Philippines is prone to natural disasters such as landslides, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes and earthquakes. Similarly, poverty is predominant in rural as well as urban settlements which lead people to malnutrition, environmental degradation, lack of education and medical facilities, poverty, hunger, corruption, illiteracy, crime against women and children, unemployment, and so on. Department of Social Welfare in Philippines is initiating various programs to assist community people. Community Development programs not only refer to the economic development but also includes social transformation. Asia Horizon works for improvements in health, education, social services, environment, women’s and children's rights and rights and care of older people. When you volunteer to work with centers for outreach-training, informal education, vocational training and women's development, you can contribute to the local community and provide its people with new skills and opportunities.
Volunteer’s Activities
As a volunteer, you will assist poor communities in rural areas; you will be working there for 25-35 hours per week. You will teach in community computer classes and activities with the street children and assist teaching classes for the street children. In addition, you will assist the Social Welfare Office in organizing data, setting up comprehensive profile and presenting statistical data. Technical work includes designing programs, building training programs, assisting in community research and arranging teaching and training manuals for others. Volunteers are equally motivated to conduct women empowerment program, HIV awareness program, project development and management. The project coordinator will be there providing you the basic method and solve any language barrier if it appears during your work. You will get some basic training in cooperation with the rural people.
Project Skills Required
There are no specific skills and qualifications required. However, you must be at least 18 years old and should have knowledge of spoken English for volunteering. Experience in organizing and presenting data and working knowledge with deaf and physically impaired will be appreciated. You should also be flexible, self-motivated and open minded to learn and serve to the people of new culture and religion. Lastly you should have a strong desire to work for the benefit of poor, marginalized, disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people, to help them develop skills, knowledge and competence.
Arrangement of Room/Food/Supervision
Asia Horizon makes an appropriate provision for food, room and supervision for its volunteers from the very beginning of their arrival to the country to the end of their project. You will get a brief orientation about the premise and the schedule of the program, living with the Filipino host family is a great opportunity to understand the Filipino life, language (especially Filipino), culture, tradition and people. In your volunteering programs, volunteers’ accommodation and food management is provided by a host family and in the placement, cooks prepare a variety of Filipino food agahan or almusal (breakfast), tanghalian( lunch) and hapunan (dinner). A typical Philippine meal consists at least three meals a day served with boiled or fried rice, corn or other popular dishes such as adobo (a meat stew made from either pork or chicken), lumpia( meat or vegetable rolls), pancit(noodle dish) and lechon( roasted pig). You can also get the food from outside if you wish; there are numbers of affordable restaurants and hotels in Philippines. You can’t expect a luxurious bedroom while staying with the host family. However, volunteers joining Asia Horizon-Philippines’s orphanage program stay with the children in a hostel. Asia Horizon arranges a separate room along with a communal bath with cold water and fan for volunteers in both the host families and hostel accommodations but sometimes they may share the room if the number is large. Volunteers are expected to share same life style while staying with the host family; they may join the daily activities such as cooking, cleaning, washing and so on. Though the local fare will be provided twice a day, you will be really enjoy the way of Filipino hospitality and generosity to the guest.
Project Location
Placements of our Philippines program are located in nearby places of Tacloban City. Tacloban is the provincial capital of Leyte, and is the regional economic, cultural and tourist center of Eastern Visayas. The city has many interesting cultural and historical sites such as Leyte Capitol Building, DZR Airport, Tacloban City Hall, San Pedro Bay, Tacloban Seaport and Madonna of Japan. You will have the access to internet café, malls and shopping centers.
Visa Information
Volunteers are allowed to enter in Philippines without a visa if the duration is less than 21 days. If you intend to stay longer, you must contact to the Filipino embassy to procure a visa: if you decide to lengthen your stay, you can easily extend the visa up to 59 days for P3500. The amount will be decreased if you like to extent the visa more than 59 days.
Project Information
Program Date: Asia Horizon volunteer Program begins with your arrival at the airport in Manila on Sunday, the day before of your project. A one-day orientation about the program including project sites, types of work, local food, climate, safety issues, health issues, culture people etc. will be provided in Manila office before you start the project.
Program Fees: Our program fee is 80-100% less than most international volunteer organizations. |
Living, Working and Safety Issue
Living and working in a poor and developing country is really challenging. It demands courage, some experiences and the ability to adapt. It can be overwhelming to adjust in a completely new environment. The climate, food, and atmosphere – everything is different than your hometown. You will be faced with a harsh social reality every day of your volunteer work and experience things a tourist never sees.
Independence, maturity, flexibility and the desire to do social work are required if you want to take part in the volunteer work program. Asia Horizon takes full responsibility for your safety and tries its level best to bring sense of security and peace of mind in you from the time of your first arrival to the completion of your project in a host country. When we receive your flight information, we will make the necessary arrangements here for your airport pick-up. Generally, volunteers arrive on Sunday. Our country coordinator will be there to welcome you at the airport, to pick up and take you to your accommodation, and you will receive basic orientation about your itinerary and placement along with a comprehensive briefing on the country and specific locale by the coordinator and transfer to the project on the following day or after the one week orientation. The staff/ coordinator will accompany you until you have a sense of complete safety. You are allowed to contact 24/7with an assigned person directed by Asia Horizon during your stay. We will be fulfilling our additional duties such as monitoring, guiding and counseling. Our staff/ coordinator will be there all the time supporting, assisting and coordinating you. |
