UBELONG Volunteer Abroad in Cambodia from US$370
UBELONG offers 2-week to 6-month volunteering opportunities in Phnom Penh across many different fields: business development and microfinance, law and human rights, NGO support, caregiving, education, health, and women's empowerment.
Highlights
- Affordable: Without compromising quality, the world's most affordable international volunteering opportunities.
- Flexibility: Pick from 100+ projects across Africa, Asia and South America. Volunteer 1 week to 6 months. Start any week.
- Support: Work one-on-one with a UBELONG Mentor throughout your volunteer experience.
- Comfort: Housing and meals included, as well as 24/7 field support.
- Network: UBELONG is based in Washington, DC, the capital of international volunteering.
- Impact: UBELONG is a social venture led by international volunteers and university professors driven to make a real impact on local communities.
- Trust: Every year, thousands of individuals of all ages and backgrounds, and from throughout the world, become UBELONG volunteers.
Simply, UBELONG is the world's premier short-term international volunteering program.
Reviews
90%Overall
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100%Overall
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Deciding to volunteer abroad can be very overwhelming with all the options that are available, but UBELONG was great in helping me make the decision to volunteer in the Advancing Community Rights project in Phnom Penh for five weeks. UBELONG is a reputable organization that will provide you with all the assistance, information and support that you need to have a positive experience.
I was very impressed with UBELONG and can't speak highly enough about my experience in Cambodia. Thank you to my mentor Cedric and the rest of the UBELONG team for helping me have an experience of a lifetime.
100%Overall
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I had a very valuable experience in Cambodia. It was a beautiful opportunity to learn about the country and its people. I volunteered with children with disabilities along with a friend from France for 2 weeks. It was a very real chance to work and give back. Difficult at times but we feel that we helped a lot. We saw the project to be very well run and we appreciated the support from the Ubelong team in the US and Cambodia. Especially for the price we think it is a great value and we hope to someday return.
Critical Feedback:
Most of the other volunteers were English speaking. It was OK for me, I speak English fine, but future volunteers with Ubelong in Cambodia might want to note this if they do not feel comfortable in an English context.
100%Overall
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Volunteering abroad was something I'd wanted to do for a while, but I never really thought it would become a reality (I'm not the most adventurous person!) until I stumbled across the Ubelong website. The program was perfect for me in every way. It was affordable, I felt supported at all times by my mentor, the volunteer coordinators in Cambodia and the NGO I was working for, and helping on a women's empowerment project was something I was really keen to do.
I was nervous before I left the UK, but meeting other volunteers at the guest house (many of whom were just as nervous as I was, and were great to hang out with in the evenings/weekends) and having the orientation meeting soon put me at ease. I learned so much from the experience - it gave me an insight into what daily life is like in other parts of the world, and also how an NGO operates and the various challenges it faced. My work included a variety of tasks, including writing up proposals for projects and requests for funding, editing information for the website and facilitating a workshop with other NGOs. I'd recommend Ubelong to anyone considering volunteering - it's a professional organisation, which looks after their volunteers and genuinely works to make a difference
Critical Feedback:
The guest house was great, but could do with a bit of refurbishment.
100%Overall
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"Willing to do something" It's not always enough. Sometimes we need tools to do so. Thank you UBELONG for being the tool I needed to achieve the goal of being a Volunteer, and looking after me the 6 amazing weeks I spent in Cambodia! For those who have the will, don't hesitate, I highly recommend you to do it through UBELONG!
100%Overall
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I volunteered for 6 weeks in Microfinance in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and honestly it has been one of the best decisions I've made. UBELONG and Raul have been extremely helpful every step of the way, and the placement overall exceeded all my expectations, both in terms of the other volunteers I met at the guesthouse and the work I did in Cambodia.
I had the pleasure of meeting Raul and Cedric on a couple of occasions while in Cambodia and received fantastic advice regarding my future career and academic aspirations for which I am very grateful for. I hope to keep in touch with the UBELONG team in the future and I can honestly say that you will not regret going through UBELONG to do any of the volunteering opportunities you're interested in!
A fantastic organisation!
