Any aid workers, development workers amongst you expats?

Yep. Live in El Salvador, Central America

Have lots of information regarding traveling/volunteering in my region wihout paying middlemen (low cost volunteer ops)message me.

http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/999819

AMIGOS VIAJEROS Y VOLUNTARIOS, LOS INVITO A VISITAR AMERICA CENTRAL, ESPECIALMENTE EL SALVADOR, Y SUS
HERMOSO LUGARES, Y GENTE MUY MUY SIMPATICA.
ESPERO QUE PUEDAN TENER PRESENTE ESTA INVITACION, Y CUALQUIER CONSULTA NOS
CONTACTAN.

Buena senda para todos, y apunten: El Salvador en América Central!

TRAVELER AND VOLUNTEER FRIENDS, A SPECIAL INVITE TO VISIT US IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND ESPECIALLY EL SALVADOR, beautiful and unique off the beaten path
places to visit with us, and people are very friendly.
Print out and keep this invitation, and any questions contact our projects through our provisional web site..

If required, local drivers (often a pick up truck travesing back roads) and native guides are available for rural eco and cultural trekking.

INTRODUCTION

"Dear traveler, trekker or volunteer visiting El Salvador, perhaps for the first time. We are a non profit organization dedicated to the development of rural tourism in El Salvador. What we offer is more than just native guides and transport to beautiful places and meeting friendly people. We offer to you as well, a peek through our eyes, from the inside out, into the heart and soul of El Salvador as never before.

Personalized service. Design your own itinerary around El Salvador and to neighboring Central American countries with us. We contract local drivers and transportation and utilize native guides in rural and remote areas

Go where you want to go when you want to go. All we require is that if you are traveling to El Salvador from
abroad, is that you make contact with us initially by e mail well in advance of your departure so we may assist you in planning further your journey after arrival, within your budget and time frame limitations of course.

Local drivers with insured vehicles, trained native guides for eco, cultural and historic treks, bi lingual guide/interpreter volunteer based in San Salvador to assist those who are not able to speak Spanish.

For those concerned about the availability of budget (2-3 Star) lodgings throughout El Salvador, our organization shall be more than happy to contact these establishments, usually family run guest houses/bed and breakfast in the capital city or small unique lodging places in the countryside, if desiring to make reservations.
Again, all we ask is for you to contact us well in advance of your arrival.

"DISCOVER THE UNDISCOVERED EL SALVADOR FROM THE INSIDE OUT"

STEP INSIDE CENTRAL AMERICA...LIKE NEVER BEFORE!

Experienced Native Guides based in El Salvador, The Heart of Central America! Transportation in Insured Vehicles with skilled local drivers.
Mayan Ruins of Tazumal, Pyramids, Chalchuapa, El Salvador Intensive Cultural Tours Central America In El Salvador and Guatemala we offer to the visitor intensive cultural, crafts, historical and eco tours with bilingual native guides. Study Spanish in Central America or Volunteer to help one of several worthy causes ranging from human
rights to disaster relief...special welcome to groups, artists, travel writers and other journalists, photographers, women traveling alone, gays and lesbians. Our organization is not affiliated directly with any political party neither religious groups, however we tailor the itinerary to the client's needs and budget limitations and connect you if possible with whomever you wish to meet and escort you wherever you wish to travel. Period. Do contact us well in advance of your departure so we may help you to plan your journey…..El Salvador & Central America…..More than just trekking, more than just studying Spanish….more than you can imagine!

UN PASO PARA ENTRAR EN CENTRO AMÉRICA... ¡COMO NUNCA ANTES!

Guías turísticos nativos y experimentados con base en El Salvador, el
Corazón del América Central. El Salvador Viajes culturales intensivos a Centro-América. En El Salvador y Guatemala ofrecemos al visitante viajes culturales intensivos a los artes y a la naturaleza y la artesanía con un guía.
Estudie español en Centro América u ofrézcase como voluntario para ayudar en una de varias causas dignas desde causas de derechos humanos o como ayuda en aliviar zonas de desastre. Damos una especial bienvenida al grupos turísticos, a los artistas, escritores sobre turismo y otros periodistas, fotógrafos, mujeres que viajan solas y los gays y lesbianas. Nuestra organización no es afiliada con ningún partido político o grupo religioso, no obstante acomodamos el itinerario a las necesidades del cliente y las limitaciones de su presupuesto y le conectamos de la mejor manera posible con quienquiera que desee encontrarse. Lo acompañaremos dondequiera que desee viajar. Mucho más que solamente Trekking y mucho más que solamente "tomando recorrido".

