thousands of desperate women died every year from backalley and coathanger abortions...
Oh please, not that old claim again
There are other sites out there like this one. http://www.redcross.org/en/volunteertime
Sean
Since you are a network guy, I guess you could go take a look at those cables in the sea that keep getting cut every few months. I bet the original contractor just put a rock on them so they remain at the bottom but they are all in a tangled-mess and one gets loose from time to time.
Dude,
You're posting on Slashdot. You're a D&D rulebook lawyer. Your sig is a Tolkien quote.
Did you think you were just a little nerdly?
Don't feel bad. I myself actually own a Star Trek collectible. You're in a safe place here, among friends. :-)
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Look at it this way - you are an experience professional with a degree, as is your wife. Let's say you make even a starter programmer salary, or about $25/hour. There are no reasonable tech projects that can be done in a week - anything is an ongoing commitment to on the project. So you're stuck doing manual labor.
So if instead of donating money, you volunteer your time as a day laborer, you are now spending thousands of dollars to travel someplace where labor is cheap to do work with your $25/hour self? Work an extra week, send the cash, and go sit in your backyard if you want a tan. You'll do more good - and heck, now the local guys can have $5/hour in their pocket in addition to having a new church/school/hospital/whatever your charity work is building them.
Volunteering time is for people whose time is not worth much. I've heard far too many stories about foreign charity work that probably does some good, but mostly as a side effect of spending money to make middle class volunteers feel better.
You might check in with your local county. A few weeks ago, I heard about the IT department in my county making some big changes in the way their network is run, so I volunteered to help out. It was about half physical moving and organizing of equipment and half technical work. IT isn't actually my field, but I knew enough of it to be a help rather than a hindrance. It may be the case that your county doesn't need your help with IT, but they're certain to have something with which you can help out.
I even reinstalled the secretary's Windows 98 PC with Ubuntu 9.04 and OpenOffice and told her it was Windows Vista. (HA!)
Is this trolling? You went to volunteer at random medical establishments and installed Linux on random computers, while lying about what you were doing? Seriously? And what do you expect to happen when a maintenance issue arises and some records cannot be obtained?
Also, what about supporting your local adoption support group? I realise that it is not fashionable to cheerlead adoption, in the way that the right to abort seems to be celebrated. Do you realise how many more women's lives you would help if you did not throw every girl with an unwanted fetus into your political war by seeing yourself as liberating them, when in fact all you are doing is putting new emotional pressures on them? Stop misleading yourself that the alternatives are "abort" and "leave school and look after". Instead you could educate them about the thousands of families looking to take care of children and who often cannot have children of their own.
disclaimer: this post is not speaking for or against abortion,just speaking against dragging those who find themselves pregnant into the war.
I consult for more then one local non-profit organizations in the area regarding networking and IT infrastructure. I've found that most of the smaller organizations operate entirely without an IT department. This is where you would have an opportunity to flex your skills, and possibly make a difference.
And why does wanting to enjoy your life and the fruits of your labor make someone evil?
It doesn't, unless that's ALL you want to do. We have two words for people who care only for their own needs and no one elses; infants and sociopaths.
Here, let me look these up for you:
compassion
empathy
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
I volunteered once at a University in central america, for about 3 weeks. I was helping the IT department to create a simple inventory program to keep track of their systems. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for as long as I wanted to, but I was able to get
enough done for them to finish.
Universities are good places to offer your skills, they are often vastly underfunded and appreciate any help they get.
This site IT4Communities puts IT-skilled volunteers together with British charities who need them. Check out the list of current projects, see if there is anything suitable.
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
I would say that all of the unpaid overtime I've worked over the years counts as "short term volunteer work"
What you're referring to as collectivism, I usually call family, friendship and community.
Have you ever noticed how lonely and miserable it gets in your Randian paradise?
Take two worlds, one in which everyone looks out for each other, and the other in which everyone looks out for themselves. I don't know what their official designations would be, but the common nicknames for them would be "Heaven" and "Hell."
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Bingo. Instead of donating $2/hour manual labour, you could do your normal job and donate some real hard currency.
