Volunteers in Costa Rica
Many visitors to this Central American land flesh out a vacation in Costa Rica with some meaningful volunteer work. In fact the country has created a name for itself in being a leading ‘volunteerism’ destination with a lot of avenues and opportunities to attract individuals who have the inclination.
More than the feel-good factor, a lot of volunteers have testified to life changing experiences and the interaction with a laid back, non-obtrusive people perhaps induces even greater efforts from the individual volunteering his or her services.
Opportunities to volunteer can relate to the environment – helping in reforestation, watch over sea turtle eggs and help the baby turtles reach the water upon hatching, or to society in general – provide for the needy, the old and the deprived.
Volunteers in Costa Rica
There is some volunteer work available for anyone and everyone:
• Save the turtles – by trying out a volunteer placement with PRETOMA, a person would be helping in trying to rehabilitate and restock the ever dwindling number of sea going turtles, including the Hawksbill and Green species. The volunteer can count on visits to exotic and restricted areas in the Cocos Island and elsewhere where they tag these creatures to track migration patterns and reproductive statistics. Some amount of diving, sailing, snorkeling, swimming and general ‘roughing it out’ goes with the job!
• Protect forests – those committed to saving rain (or for that matter any type of) forests can tie up with BOSQUE ETERNO DE LOS NINOS (Children’s Eternal Forest) to do their bit in maintaining the huge biodiversity Costa Rica is famous for and which has made it the destination of choice for ecotourism. The volunteer will get pointers on diverse wildlife management techniques including administration, trail maintenance, surveying, replanting, restocking, etc. and get to spend some exhilarating time at private and public reserve forests in Monteverde where that particular forest is located. A lot of volunteer work is also available on offer at other marine, volcanic and rain forest parks scattered all across Costa Rica.
• Helping kids – who doesn’t long to give the smile back to a forlorn and hugely deprived child, whose basic needs are not being met? A little kindness, some small amount of money, a bit of mentoring, basic education – that may be all that is required to totally change a little boy or girl’s life. The increasingly dissatisfied children and youth in the already huge (and growing) slums on the outskirts of the capital San Jose and some other cities are the targets where organizations like AMERISPAN UNLIMITED are trying to make a difference. And they are always on the lookout for volunteers.
• Teach English – tourism being one of the biggest foreign currency earners for Costa Rica, the requirement for English speaking guides and those providing hospitality services is growing by the day in this predominantly Spanish language country. Volunteers can contact SUSTAINABLE HORIZON in San Jose to check for options and the numerous other organizations there and in other cities.
So, if you have the inclination, the Costa Ricans have the time … and the opportunities!
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 10:47 am by Costa Rica Sunsets staff; Category: Activities. Follow responses through the RSS FEED (2.0) / You can jump right to the end and leave your thoughts, comments or response. Pinging this post is not permitted.