UN PAS À L'INTÉRIEUR DE L'AMÉRIQUE CENTRALE... COMME JAMAIS AVANT !

Guides indigènes expérimentés au El SalvadorExcursions culturelles intensives en Amérique Centrale En El Salvador et Guatemala nous offrons au visiteur des tours intensifs culturels, écologiques et d'artisanat avec un guide local Étudiez l'espagnol en Amérique Centrale ou offrez-vous d'aider dans une de plusieurs causes dignes comme des causes de droits de l'homme et le soulagement de zones de désastres. Nous souhaitons un spécial bienvenu aux artistes, aux auteurs de et d'autres journalistes, aux photographes, aux femmes qui voyageant seules et aux gays et lesbiennes. Notre organisation n'est pas affiliée avec aucune partie politique ni un groupe religieux. Toutefois nous concevons l'itinéraire en fonction des besoins du client et les limitations de budget et nous vous communiquons le plus possible avec n'importe qui que ce soit que vous souhaitez vous réunir et nous vous accompagnons là où vous souhaitez voyager. Plus que juste le trekking, plus que juste étudier l'espagnol…et plus que vous pouvez vous imaginer!

EIN SCHRITT INNERHALB MITTELAMERIKAS... WIE NIE VORHER!


Erfahrene gebürtige Führer in Guatemala, in El-SalvadorIntensive kulturelle Touren in Mittelamerika In El Salvador und in Guatemala bieten wir dem Besucher, intensive kulturelle Eko- und Handwerk- Touren mit lokalem ReiseFührer. Studieren Sie Spanisch in Mittelamerika oder erbieten Sie sich als Freiwilliger, um mit einer der Sachen, von den Menschen-Rechten bis zu Unfallentlastung, zu helfen. Wir bieten ein spezielles Willkommen den Künstlern,
Spielraumverfassern und anderen Journalisten, Photographen, den Frauen die alleine reisen und den Homosexuellen und Lesbierinnen an. Unsere Organisation ist mit keinen politischen oderreligiösen Gruppen gebunden. Wir können den Reiseweg laut der Notwendigkeiten und Budgetbeschränkungen des Klienten anpassen und, wo möglich, Sie
begleiten wo Sie reisen möchten und helfen Ihnen, mit irgendwelchem sich zu treffen. Mehr als Trekking und mehr als nur Spanisch lernen und was sie sich gerade vorstellen möchten!

Nederlands:"El Salvador in Centraal Amerika een waar museum van kulturele en ecologische aventuren.Gepersonalizeerde tours in uw eigen taal.Alle individuele en groepsreizen zijn getoetst aan uw eigen stijl
en budget."Let's go amigo" in Centraal Amerika levert de beste programmas en internationale vluchten.Exclusieve bestemmingen en evenementen in elk land.Slechts een kontakt voor 5 Centraal Amerikaanse naties!"
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CINQUERA, A REMOTE PARADISE SET IN THE HEART OF EL SALVADOR!

CINQUERA EL SALVADOR CULTURE, CRAFTS, ECOLOGICAL TREASURES AND LIVING
HISTORY OF THE RECENT ARMED CONFLICT...ALL ROLLED INTO ONE!

Cinquera Cabañas El Salvador... Seeking short term volunteers presently in or traveling through Central America to assist with eco and cultural tourism project..non profit cooperative funded in part by
international aid organizations .... check out www.idealist.org in English and www.idealista.org/ en español for us and many oher humaniarian aid work and volunteer ops in Latin America.

Advice to Backpackers/low budget travelers, we are sorry, however due to reasons of comfort and personal security, neither any of our volunteers nor native guides are able to accompany travelers on public transportation in El Salvador. If planning to take buses to small villages and rural areas such as Cinquera, be advised services are
limited, so give yourself extra time to travel around.