Sent from my PDP-11
You're the one calling someone a sociopath
Now, now, read what I wrote, I also allowed for the possibility that they were an infant... :-)
You're the one who's blindly being ideological
Actually, I'm being blindly experienced. I was 17 once upon a time too, and struck out on my own path as well, angry at the world.
Now, I'm a grey-haired father of several and blissfully married for 20 years, and I can tell you, there is precious little joy in extended solitude. We're social animals, and while heroic stands against the mob are occasionally necessary -- and I've made them at the price of blood both metaphoric and real -- most of the joy in my life comes from my duty to others.
If you're arguing that small towns can be myopic and hidebound, I'm with you there. If you're saying your high school is a hothouse and microcosm of all society's ills, I keenly remember.
But gee, Darth Crowley, if you're saying charity is useless and that you are not your brother's keeper, then I only have one thing to ask:
Are you happy with your life?
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Living in the NGO capital of the World, Kathmandu, I can tell you this: one week of work is a nice gesture but not particularly useful, considering the resources it takes to train anyone new. I agree with those that say just relax on your one week off a year. But another way to handle a professional service donation is what we do as an A/V studio, where we do one project per business area: audio, video, website, etc. probono for some needy organization. This is done during the course of our working time, and appreciated well by receiving NGOs. Good luck!
I think therefore I can't be ~TTNH
The problem is that for more sophisticated work, you need a more sophisticated vetting and orientating program. Unless you developed a long term relationship with the organization, it would be difficult. A random example that doesn't really resemble what you is suicide help hotlines. The counselors receive (or should; not all programs are equal) a good amount of training, but they often will maintain a relationship with the organization for years, doing brief stints. It's not worth it, to train someone for a specialized task, if they're not going to be around long enough to justify the training.
And, yes. You do need to train people. Even professionals. If you do not have first-hand experience with this kind of training (from an administrative perspective especially), your opinion is probably not relevant. (obviously, there are exceptions to both of my statements)
disclaimer: this post is not speaking for or against abortion
Just because you claim it doesn't make it true.
I realise that it is not fashionable to cheerlead adoption, in the way that the right to abort seems to be celebrated.
Apparently you do not. If you did, you would realize that no one is trying to make adoption illegal, hence adoption doesn't need so called 'cheerleading.'
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Just because you claim it doesn't make it true.
M: Oh look, this isn't an argument.
A: Yes it is.
M: No it isn't. It's just contradiction.
If you did, you would realize that no one is trying to make adoption illegal, hence adoption doesn't need so called 'cheerleading.'
What? The only reason to cheerlead something is a few people trying to make it illegal? There was me thinking that the main aim was education, not Fighting El Hombre. I see a few people arguing against the teaching of evolution in schools, so I guess we need lots of people cheerleading evolutionary biology, but math is pretty much free and legal where I live, so guess I'm wasting my life cheerleading for better numeracy.
Sadly enough, you will either end up building up a temporary dependency on your skills, donate time an energy and decide the recipients are ungrateful, or have some other less than fullfilling and beneficial experience.
If you have a compassion itch to scratch, collect all of your friends and family, choose one particular family or person to help, then *help them fully*. That means bring them up to the level of your peers and yourself in a way that is permanent and causes them to become another close friend. If you do this with friends the interconnections will make your more successful as a group.
Don't swing your personal energy around haphazardly. It doesn't help as much as you would hope.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
I know that International Justice Mission needs IT people to help set up new satellite offices when they start in a new area. See: http://www.ijm.org/
Tell you what. I'll give you the point. Maybe I'm missing the attraction of solitary existence. By all means, Jah-Wren Sartre, enlighten me. Show me the advantages of solipsism. Run down the virtues of extended solitude. Thrall me with the wonders of a life spent apart.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
I know it's kind of a longshot, but I say look for some kind of work like what you're proposing. It's off the beaten path, for sure. But that's where some great ideas can come from. I think your wife being a counselor can actually be a good thing. Someone here wrote "the last thing they need in Haiti is Deanna Troi". That's probably because Deanna Troi was a worthless, useless character whose trite dialog would have made her disappear from the screen if it weren't for the actress' cleavage. Doing 1-2 weeks of computer work or counseling is a hard one to nail down, but look out there. Write to/email churches or other volunteer groups, and just ask. I'm sure someone will come up with something. Hey, what could it hurt? Good hunting!