100%Overall
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I couldn't be happier with my decision of volunteering in Cambodia through UBELONG. When you decide to undertake such a journey, you want to feel you're dealing with people who know what they are doing. And UBELONG does. They provided me with the necessary support, advice and enthusiasm during both pre- and post-departure process, allowing me to make the most of my volunteer experience. Before departure, I received a comprehensive Preparation Briefing and had a safety meeting with my mentor, which really helped me prepare for the trip. None of the volunteers from other organizations I met had anything remotely similar to that. I especially like the fact that UBELONG has a philosophy behind its programs. They talk not only about helping others, but also about stepping out of your comfort zone, building emotional strength and achieving personal growth. I think that helped me keep my mind always open and watch out for the changes that this volunteer experience was operating in myself -- when maybe the natural reaction would be staying on the defensive side.
100%Overall
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I spent 5 weeks volunteering in Phnom Penh, on the Advancing Community Rights Program. It was an amazing experience and I enjoyed everything; the work, the guesthouse and especially the many people I met and country itself. The process was made extremely easy by UBELONG, who provided me with great pre-departure support, including a comprehensive safety meeting, the preparation bundle and even recommending reading that may be of use to me on the placement. No volunteers from any other agency seemed to have anywhere near as much help or support when organising their own trips.
I kept in touch with Raul and UBELONG, both during and after the placement and will continue to do so. There is a real sense of pride in their work and the passion for helping people to volunteer really shines through in everything they do.
I truly believe that UBELONG helped to make my stay one of the best experiences of my life and I would recommend them to anyone even considering volunteering abroad. You will not regret it.
100%Overall
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Someone from the program picked me up from the airport when I arrived into the country, which was comforting. There was an orientation the frist 3 days I was there so I was able to get familiar with the city and my orphanage. I stayed at a volunteer house in Phnom Penh with about 20 volunteers, who were volunteering at different orphanages and NGOs in or near the City. Each morning I would wake up, eat breakfast, which was prepared by workers of the house, and head to my orphanage which was about 30 minutes away. I worked at the orphanage Monday through Friday from about 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In the morning I would play with the younger children, entertain them with making crafts or read books with them. I ate lunch at the orphanage every day with the kids and then taught English in the afternoon to the older children. The language barrier was hard at first, but I expected it to be because English wasn't their first language - but that was what was so exciting as well. Definitely recommend this program to anyone.
90%Overall
Rating
I had a great experience with Ubelong in Cambodia. I spent 4 weeks in the orphanage program there. This was my first time to a third world country and I felt very comfortable. My mentor answered all my questions and even spoke to my mom who was a wreck. I also like that I had a safety meeting in person on skype before, it help reassure me and make it more real. I was definitly a little overwhelemed when I first arrived because Cambodia is so different and my first days at the orhpanage I was at were a little difficult as nobody spoke English. I felt out of place but after a couple days felt so comfortable and the head "mom" was so good to me and the other volunteers. She would always ask how I was doing and make sure I was happy. The children are ADORABLE even though they are filthy :-) My only negative is that the food at the guesthouse was very good but after 4 weeks became a little boring. Overall a great experience that is definitly life changing amd I recommend this wonderful organization.
90%Overall
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This program, while not necessarily rustic, gave me the chance to experience a culture completely unknown to me before through an easy cultural immersion, along with giving back to the local community. Thailand has such a rich, diverse culture, and the Ricefields was the perfect place for me to gently immerse myself into it. The base house is located in a rural village outside of Udon Thani, yet still caters to the culture shocked teenagers with western amenities. This, however, is the only place that I felt was western on the duration of my trip. The base isn't entirely western either. While some of the staff are western, much of the staff are from Thailand, Burma & Laos. The local staff contributed greatly to my experience, as they provided me with long-lasting friends across the world, but they served as a cultural exchange as well. The students were able to immerse the local staff in western Customs, while they were able to do the same to us with their asian customs.
The service trips gave you insight to the true lives of the people living in the rural Issan state. Whether I was working in the rice fields alongside farmers, or teaching children English in school, I consistently felt like part of the community. The Ricefields Base hosts such a wide variety of service projects (which include teaching children how to swim, building houses, helping out at buddhist temples, teaching english, planting rice, vaccinating local dogs, contributing to the local art, providing medical care for locals, etc.), that everyone had the chance to impact the area positively in the way they wanted to.
It was truly a perfect balance of cultural immersion and service. We were given the opportunity to visit many important buddhist sites across Northeastern Thailand, giving us a greater understanding of the national religion, a key component to their culture. We also were given the chance to practice our Thai with the local staff (while also teaching them English) and we were also allowed to visit the local markets, which provided major cultural understanding through witnessing the daily lives of many Thai people. All along with this stood the larger picture of helping out the community in which we resided, making for the perfect trip.
