Volunteering In Costa Rica
Our family travels around the world has exposed us to some of the saddest realities of life that we address in this article about Volunteering In Costa Rica. For some of the less fortunate, the struggles to feed a family, afford their housing, buy school uniform, get a quality education and good mentors are just but a few of the difficulties that face them. Volunteering In Costa Rica and giving of love and time, however, proved to be a very rewarding experience for many of my traveling friends, and our heart is always to care for others as we travel the world.
So, in Costa Rica it is for this reason that organizations like Maximo Nivel take in volunteers from across the world to help put a smile on the faces of the less fortunate. Unless we are partnering with such volunteer organizations, we have developed a habit of participating in some random acts of kindness in all the countries we travel to. If not in schools, we go to more remote towns, to the villages, orphanages or slums.
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- ©Exporamum and Explorason
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- Turtle Conservation volunteering is incredibly rewarding
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- From eggs in sand bags to letting out baby turtles to sea
Volunteering In Costa Rica
Our decision is always informed by our capacity to help at every stage of our journey:
Volunteering in Schools
The problem with public schools in poorer nations is that they lack teachers. They also lack textbooks for students, making it even harder for these students to fail in their quest for a bright future.
A visit, or partnering with organizations and volunteering In Costa Rica to assist these schools made us realize the high number of students who attend classes in torn uniforms and bare feet. Many of them don’t even have emotional support regardless of the issues they have to deal with back at home.
It is with this realization that we have always made it our culture to provide any of these needs in whenever we decide to volunteer in schools. It is really important to organize to do so through a registered and recognized organization.
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- ©Exploramum and Explorason – accessing a remote area of Costa Rica by bus
Volunteering in Remote Towns And Villages
We feel blessed to have met some of the kindest of hearts on our visits to remote towns in Costa Rica. For us, we love to perform ‘random acts of kindness’ so we help the poor and needy as we meet them on the streets. These people are always happy regardless of the little they have. Most have always appreciated the little items we give them. Time shared with them is always very much appreciated.
Volunteering In Costa Rica with an organization, however, opens up far greater opportunities, and you know you are working with people you can trust, and be helping the real needy. Unless we are volunteering as a group, we always want to restrict ourselves to only help a limited number of people.
While there, we always donate clothes, some of which we buy from local markets while others are always those that we no longer use. One great thing about nomadic travel is that with seasonal changes we can give our excess clothing to the needy.
We take time to talk to them and listen to their stories. At the end of the day, we leave behind a more psyched up village whose members have a renewed positive self-believe. Our stay always depends on how long our visit is to a region as well as the list of places we plan to be within this time.
©Exporamum and Explorason – Crossing the border is easier than this if you use a volunteer organization to assist you – Volunteering In Costa Rica
Volunteering in Orphanages
Children are the heritage of every nation. Their ambitions and dreams have to be nurtured if they are to grow up into responsible adults. While we enjoy buying them snacks, food, drinks, utensils, and books, we always feel more satisfied when we know we have made a positive impact on their lives through mentorship. We do this by sharing our life stories and those that would inspire them to be the best they can ever be. This is especially so with the orphans we have assisted in the past.
It is worth noting there are needy people in every part of the world. Both in developing and developed nations. Some are financial while others are non-financial. Our advice to everyone desiring to be volunteers is that they ought to have a big heart. You need to be prepared to deal with all manner of challenges.
©Exporamum and Explorason – volunteering means you can help in so many ways – even feeding local animals in the area you stay
Through it all, we have learned to be many things, including the ones below:
Emotionally Strong
Do not let your emotions make you operate beyond your budget. Maybe you can stretch it a bit, but not to a point of suffocation. I remember when we visited an orphanage and were overwhelmed by the great needs they had. While we had planned to get them food, snacks, and drinks, we discovered that they needed more. So we stretched our budget and did more than we had hoped to do.
While we did it wholeheartedly and it in no way had a negative effect on our finances, we later saw the need to be emotionally strong since it is only through this that we would make sound judgments on what to finance and what not to finance.