Sure. Your reasoning is sound, and your argument holds together.
And if you honestly believe what you just wrote, and you're past the age of thirty, then I'm sorry. I truly am.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
OpenBSD 3.3 hasn't had any security updates since 2004. Ubuntu 9.04 was released in April 2009. This is the user's only post.
Obvious troll is obvious.
As a former PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) I can say that the best way to do this is to ask the Peace Corps volunteers who are in the place you want to go what you can do to help.
For instance, I taught technology in West Africa, and it would have been awesome to have someone with tech skills come in and give a one-week intensive workshop on basic skills, like OS reinstalls, dealing with viruses, basic web page generation, etc.
Best way to find Peace Corps Volunteers, in decreasing order of useful:
* Facebook: find volunteers who are on FaceBook and ask them who to talk to.
* Contact the Peace Corps office in the country direct (see peacecorps.gov for how) and ask them who you should talk to
* Just show up at the Peace Corps office when you land in-country and ask them.
I've found the US Embassy's are not nearly as useful as they tend to be significantly less connected with the volunteers on the ground who are by far and away your best resources for short-term, high-impact volunteerism.
Also, there are other organizations with a smaller footprint including the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas, like the Peace Corps for the rest of the world): http://www.vsointernational.org/
Good luck and thanks for your interesting in helping the world!
They have multiple options suited to everyone. Choose:
http://www.unv.org/how-to-volunteer.html
...volunteer our professional services (I'm a network guy and my wife has a master's degree in counseling)
You know...that might actually work. After I let some volunteer-for-a-week upgrade my network, I'm sure my boss will demand I have a shrink examine my brain...
There's no place like
Here is something I came up with to do when I had a few days off. I was just messing around the house, sorting through some of my older computer junk that I had collected. I was determined to either throw it away or try to sell some of it on Ebay or Craig's List
It dawned on me that I wouldn't get hardly any money for early Pentium 4 desktop system but they did work and seemed like a waste to throw away. I decided that I would start putting them together into working systems and give them to kids with deadbeat parents (My mother goes to Alcoholics Anonymous...I had a ready supply of needy kids as although most of the parents there are relatively sober, they are still irresponsible). I took the rest of my vacation time to myself to have some down time, but when it was back to work I spent nights setting these desktops up, delivering them, and showing kids how to use them. They'll call me for tech support or to learn something new.
The kids are great, they love their computers and treat them with ridiculous amounts of respect (i rarely have to clean off spyware infections), and seem to be quite happy that someone is willing to take time out to sit down with them. I keep tabs on the kids grades and occasionally will give them upgrades (Bigger hard drives, DVD Burners, Web Cams) if they are doing well. Since a few businesses/people ended up tossing me some units they were throwing out, I've managed to get 16 of them out there. It is probably one of the most satisfying things I have done with my life. Certainly more satisfying than tossing money at some random organization or donating my time to building a web site for them. Getting down in the trenches and seeing what some poor kids have to deal with give you a different perspective.
... if you discourage the good intentions of others for no apparent reason.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
There are educated people in most countries, you landing there to do work on the cheap is not necessarily help to them, donate money on the other hand and they will be employed to help their own communities.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I would look to see if you can find a local Habitat for Humanity. I participated when I was in college, they do different things but mostly volunteers build houses for people who need them. There is a waiting list for people to get/purchase the houses, but the work is rewarding and they accept volunteers of all skill levels. If you are not crafty with carpentry, or drywall, etc, then you can always do manual labor (carrying supplies, yard work to prepare outside, etc).
Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling a pig in mud. Soon, you realize the pig is dirty, and he likes it.
what is going on with this post? this is my second read through of the thread, and despite it being an obvious troll as several respondents have since picked up on, it seems to have been moderated right up.