CINQUERA

Cinquera-Rural Tourism-Pilot Project

As well as eco tourism, Cinquera boasts historical and cultural sites, the village was destroyed during the worst years of the civil conflict in El Salvador in the early 1980s and those residents who survived either hid out in the nearby caves (which are viewed on tour with trained uniformed guides from the community) of fled the country.
After the peace accords of 1992 former residents began trickling back to Cinquera and in effect this small town was "reborn". Aside from the rain forest tour, there exist in Cinquera historical and cultural sites such as the church, a building which stood alone and empty of worshipers throughout the armed conflict." The Uniformed native guides
will escort you every step of the way through the rain forest, trails have been constructed. Local transportation to and from Cinquera provided from San Salvador or Suchitoto, Cinquera is a small village where everyone knows everyone else and there is no crime, For those with vehicles and camping gear, camping is available at the park entrance... …siempre dando caloroso bienvenidos a todos!

Again, all we ask is for you to contact us well in advance of your arrival.

... …siempre dandole caloroso bienvenidos!

More on our provisional website...

http://www.geocities.com/welcome_to_elsalvador/

My husband and I have been involved in aid work in Afghanistan for almost ten years.  I am happy to answer questions about living and working in Afghanistan - I got so fed up with how the media writes about Afghanistan I started a website: www.about-afghanistan.com to answer questions. 

So I just signed up at this blog so I could help give information since so many people are preparing to come here.

Warm Regards,

TLilly

Welcome on Expat.com TLilly,

maybe you could propose a couple of helpful articles for the participative Afghanistan guide ?

It would help a lot...

Hi Julian,

I think the living in Afghanistan framework you propose is well done for starters. I started a "living in Afghanistan" page on my own website, www.about-afghanistan.com/living-in-afghanistan.html to show people that we are enjoying life here, even with the inability to go out much.   

So I am happy to add info here so more people can get good information.  Most new workers are under such stringent living guidelines they can hardly get out into the culture. The more good blogs and websites there are, the better it will be in the long run for everyone, not least of which is Afghans.

Just tell me where you would like to see articles entered first - what are initial priorities? 

TLilly

Thank your for your response

I guess maybe the visa, work and accommodation sections? (feel free to post in any section)

My husband and I were aid workers in Afghanistan for almost 10 years, and he was in Albania before that.

I continue to write about living in Afghanistan and helping aid workers both prepare  to go (at about-afghanistan.com), and I am adding sections on debriefing - many aid workers do not go through a specific process of debriefing and need to help to transition back to "normal" life in our home countries.

With all of the problems in America, it is still truly wonderful to be living back in the U.S. for awhile, getting a "breather" from the stresses of living in hotspots like Afghanistan.

We are looking for another "deployment" possibly in two years, after we've had a good long break.

tlilly

What is your best suggestion, for expats who are planning to go to Afghanistan for work? Any suggestions, advice, Tips are welcome.

Hope to hear from you soon.

travel_ghana wrote:

What is your best suggestion, for expats who are planning to go to Afghanistan for work? Any suggestions, advice, Tips are welcome.

The situation is so volatile, it really depends who you will work for, and where you will live...

quite a bit of tips for expats in afghanistan can be found on  about-afghanistan.com

Hope this helps.

Peter

Hi travel_ghana,

First of all - clothing. Be modest, whether male or female. Appearances ARE important. Don't begin your experience by causing offense.

Second, security. Be smart - as foreigners, you will always stick out, never fully trust, and realize that the "street smart" knowledge you have in your own culture will probably not work at all in Afghanistan. So play it safe.

Finally, have fun, relax, enjoy what you can of the culture, depending upon how much your agency lets you out of the compound. It's a beautiful country!  You are welcome to read more at my website! (about-afghanistan.com)

tlilly

that is goooooooooooood i wish i could have these.

well , im deeply interested by the humanitarian work and social developpement , ive never been in afghanistan , but im working in UN in Morocco , if i can help in anything about different issues , that would be my pleasure

Sounds interesting, I just openend the website and will check it out!

Thanks

Wow, its nice to know that people like us can actually do so much for the human race. I would like to get involved in some humanitarian work myself!

petercasier wrote:

Hi,

In my spare time I am volunteering for AidWorkers.net, an online repository/forum/knowledge base for those working or interested in humanitarian issues, where I keep their aidworkers blogroll up to date.

We list blogs from aidworkers, and publish an RSS feed with their latest posts. There is a lot of interest on that part of our site. It generates quite a bit of referral traffic onto the aidworkers' blogs (which I have witnessed on my own blog).