Volunteering In Costa Rica with a recognized organization means you know in advance your financial commitment.
©Exporamum and Explorason – Starting the day out with breakfast in our Costa Rica accommodation
Time Sensitive
There are very many occasions when we decided to independently volunteer our services in villages, small communities, towns, orphanages, and schools for a specific duration a day but ended up spending more time there. We found ourselves taking 4 hours in places where we thought we would spend a maximum of 2 hours. As a result, we had to reschedule our other plans and make other visits to parks and attractions shorter. We even missed some appointments.
From this, we have learned to allocate enough time to volunteer activities. If you are visiting as a group, at least one person should act as a timekeeper. I always leave this job to Explorason, agreeing that he will tap me some minutes before time.
With such strategy, I do not lose track on time and get late on our other appointments.
However, when you are volunteering In Costa Rica, it is best to be are guided and given the timeframe to work within. This greatly assists us too.
©Exporamum and Explorason – Police assist in protecting the streets of San Jose to ensure your safety
Careful With Our items
When you donate gifts to places like orphanages, there is always a high chance that your items will get mixed up with them. As a result, they are likely to end up in wrong hands and get damaged or lost before you even notice. While this has never happened to us, we have heard of people who lost their valuables while on a volunteer mission.
Every volunteer should understand that the safety of their valuables is always their number one priority. Know where your wallet, camera, and bags are at any particular time. If there is no secure storage area, carry them everywhere with you. As you do this, be careful not to make the people feel like you do not trust them. As you will realize, some of the people in this places are always honest and can be trusted.
If you are volunteering In Costa Rica, the organization should have prepared a safe place for your valuables for you.
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- ©Exporamum and Explorason
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- The jungles of Costa Rica
Open Minded
Experiences differ from places to place. There are places you will visit and have the worst experience. There are however those you will visit and have a great experience. Do not take one bad experience to mean that it will always be like that everywhere you go.
Try being open-minded and always expect the best if you are volunteering In Costa Rica. Doing a bit of a research on the places you plan to visit is one of the ways you can avoid negative experiences as it gives you an opportunity to select the wheat from the chaff.
It is also important not to listen to other people’s negative experiences, as we each have our own encounters and your life is unique to you.
All in all, do not be faint-hearted and be prepared. Volunteering might just open you up to the most extraordinary experience of a lifetime!
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- ©Exporamum and Explorason
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- Random acts of kindness to poor in the streets
Comments
Have you ever volunteered before?
Did you do it alone or through a recognized organization?
©Exporamum and Explorason – lush jungle vegetation means some areas are remote.
Wow. That’s so good of you both to do such random acts of kindness. Even a pair of shoes would make a difference for that one person. Every little bit helps. Volunteering is a great thing to do and I admire volunteers so much. Lovely to read this.
It is great to give of our lives and ourselves.
This is such a wonderful way to see the world. I can imagine how rewarding it is for your children to learn and experience other cultures in this way.
Volunteering is great and makes us relate to others well in the world
Great advice on volunteering in Costa Rica. I went to a retreat high up in a cloud forest and I know the doctor that puts on the retreat always stays a few extra days to treat people in the nearby village. I look forward to making this idea part of my next travel experience.
That is an amazing story Chris – so glad you shared. The doctors there do a great job when they volunteer, don’t they?
I can’t get over how cute those turtles are!! I volunteer to teach former street kids photography here in India. They are so eager to learn!
Your volunteering sounds fantastic. What a great thing to do. Well done!
An experience of Volunteering like u had at Costa Rica is very inspirational. You have shown all the colour of life which you experienced marvellously. Thanks for sharing.
Volunteering is a very fulfilling thing to do. I hope you get the opportunity to do.
I love the idea of volunteering abroad, thank you for shedding light on some of the ways we can travel for good!
Volunteering is great. I hope you get to experience it sometime
Wonderful idea to volunteer with a young child! When I will have child I will try to grow him like this, bring on adventures and show the world. I have volunteered in Wadi Rum desert and teached English at a camp in Ukraine. I would love to do more volunteering projects, but it is quite time consuming and trips should be longer 🙁 Thanks for the article!