(1) thousand of women did not die every year from back alley abortions - why ruin your cause with nonsense?;
(2) the average abortionist is not significantly older than the average doctor - the "average abortionist is over 60 years old" I expect was completely made up;
(3) if you are concerned about reporting requirements, you do not change the operating system on computers processing medically privileged information and then lie about it;
(4) OBSD 3.3 hasn't seen any updates for over five years.
come on, moderators, don't be suckered in by the obvious pro-choice position - Every fact the OP stated was made up, and what he/she claims to have done would be dangerous to the continued operation of the clinic.
M: No it isn't. It's just contradiction.
Grow up, it was a claim -- but unlike YOUR original claim what followed it was supporting evidence - as in "in the way that the right to abort seems to be celebrated." A clear use of the loaded word fallacy if there ever was one.
What? The only reason to cheerlead something is a few people trying to make it illegal?
Can you show me where either you or I previously used words identical to, or indicating equality with "the only reason?"
What you've done is attempt to exaggerate my point way out of proportion and reason so that you may have a strawman to joust at.
What you've really done is out yourself as having no solid basis for your claims since otherwise you would not have felt the need argue with a point I did not make.
Do you see how you've painted yourself as being irrational and perhaps even perhaps a slightly foaming at the mouth?
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
I should clarify. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would love for a volunteer to come in and implement their new VoIP/video teleconferencing system and fix their LEAP authentication issues, etc. If your situation is so complex that it would take a week to get up to speed, then you probably have significantly more invested in your situation than the benefactor I had in mind. What I had in mind was something closer to, say, wiring a school network or setting up a few laptops for a school that's never had a computer. In the IT world I think that qualifies as grunt work, and certainly fits the time frame. And perhaps isn't outside the scope of what could be taught in that time frame as well.
The troll's being coordinated from another website, and a couple residents of said site had modpoints.
Engineers without Borders is a great org for professionals looking to volunteer:
http://www.ewb-usa.org/index.php
But, as many people pointed out, this isn't a weekend/week long volunteering gig. Engineering projects are measured in at minimum 6 month intervals.
Try contacting Christina Appalachian Project in Kentucky (http://www.christianapp.org/). They have a wide variety of volunteer opportunities for both short term and long term.
I looked into this a while back. But don't really have the kahoonah's to go through with it. Looks like a bunch of fun though. Good Luck!
http://www.volunteerabroad.com/search.cfm
Yours Faithfully Anonymous Coward :P
I thought you were arguing that I did not have enough experience with solitude to argue against it. OK, if you want my credentials on the matter, then, depending on how you define it, I've spent one and a half to three decades alone. I don't recommend it.
I was skipping over that bit of bookkeeping because I thought you were arguing that I didn't know enough about solitude to denigrate it, and that in fact solitude was a good thing. Please excuse my mistake.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
I recommend joining a volunteer organization/club that appeals to you... typically they'll post opportunities in their newsletters... often you can list your skills when you sign up... of course you can also ask. Good luck.
I am a currently serving development worker in Kenya (serving in IT work actually) and Kenya is a popular destination for voluntourism vacations due to its beautiful beaches (you do get a break after your hard work) and relatively stability.
However, from an actual development standpoint, this voluntourism is effectively useless. It serves two main purposes: 1) is to create a feel good factor for those people who do decided to work above and 2) is to provide basic labor services for free to organizations. One cannot deny the feel good factor, and it is a truly nice feeling to see smiling childrens' faces and the fruits of your labor, but in actuality there are some problems with this.
First off, the organizations that usually receive voluntourism aid are the ones that usually need it the least. In order to ensure the safety of their tourists, the arranging companies end up picking the safest and most productive development sites, which are also the ones that need it the least. These are the sites that have become so successful that their next stage of success is to finally cut the tether with handouts and free work and evolve into a self-sustaining entity (what the development industry calls sustainable development). By utilizing voluntourists to do work that can be done by locals, the voluntourists are actually promoting non-sustainable work practices, as well as taking potentially paying positions away from other members of the community who could benefit.