Alumni Interviews
Meet Jake Heyka, UBELONG-Cambodia volunteer alum
GO:Why did you decide to volunteer with UBELONG in Cambodia?
Jake: I decided to go abroad with UBELONG to do something productive with my first winter break at the University of Wisconsin. I knew that I wanted to make something useful of the almost month-long break and a trip UBELONG seemed to be the best way to do that.
It was not only my desires which led me to decide on going with UBELONG, though. The leaders of the organization, Raul and Cedric, were very accommodating with all my questions and I knew that if the leaders of an organization would go the extra mile to make sure I was happy with and ready for Cambodia, that UBELONG was a great organization to be a part of. I could not be happier with the outcome and I hope to go back to Cambodia as soon as possible!
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Jake: The project I was involved in was "teaching english" (as defined on the UBELONG website). Each day, I taught six, one to two hour classes at a local school in the capital city - Phnom Penh. My day started around 7am with a breakfast along with all the other volunteers who were staying at the guest house. Then, I left the guest house at around 7:40am to walk to the school I taught at. Sometimes I would take a Tuk-Tuk instead (the Cambodian version of a taxi). My classes went from 8am until 12pm, when everyone had a two hour break for lunch. Typically, I would walk back to the guest house and eat lunch and then resume with the classes at 2pm. Then classes went for two more hours and we all had a break for dinner at 5pm. My last two classes went from 6pm until 7:30pm, upon which I would walk back to the guest house.
By this time, most of the other volunteers were back from their assorted orphanages and schools. We would hang out around the guest house or go out on the town and explore the great night life that Phnom Penh has to offer. We also had the weekends off which was nice to go explore the nation. Be sure to go to Angkor Wat!
GO: How has this experience impacted your future?
Jake: This experience fortified my goals in life. I had not expected to love another place so quickly or so much. I had been discerning if I wanted to work in development and had taken this opportunity partially to explore that possibility. After going to Cambodia, I am sure that I want to do something which gives support to developing nations. How exactly that will pan out, I do not know, but I could not be so certain of the joy I receive from giving in places like Phnom Penh if I had not taken this great opportunity.
It also helped me to grow as an individual. I learned how I react to situations in which I am completely on my own; having gone to Phnom Penh by myself. The biggest of the struggles was tackling the language barriers and understanding the cultural differences in society and most of all in the classroom. This was not too difficult though because the local NGO had a two-day training about Cambodia and the Khmer people. With it, and the support of the other volunteers, I found creative ways to connect with my students and learn just as much from them as they did from me.
I very firmly believe that this could not have been accomplished in many other places in the world, and I highly suggest that anyone with even the slightest desire to go jumps right in. The Khmer people are amazing, the NGO was fantastic, and the experience was unforgettable.
Meet Stephen Moore, UBELONG-Cambodia volunteer alum
GO:Why did you decide to volunteer with UBELONG in Cambodia?
Stephen: I had always considered travelling to Asia, because it seems so far removed from everyday life in the West. As I was looking into it, I discovered UBELONG and decided to do something worthwhile instead of just travelling as a tourist. UBELONG offered an affordable way of volunteering and seemed passionate about the idea of volunteering abroad. I also saw that with my legal background, their human rights volunteer project was a perfect fit.
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Stephen: I volunteered at an NGO called Legal Aid of Cambodia and was placed mainly in the Land Law Project, which helps teach indigent communities about their land rights, as well as represents them in land disputes. I was working in the office from 8am to 5pm every weekday, where I helped to proofread and correct the language in reports to donors, researched new donors, and created concept notes to explain the programme to them. I was also involved in creating presentations for the LAC Directors to give, as well as helping with the other projects, such as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and Child Justice programmes. I was also able to visit the Khmer Rouge Tribunal on a number of occasions and see the importance of my work.
GO: How has this experience impacted your future?
Stephen: Volunteering in Cambodia was truly one of the best experiences of my life. I was able to make a real difference to the lives of people out there and I have returned to the UK feeling elated that I have helped, but also somewhat sad that it was over. It has helped me to put my own life into perspective and I am now trying to pursue a career where I can continue to make a difference.
Meet Erin Oberg, UBELONG volunteer in Cambodia
GO: Why did you decide to volunteer abroad with UBELONG in Cambodia?