Expat-blog is an excellent resource for me, to find new aidworkers blogs from all over, but it is pretty much a manual search process.

So if you are an Expat.comger working in the aid, development, humanitarian, volunteering world, please leave a comment on this post, or drop me private message on this forum or email me directly on peter(a)theroadtothehorizon(dot)org.

thanks,

Peter

Hi. I am new to Expat Forum and I just registered on the 'Aidworkers' website.  I have a full time job in the construction field but intend to become engaged in aidwork/ volunteerin - outside of the Embassy Community here.  Any leads on volunteering in smaller more meaningful ways would be appreciated.
Sincerely

Hi Karen,

Have a look on this post, you will find several volunteering links there:
http://www.theroadtothehorizon.org/2006 … r-hey.html

Hi,

I volunteer in Cape Town, South Africa, at the Scalabrini Centre.  We assist refugees with housing, ESL, job search, counselling, medical clinics, etc.  I love it!
D.

I work for an international NGO and am based out of Cameroon.  Let me know if there is anything I could be of help with.  Good to have other people in similar jobs and/or with the same kindred spirit.

(moderated: no ads please)

Hello,

Thank you all who are air workers, helpers and all who help in helping humanity. I'm glad that you are making a differance throughout the world. I recently attended a seminar about how to help the poor and reduce poverty alleviation. It was about how to help the poor without hurting them and yourself. I found it very informative and helpful in my ministry. You can find out more information here. The Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College helps churches to help the poor to help themselves. There are great free resources here. http://www.chalmers.org

Hi my name is Xandro I just got back to BRAZIL from US and I'm lookng for american friends here!

Hi Xandro! This thread is about "aid workers, development workers", are you any of them? If not, i suggest you to start a new discussion on the Brazil forum.

Thank you!
Christine

In Belize- we fund and work on Habitat Belize- Helping those get homes built who need them !

Have a wonderful week you fellow Aid workers !

hi mate,

i came to paris a week ago..wud love to join the gud work..

speak to you soon..

avi

cool - mayeb i could tell this to some of my friend doing some sort of job best regards

i am very interested in aid work and would be keen to know of any opportunites in geneva switzerland

hello

i have worked in development in the past..however mostly for a paycheck not for free.
with IGOs and NGOs in afghanistan..iraq..the balkans-kosovo...korea....india..pakistan...
and most recently also with the largest and effective humanitarian org in the world..USDoD...the united states military..hehe...sorry..bad joke..i would like to get back to the development side and away from the security side in brasil perhaps..

Yes, I am an advising on Corporate Social Responsiblity. Talk to me

I have some experiences working in the humanitarian and development sectors in the past. Since I'm the engineer, most of subjects are related to construction project. However, once I was involved in the research project, called Solution Exchange. It's a mailing list established by United Nations purposed to share knowledge and information for many kinds of issue, such as Water and Sanitation, AIDS, Gender, education, Health and many more. If you interested, just go to [Moderated]

At this moment, I'm working in Peackeeping program in DR Congo, still with UN. If you need some informations about humanitarian / development works in Indonesia, and peacekeeping program in Congo, don't hesitate to contact me..

cheers..

nice to hear that a lot has an interest in Humanitarian cause...hope that someday I could be part of it whether here or abroad...Hey Alex tell me about Corporate Social Responsibility...like to know more about it...Also could you tell me about Vietnam? plan to visit there...

Thanks

Frendy

Hi!

I am an aid worker myself and have worked with several international development agencies, NGOs and the likes in India, especially in Rajasthan. I also volunteer for two NGOs in Rajasthan.

Let me know if you need any help with volunteering, housing, living conditions or information on Rajasthan in general...am glad to be of assistance.

Thanks so much.
m

Just missed the point that you can ask me about NGOs in Rajasthan, their quality of work etc. I travelled extensively and worked with a major chunk of partner NGOs in Rajasthan. Thanks.

I used to be a RED CROSS SAFETY SERVICE INSTRUCTOR...
I teach FIRST AID AND CPR Lessons to schools and far flung societies in the community.
Now I lost contact to the humanitarian world, I used to be a part of a joint project of Philippine National Red cross and CRUZ ROJA Espana....

I have worked many years for organization in france, in togo and in new york. It was in the area of sustainable development, fight against racism, education for children ...

It was a very nice part of my life