In your particular case also, there is very little voluntourism that is oriented towards your professions. My suggestion here is to look for non profits based in your home country, which oftentimes have trips and plans set up where skills can be put to use. for example, I partner with the world computer exchange (http://worldcomputerexchange.org) and just this past july they sent volunteers to Kenya to do IT-related work through their own series of partnerships and contacts. The volunteers were put to hard work and had to pay their own way, but were actually helping implement a plan that need the expert advice and extra helping hands. These are not continuously operating trips, but rather targeted, goal-specific trips.
Ultimately if your goal therefore is to help, donate money. Pick wisely. And don't let the fact that you cannot completely control where money is going affect where you donate. There are some bad examples, for example what used to be the Christian Childrens' Fund had terrible mismanagement, but take for example the Interational Red Cross. If you donate to them, will your specific $5 go to buy a specific pillbox that gets distributed to a specific person? No. But that's ok. Non-profits and NGO's don't operate with profit models guiding their decisions, but that doesn't mean they don't have overheads and administrative costs that NEED to be fulfilled. Many of these are run by full-time staff, and they need to eat to. At least in Kenya, I can assure you that these local NGO workers are not living in the lap of luxury. Though I can't make the same claim about those working for orgs like the UN or USAID, who get paid Western salaries while living in Kenya.
If you're an Aussie (although talking about a vacation coming up "in the spring" implies your in that _other_ hemisphere I'm told is out there (maybe explaining those strange vowels on my TV) try Australian Business Volunteers www.abv.org.au If you're not an Aussie, I'm sure you're OK anyway, contact them to see if they can give you ideas. I know these guys and they're not an NGO with an agenda, although they often place thorugh NGOs as they're often the ones with vacancies in developing countries.
How exactly does one become a "professional" with helping out after a disaster?
Cause disasters locally. I would recommend starting with earthquaes and other things so that they will blame God instead of you.
-AC
Brah, this is too easy, why not just ask your boss to pay you 1 week less. Done!!
At work it's tough for the IT guy to say 'Can I try marketing for a week?' But as a volunteer you have the opportunity to try something you don't know much about and even possibly get to put it on your resume.
I was hoping for something at a lower IQ level.
If you're going to be reading Ayn Rand, then you're headed in the right direction. It's a philosophy perfectly suited to people with little experience with reality, like seventeen-year-old boys and pampered heiresses.
The Cliff Notes version? She begins with a high-minded "Wouldn't it be great if we were all free and responsible?" and the entirely reasonable "The mob should not intrude on the rights of the individual." You then have to sit through endless dreary variations of "The Little Red Hen." It eventually boils down to "Frack you, I got mine." and a childish cry of "Mine! Mine! Mine! Don't Wanna!"
The Randians love to scrunch their eyes, put their fingers in their ears, chant at the top of their lungs and stamp their feet when anyone points out that eventually, at the end of the day, you have to work and get along with other people. We're all standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before, and there's no such thing as a truly "self-made man."
Not all sad, lonely, miserable bastards are Objectivists, but from what I've seen, all Objectivists are sad, lonely, miserable bastards.
Taking Rand or Nietzsche seriously is pretty much guaranteed to ruin your life.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Counselling and IT work are not really the sort of skills that can be usefully be deployed in a week. Why not donate these skills a small amount of time throughout the year (e.g. one Sunday a month)to some charitable organisation in your home country that does overseas work.
You say you wouldn't mind doing manual labour, but money for a charity to provide tools or training in building skills is worth more than you carrying bricks for a week.
Is this trolling?
The "Ha" was pretty obviously their attempt at showing it was a joke. Of course they couldn't (long term) claim it was Vista. Don't be knee-jerk.
Also, don't mistake things you disagree with for "trolling". Try to understand that there are people who think differently than you do, and that that's not necessarily wrong or evil. I know it's difficult, but try to imagine a universe that doesn't revolve around you and in which you might, on occasion, be wrong.
"We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
Ladies and Gentlemen, exhibit 1. :-)
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Yeah, I mean if so many died why don't we hear more from them? Oh, wait.
Why aren't their death certificates clearly labeled as such? Oh, wait.
Why don't we hear more from their supportive families? Oh, wait.
Try finding accurate reporting of family violence and suicide in the official records while you're at it.
