Many people conidering gap year volunteering or some kind of volunteer working holiday – regardless of their age – will look around for free volunteer work in Africa. The challenge is the word “free”. What they will find is that this kind of opportunity simply doesn’t exist – unless you are a highly qualified medical professional perhaps, and then you will be working for Medicins Sans Frontieres or another international disaster relief agency.

The truth is that while African volunteer organizations would love to have you help them, there is so much that has to be paid for!

Whether it’s African lions or other wildlife, medical assistance for HIV sufferers or education for orphan children, supplies cost money. When they are trying to make the most of every penny, you can’t really expect it to be going to volunteers, can you?

Here’s another view. If you volunteer to help teach African children in Cape Town, for example, you will pay around 1800.00 US dollars for a whole month. It would cost you more than that to stay in a half-decent motel in Seattle, Philadelphia or Dallas – and they wouldn’t feed you!

You can do the same sums from UK sterling, Euros or Australia dollars and London, Paris or Sydney (Yes I know Canberra is the capital but everyone knows Sydney!). Whatever way you look at it, volunteering in Africa is not expensive and, quite frankly, you just cannot make a comparison.

And yes, you have flights to add to that cost – like you’ve got flights to add if you live in London and want to visit New York

The other important thing is what happens to your money. Well for a start, you get fed three meals a day. Then there’s your accommodation which, on several volunteer projects, is practically on the beach!

After that, any left over goes to those valuable supplies. Not just day-to-day necessities but long term projects that will change the futures of some of the poorest people in the world. This isn’t a question of hand-outs, it’s about building infrastructure so they can help themselves.

Unfortunately we have heard some horror stories. People left at the airport, people asked to pay for food or even building supplies. No responsible volunteer organization in Africa would ever treat you like this – you are too valubale to us as a person… and as an ambassador for what we are doing.

If you have questions, ask. If you don’t receive an answer that satisfies you the first time, or you don’t have all the detail you want, ask some more – that’s what we are here for.

We wish we could offer free volunteer work placements but we think you can see that it just isn’t practical. For most people who volunteer in Africa it’s not a money thing anyway. You could just make a donation but we would rather have you here, hands on, enjoying the experience and making a huge and very positive impact on other people’s lives. Apart from that, the memories and life-long friendships you make can’t be bought at any price.