Erin: I knew I wanted to travel and volunteer, but I didn't know what country or what program, so I did a lot of online research. I looked into many different volunteer programs in various countries, but all of my searching stopped when I found UBELONG. I was planning on taking this trip by myself, not with a group of friends, so I wanted to find an organization that wouldn't just take my money and drop me off somewhere. Through UBELONG's Facebook page, I was able to contact alumni volunteers and ask more detailed questions about their experiences. I found another female volunteer who went to Cambodia by herself through UBELONG, and she eased all of my nerves. That night I sent my application to UBELONG.
UBELONG'S website was very helpful in the fact that each project was described in detail, with location, job responsibilities, timeline, and prices. Along with the flexibility of when you can start your program, UBELONG was the most affordable for that length of stay - which included transportation from the airport upon my arrival, and room and board. After being accepted into the program, I realized that UBELONG was more than just a volunteer program, it was a family. I was assigned a mentor as soon as I joined. He answered all of my questions in detail and he even took the time to hold a Skype session with me to go over the final details before I left.
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Erin: I stayed at a volunteer house in Phnom Penh with about 20 other volunteers, who were volunteering at different orphanages and NGOs in or near the city. Each morning, I would wake up early with the other volunteers, eat breakfast, which was prepared by workers of the house, and head to my orphanage which was about 30 minutes away. I asked to be placed in an orphanage outside of the city, and that is exactly what I got.
I worked at the orphanage Monday through Friday from about 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In the morning I played with the younger children, entertaining them with arts and crafts or reading books with them. I ate lunch at the orphanage every day with the children and then taught English in the afternoon to the older children.
All of the volunteers had weekends off from volunteering, and that was when most of us would go sightseeing and spend time getting to know each other. I am still in contact with some of the volunteers that I met while I volunteered.
GO: How has this experience helped you grow personally and professionally?
Erin: This trip changed my life. I have always loved to travel, but this trip gave me the opportunity to travel, help the less fortunate, see the country through the citizen's eyes, not a tourist, and grow personally all at the same time. Soon after I arrived, I realized how much I have taken for granted in my life. The children who I cared for were so warm and affectionate, from the first moment that I met them. They have so little, sometimes wearing the same clothes for a week, but they were happy that I was there spending time with them. They were truly a family at the orphanage and supported each other every day.
I was a single female traveling by myself to a developing country that was still in the process of rebuilding. It was somewhat intimidating and a little scary, but it was also exciting. I definitely became a stronger, more confident woman on this trip. Knowing that I was able to travel on my own to a country that I knew very little about has created a strong confidence in me. I broke through language and cultural barriers, and was able to develop long lasting friendships with people from all over the world who I know I will stay in contact with.
Professionally, I work full-time at a very fast-paced job. This experience has put things into perspective for me, teaching me not to "sweat the small stuff." The little things are just that - the little things, and small irritations are just small irritations. In the end, they don't mean a whole lot when you think about these kids and what they have gone through. It is because of this trip, my new found confidence in traveling alone and my experience with UBELONG that I have made a vow to myself to volunteer abroad every few years.
Further Info
About UBELONG
UBELONG is the most affordable, professional and supportive international volunteering organization in the world.
Volunteer abroad in Africa, Asia and Latin America from 1 week to 6 months.
We are based in Washington, DC and led by volunteers and leading university professors.
WHAT can you do?
Through our Volunteer Abroad program, for periods of one week to six months live in a community and volunteer on a community or environmental project.
WHERE can you go?
Asia: Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos
Latin America: Ecuador and Peru
Africa: Ghana, Morocco and South Africa
WHEN can you go?
Projects run year-round and you can join from one week to six months.
HOW much do you pay?
Costs start as low as US$350 for a 1 week placement.
Among other world-class services, you work 1 on 1 with a UBELONG Mentor and receive a Preparation Briefing, in-country orientation, housing, meals, project supervision and 24/7 support.
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I volunteered in Cambodia for 3 months at the end of 2012 in the Advancing Community Rights program. UBELONG was able to provide me with my first experience working with NGOs abroad, which has given me some understanding of how development work functions in other parts of the world. Through my volunteering experience with UBELONG I gained some comfort with the procedures NGOs go through to function, such as surveying the sites of beneficiaries, seeking potential donors, and writing important documents like project proposals and concept notes. Living in Cambodia was also extremely useful for gaining some understanding of what life is like in the culture and country of the beneficiaries. Additionally, UBELONG gave me the opportunity to cultivate relationships with likeminded individuals among other volunteers from around the world.
Critical Feedback:
Fast responses to volunteer concerns about partner NGOs