Hey, I can spend some quality time at Club Med for the cost of one of these volunteer vacations? Why are they so expensive for the sort of living conditions they offer?
Well, at Club Med you won't get the experience of making 25 loaves of bread in a Greek bread oven shoehorned into a tiny closet that doubles as a shower room like these happy volunteers over on the right. Read on to get the skinny on why it costs so much.
What are Typical Living Conditions on a Volunteer Trip?
Ok, this one's easy: there aren't any typical living conditions for a volunteer vacation. The most luxurious conditions I've experienced were in Corinth, where we stayed at a nice hotel with private baths, ate wonderful Greek meals prepared for us, and had lessons in archaeology and the Greek language as free options.
The worse? It's Greece again, this time while doing an excavation in a cave on the island of Youra. There was a little house where you could sleep, but it was noisy with volunteers who insisted on playing loud American music most of the night--so many of us who valued peace and quiet and didn't come half way across the globe to be stuck listening to boomboxes ended up camping out on the rocky perifery. But the kicker came when the director came to me and said "We have to dig a hole. A big hole for a, you know, latrine."
But there's more: we had a refrigerator, but had to carry it up a steep cliff to get it to the dig house. We ran short of food when the meltemi winds made it impossible for the weekly delivery to our almost deserted island. We survived from the bread we made and from the spearfisher's luck (and eventually had to kill one of the island's goats for food).
When you choose a program, make sure the living conditions are described in detail and that they match your spirit of adventure. In hindsight, the experience in Youra wasn't as bad as it sounds, but be careful that you know what you're getting into if your tolerance for hardship is low.
Ok, but some of the most interesting things are SO expensive!
Many times the volunteer pays not only for room and board, but for a part of the expense of the project itself. This is especially true of projects that aren't funded by universities or large agencies.
For a typical archaeological project the cost may include transportation--the expense in getting you from home to the site--as well as tools, excavation fees, and even the expenses of experts called in to help deal with the mounds of data collected.
The larger clearinghouses like Earthwatch and UREP also have very high overhead costs, and part of what you're paying is for the infrastructure behind those organizations. Those glossy magazines you get every month cost a bundle and you're paying. But large organizations like these can offer a wider variety of experience and a sense of having someone to complain to if things go wrong as well.
Those on a budget will probably want to search out small operations that don't carry that much overhead. But be aware that you'll have to chose wisely, because you may not have much recourse if things aren't as expected.
But don't despair if it's a little too expensive. Many volunteer organizations are non-profit, and the expenses you incure may be tax deductable. Teachers who can use the experience in the classroom may find the tax deductions they're allowed make the trip a bargain. Consult your accountant.
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