I think you do the old guy a disservice if you compare him with Rand. He was a very angry man (understandable in his time and situations), but many of his criticisms of society and religion are highly interesting, intellectually stimulating and thus valuable. And boy, could the guy write.
This obviously does not mean that he is necessarily right on all accounts, but throwing him in with Rand and thus out of the window deprives you of a lot of very interesting ideas.
Don't allow what first the Nazis and then the Randians did with his writings to deter you.
PureCause.com is a site set up for exactly this reason.
I heard about them on the This Week in Startups podcast with Jason Calacanis.
They're U.K. based and still in beta, but maybe you could be some of their first volunteer.
I'm gonna need a spec.
Have a look at the site www.africanimpact.com. They are a volunteer placement travel agency, they have projects all over Africa and offer packages where you can be involved in aids counselling, home building, lion care, etc. You get the opportunity to both volunteer and experience the country/area in which you are working. I work with them doing their IT support (so I am biased) and they are dedicated, passionate group who will do their utmost to help. Come and experience Africa, you'll never be the same afterwards.
A clear use of the loaded word fallacy if there ever was one.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume the problem here is that your native language is not English, rather than accusing you of equivocation fallacy. After all, from your posting history, you seem to be the one who enjoys angrily accusing the opposition of making random fallacies ;-).
To celebrate something isn't necessarily to parade it as a glorious thing in the streets; it may merely be to hold it in high social standing, and it can be used to indicate the (non-clandestine) performance of the event. Adoption is not held in high social standing by any significant group, and practising the act of adoption is not as popular as practising the act of abortion.
Can you show me where either you or I previously used words identical to, or indicating equality with "the only reason?"
The problem is your supporting argument:
no one is trying to make adoption illegal, hence adoption doesn't need so called 'cheerleading.'
You stated, quite clearly, not Ax => not Bx, where "A" is "trying to be made illegal" and "B" is "needs cheerleading". That was the whole of your argument, and I tackled the contrapositive. You didn't provide a case that the cheerleading is rightly motivated by the pressure to make abortion illegal, rather than a desire to educate. If the latter, A is irrelevant. You didn't provide reasonable evidence that there was a credible threat that abortion would be made illegal in the US. You didn't even qualify by saying "political cheerleading", but that would make the argument trivial.
What you've done is attempt to exaggerate my point way out of proportion
What I've done is argue with precisely the point that you presented to me. I cannot decode your poor rhetoric to guess what you were trying to say. Any qualified interpretation I make seems to be based on the same assumptions I tackled in my previous post.
Do you see how you've painted yourself as being irrational and perhaps even perhaps a slightly foaming at the mouth?
Dude, this is an obvious troll thread, and every post made to it against the OP has been by me. It's simply interesting to watch you work, even up to the final desperate flamebait, "slightly foaming at the mouth?" What this makes me is a thief of my own time, and little else.
The Taproot Foundation (http://www.taprootfoundation.org/) is set up to provide Pro Bono professional services to non-profit organizations. I'm currently working on my first Taproot Project. The work is not as technical as I was originally hoping ( We're doing a pure HTML stie with a tiny bit of jQuery to accommodate a media player ), but the branding and marketing we're doing is very valuable to the NPO we're working with.
The projects are in the 3-6 month range, and Taproot helps a project manager put together a group from the taproot pool that has the skills needed, (i.e. 2 web folks, 1 graphic designer, 1 copy writer, etc... ). Taproot also provides a "project boilerplate" to help you get rolling on a short timeschedule with people who haven't worked together before.
In case your're interested in BRAZIL I suggest IRACAMBI:
www.iracambi.com
I used to work there with the network, but they are always needing help.
In case you want more information, my mail is carlos.oliv *at* gmail.com.
To celebrate something isn't necessarily to parade it as a glorious thing in the streets;
Hello, McFly? That's PRECISELY the loaded word fallacy - to use a term that has multiple definitions such that the implications of the other definitions are taken.
You stated, quite clearly, not Ax => not Bx, where "A" is "trying to be made illegal" and "B" is "needs cheerleading".
Didja notice my use of quotations around the word "cheerleading? Or maybe the part were I added "so called" before "cheerleading?"
Didja think I just did that to fill out the page?
