Global Volunteers provides service-learning opportunities for individuals of all ages, skills and backgrounds. Prospective volunteers often ask if their expertise and interests can be used in a host community. If you're open to new challenges, and enjoy working with and learning from local people, you can contribute your skills and energy in a meaningful way on a Global Volunteers volunteer vacation. Our development partnerships help deliver essential services to host communities - so that your personal contribution of a week or more directly impacts long-term improvements in the welfare of children worldwide. Important questions to ask yourself are:

• Am I willing to freely offer my skills and interests without expectations for the outcome?
• Can I accept direction from local leaders who may have different backgrounds from me?
• Do I understand and respect the opportunity to work as a part of a volunteer team?
• Do I value being an incremental part of a project contributing to a long-term vision?
• Do I enjoy learning about new cultures and lifestyles from a personal vantage point?

Depending on your appetite for challenge and adventure, you can choose a service program close to home, or in a community remote and unseen by conventional tourists. And, you can choose between rugged, physically-challenging environments, or the familiarity of a classroom and comfortable hotel in a small town or urban setting. When choosing a volunteer vacation, we ask for your flexibility. Patience, a spirit of adventure, and a sense of humor also go a long way. Some host communities provide a greater degree of predictability than others due to cultural norms and our program history.

Learn From Local People and Share Personal Insights: By immersing yourself in the daily routine of the host community you learn, first-hand, about the joys, struggles, hopes and dreams of the people you serve. While the service component of volunteer work is your primary focus, it's also the conduit for "non-tourist" cultural understanding and personal insightst. In return, you, your family, and your team mates can share your own life perspectives with new friends. This is why we say that through Global Volunteers, you can "Leave Your Mark on the World." Global Volunteers' proprietary materials and methods guide you in making a profound, permanent and personal difference.