How wonderful to volunteer at Wadi Rum. That is one dry place! We went there – good for you 🙂 Happy Volunteering
Ah I’ve looked at volunteering abroad programs before but have never actually done one. It must be such an incredible experience. I would love to visit Costa Rica so would be amazing. Love your tips – about keeping your emotions in check and being open minded!
I hope you get to do some volunteering
What a great experience! We’ve spent some time in Costa Rica and also discovered it is a completely different country when you get away from the beach and tourist hot spots. It looks like you both made a real difference in some lives (and your own too I’m sure).
I totally agree – away from the tourist spots is the best place
Wow, so amazing! When I was a teenager I help build an orphanage in Mexico. The experience has always be stuck in my mind and love to do something similar one day. Thanks for the great tips!
Diane building an orphanage would be very special. Good for you!
I helped through a political organization to cut the grass and paint a school here in my country Argentina. Always is a wonderful experience to help others.
That sounds great! I’ve not been to Argentina as yet
How amazing! I think it’s wonderful that you and your family volunteer while you travel. I hope to do this one day! Thanks for the inspiration.
Wow what a great thing to do! I love how happy you were to extend your budget when you saw more was needed for the kids! That’s true kindness!
Love this article and I would love to volunteer now. I am visiting Costa Rica in January and cannot wait to explore the island and see all the wildlife.
Costa Rica can be expensive so be prepared!
Great post. I’d love to volunteer in Costa Rica.
I went to Northern China 5 times in 2019 to volunteer with an organization saving dogs from the dog meat trade. On top of volunteering at the safe house, I also flew over 30 dogs to their forever homes in the US. It was such an amazing experience.
One day when the pandemic is over, I hope to volunteer abroad again.
How fantastic are you – well done!
You’re epic! I love this so much! I’ve done lots of volunteering over the years but not much with the kids, and as soon as the pandemic is over cant wait to take out children to do things like this too! SO inspirational 🙂
I think we will all need to start a little closer to home when the pandemic is over, but well done in wanting to take your kids volunteering
We try to always visit an orphanage depending on where we are traveling. Our last try they wouldn’t really let us do anything except drop stuff off. Maybe because of covid.
Wow, this is such a great story.
I volunteered when I was 18 in Ecuador through a registered organization, and it changed my life! Since then I have worked in charitable organizations for livelihood projects and environmental conservation – two topics super close to my heart.
My daughter basically grew up in a volunteering project in Nepal, I was the volunteer coordinator there for the first 5 years of her life. The experience was amazing for her, she got to meet people from all over the world and worked closely with the Nepalese farmers. I am sure this experience will stay with her forever!
Thanks for sharing!
Wow! Volunteering in Costa Rica sounds like such an amazing experience. I’ll definitely aspire to do this with my daughter one day.
I have never done a volunteer trip, but I was just in Costa Rica in december 2020 and I had the best time. Most amazing people and I can see why this would be a great, great place to volunteer!
We visited Costa Rica three years ago when our son was 5 and we LOVED it. The people were some of the nicest in the world and we loved the jungle, the beaches, and the wildlife – we had monkeys coming right up to the door! But it was clear in some areas that there was a very great need. How wonderful for you to be setting such a great example of “see a need, meet a need” for your boy!
How amazing! I assume it’s high-quality which you and your own circle of relatives volunteer whilst you travel. I wish to try this one day! Thanks for the inspiration.
I volunteered in the highlands of Peru after college and had similar experiences, so life changing to meet the most generous people and learn from them. You quickly find out that your volunteering has a lot less impact on them then it does on you! Costa Rica would be a wonderful place to visit and volunteer, adding to my list!
Thanks for this great article!
Make a vonluntary trip is one of my wihses! Thanks for sharing this post. Hope to see Costa Rica soon.
I always wanted to do some volunteer work but I work full time. I’m going to try a vacation to do work in remote places in Costa Rica too. I loved your text hugs.