Of course not. I did it to make the point that your exaggerated use of the term was the topic of discussion - not the generalization you have now tried to apply after the fact.
Sorry if that simple point was too difficult to decode for you.
What this makes me is a thief of my own time, and little else.
Stop hitting yourself.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
I may be in the minority here, but I'll put this out there anyway. In 2007 I had the opportunity to go on a short term mission with Gateway Short-Term Mission Teams (http://www.nabconference.org/pages.asp?pageid=717). On that trip, our team installed wired and wireless data networks; Windows 2003 servers; taught medical classes; trained on technology; and provided vacation bible school activities for orphans.
It was, by far, the most fulfilling use of my talents and a much needed departure from the daily grind.
While giving money helps, it is not the same as using your talents to help improve situations and see people develop.
There are other organizations out there besides NAB/Gateway teams...LightSys Technical Services and mission volunteer websites are out there.
Feel free to contact me using my profile if you'd like to chat more offline.
Basically the guy didn't find out what he wished for. Too bad, cause I'd like to travel and help NGO's or social enterprises with nerd stuff as well. A couple of years ago I used to go 2 or 3 times a year to Kosovo and help an NGO with their computers networks, cleaning computers from viruses, helping with installing software. It really did them good as there were days when simple things as printing a document would be a nightmare. They were providing food and a roof and a very warm environment. However they are not active anymore and don't know any other NGO where I could go and give a technical hand... So no website or community out there for anything like this?
Hello, McFly? That's PRECISELY the loaded word fallacy - to use a term that has multiple definitions such that the implications of the other definitions are taken.
It's the loaded word fallacy when it's intended to make the audience jump to an unjustified evaluative conclusion. Since no such conclusion has been applied further on in the argument, there is no application of the fallacy.
However, to set up a strawman by misinterpreting a particular word in a sense in which it was not used is an application of the equivocation fallacy.
Didja notice my use of quotations around the word "cheerleading?
Yes, quotation marks are normally used to delimit a quote. I assumed that you were using quotation marks in order to suggest my use of the term, but now you explain that you were using it to suggest something precisely unlike my use of the term.
Or maybe the part were I added "so called" before "cheerleading?"
Yes, "so-called" is a cheap rhetorical device used by third rate politicians as a warning that they're about to engage in sophistry. For example, a bad pro-lifer would write of the woman's "so-called 'freedoms'", even when it's obvious from the quote marks that the term is being quoted rather than chosen. The "so-called" is useless unjustified filler to attack the opposition's language.
Stop hitting yourself.
Shouldn't that be, "LOL I TROL you"?
post is some cunts from our board trolling, and failing. ignore it.
I even reinstalled the secretary's Windows 98 PC with Ubuntu 9.04 and OpenOffice and told her it was Windows Vista.
That should work out well when they drop $300 on Quickbooks to install on their fancy Vista machine. Or what to do when that 1996 PII's processor fan dies. Hopefully they've still got the Netgear sitting around.
What if you could volunteer your skills on a short-term project basis? I’m working to startup a web service called Catchafire that connects professionals who want to volunteer their skills with non-profits and social ventures who need them. Catchafire just finished a pilot program in NYC – I was able volunteer my database design and web development skills then and it was a great experience. I spent three months working some nights and a few hours during the weekend and was able to make a big impact on the nonprofit. A project could be organized into a more intense, shorter commitment like you and your wife envision if that's what fits your schedule. Catchafire is currently working on the beta site (www.catchafire.org) and will accept more volunteer applications soon. We’re always looking for feedback on volunteer experiences, so feel free to reply or e-mail me with your story.
It's the loaded word fallacy when it's intended to make the audience jump to an unjustified evaluative conclusion. Since no such conclusion has been applied further on in the argument, there is no application of the fallacy.
One need not explicitly state the unjustified conclusion. "Cheerlead," "fashionable," "political war," "liberating" - all of those terms make your implied conclusion crytsal clear.
something precisely unlike my use of the term.
Sure, it wasn't loaded at all, you implied nothing whatsoever.
