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WWoofing, Help Exchange and Volunteer Work in Romania

The original reason for creating this page was to get some volunteers for a small volunteer project here in Romania which works with Gypsy children. The name of the project is Kidland Roma. I am also looking for some volunteers to help me with my documentaries about education, freedom, America etc. (Read more)

Since I started this page I have done some research into other organizaions which promote themselves as offering volunteer opportunities. I like the WWOOFing program, and the Help Exchange system looks good, but I feel very skeptical of many of the big organizations which sell their volunteer opportunities. Most of them which have big websites and are highly ranked on Google seem to really just be businesses making money from the young people who want to help others. I have a little information about such businesses below.

As far as I can tell, the director of the Kidland Roma project isn't making any personal profit from his work and he really was helping Gypsy children until the Romanian government inspector stopped him for some bureaucratic reasons. He has a house and some land but until he met me he didn't know anything about WWOOFing, CouchSurfing or Help Exchange so I am trying to help him network with young people who are wiling to help. He needs a lot of help in many areas, for example, not only developing the land, but with marketing, public relations, teaching English, fundrasiing etc.

This is a very quick introduction, but if you are know about WWOOFIng, CouchSurfing or Help Exchange and are looking for a place to stay near Brasov, Romania, then please write me and I will give you more details.

If you don't know about WWOOFing, it is basically an international volunteer organization which provides the chance to stay with people for free in exchange for a few hours work each day. They also provide food. It is a great way to travel, learn and get new experiences.

Steve

Here is the WWOOFing link in Romania

Update - Today I learned about an organization called Help Exchange. It also offers volunteer opportunities where you can travel and stay somewhere in exchange for a little work.

Another way to travel is with Couchsurfing, or Hospitality Club

Other volunteer work in Romania

I just did a little searching and found these programs $1,390 to be a volunteer for a week in Romania with a company called Globe Aware

Here are some prices, directly from their website.

2008: August 9th to August 16th $1390
2008: August 23rd to August 30th $1390
2008: September 6th to September 13th $1390

Source

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Here are the costs to be a volunteer with Mondo Challenge

Source

I would recommend avoiding businesses that charge these kinds of prices. There is a lot of volunteer work you can do that you don't have to pay for. These programs offend me. If you also feel opposed to these kinds of programs, please help me create a better list of volunteer opportunities in Romania. You can do this just by searching. I have too many other projects started to do this myself but if you want to help, I can post your findings here.

Thanks.

Steve

My name is Steve Hein and I am 51 years old. Over the years I have done a lot of volunteer work myself and have been a WWOOFing host in Australia and Canada. Right now (Sept 2008) I am living in Romania at the Kidland Roma house where I often host CouchSurving travellers.

In my 20's I studied business at two universities and later had my own business. I made enough money so I can now do what I want. For most of the past 15 years I have been traveling around the world writing articles and sometimes taking pictures and making videos.

Now I feel very critical of how the capitalist system works and believe we need to place a higher value on children and teenagers and their feelings and needs. I have also visited many schools around the world and have written many articles both criticizing government or church controlled schools and many articles suggesting better ways to teach and learn. When I was in Peru I created this critique of what they call education there.

. I have spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe and

Here is my mainwebsite and here is my personal page.