"so-called" is a cheap rhetorical device used by third rate politicians
Great, that's nice really, but that's not the only use. Your citing of it is irrelevant. Seems like more foaming actually.
Shouldn't that be, "LOL I TROL you"?
Stop hitting yourself.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
One need not explicitly state the unjustified conclusion. "Cheerlead," "fashionable," "political war," "liberating" - all of those terms make your implied conclusion crytsal clear.
This being
speaking against dragging those who find themselves pregnant into the war.
as I stated in the last line of the original post. Cheerlead the case for choice if you will, but that means wanting women to remain well educated on all options, not fighting a quasi-religious war for abortion against pro-lifers with the preggos as pawns.
I think you've (albeit slowly!) come to admit an understanding of my original post, albeit via sarcastic "sure, that could have been what you meant". We all make misunderstandings and it's cool that we could talk it through.
Is the CDC good enough for you?
"In 1972 [year before Roe vs Wade], 24 women died from causes known to be associated with legal abortions and 39 died as a result of known illegal abortions."
The OP was a troll + a couple of friends with modpoints.
I'll leave it as an exercise for you to find out that the number of deaths per year since, say, 1950 due to illegal US abortions has been measured in the low 100s at most.
You/your posse have been exposed as trolling and you're just drawing attention to your burn. I'm not even going to waste points modding you down since you already are abusing the system.
I think you've (albeit slowly!) come to admit an understanding of my original post, albeit via sarcastic "sure, that could have been what you meant". We all make misunderstandings and it's cool that we could talk it through.
Don't be so foolish as to mistake sarcasm as agreement.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Don't be so foolish as to mistake sarcasm as agreement.
F*ingNickname said you understood, not that you agree. Don't be so foolish as to mistake understanding as agreement.
So, do you two lovebirds have some past history other than on Slashdot or what? Everyone in this thread is saying it's some group of trolls and you're fighting like Peter and the cockerel.
F*ingNickname said
What coward, too scared to type the word 'fuck?'
you understood, not that you agree.
Yes, everything in written in this thread has been strictly literal interpretation.
Shut up nullo. This is a fine troll.
My wife and I have volunteered doing technical assistance projects yearly for the past 13 years. It's a BLAST.
We put up a resource site linking people to all the organizations that we know about. It's at www.Interopp.org. Hope this helps!
Clint Goss ... clint@goss.com
Try looking into Telecom sans frontieres or Engineers without borders. My initial impression of them is that TSFI does more responsive action (being in places where communication issues are already a problem), while EWB focuses mainly on preventative action (performing local projects). Depending on your interest either of those might fit your skillset. Maybe someone with a different understanding of one or both of these organizations can add more? Let us know how your search goes... I'm in the same market as you; with a degree in logistics and experience in business consulting, and nowhere to volunteer that to.
http://www.idealist.org/ is not a bad place to start. i've heard good things of habitat for humanity. telecom specialists are badly needed in haiti, but that's a bit of overkill for a short vacation. some international group, with contacts in lots of places, would be nice. i've done stuff with the humanist movement and indymedia / independent media center. doctors without borders and reporters without borders are pretty serious too. many hospitals and entities have volunteer coordinators, you can just go straight there and ask. you can forget the internet usually, many entities have no websites or web programmers, and sometimes little use for one, the reality is more immediate. that said, volunteering isn't easy to coordinate. lots of people want to donate a small amount of time and effort to volunteering, but think of coordinating all these people who have no knowledge of the operation, needs, places, etc, a declared short, limited commitment, limited will and professionalism to continue ahead with difficult conditions and situations, etc. so, if you really want to volunteer, you will have a much easier time if you realize you're no longer in a company and a job, where everyone has salaries and there's money to buy stuff. the volunteer coordinator also needs help and is in over his head. it's the real world, everything is impossible for some, difficult for others, be very flexible, listen a lot, speak little and criticize only very wisely, people are trying their best, given their limited knowledge, ability, education, resources, etc. if you want something easy, yes, go to a church, it's small and simple, and they they do mostly relatively simple humanitarian stuff. and you can find one even on the beach here in brazil.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
ah, one more thing. schools and youth centers are also easy to help with, and might fit both of you well.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/