HELP International - Volunteer Projects in El Salvador

I went to El Salvador with HELP International summer 2011. It was amazing! We were totally submersed in the culture, we all improved our Spanish skills. The people were wonderful and ready to start projects. The great thing about HELP is that it's so versatile. We had recent graduates and students in nursing, business, public health, teaching, music, political science, Arabic and more. We planned, completed, and evaluated projects in many of these areas. This makes a great and unique internship. It also is a great opportunity to be involved in a leadership position. The team members are actively involved in the program planning process as well. The HELP code of conduct also provides for a great experience. There's plenty of sight-seeing to do on the weekends too!

Working as a volunteer with HELP International I lived with a group of about 15-24 people in a house over the space of four months this past summer. We lived in a house in a residential area of San Salvador where i felt very safe and there was a really fun night life. The best part was how affordable it all was, after paying my program fees i received a stipend for all in country travel and food.

All of the volunteers live with two country directors who are highly fluent in Spanish, though volunteers are not required to be fluent. this opportunity allowed me to greatly improve my Spanish. The impact that you have as a volunteer is directly dependent on the effort that you put into your projects and projects that others have created, you get out of it what you put into it.

The great thing about HELP International in El Salvador is that all the volunteers are there to make an impact and work hard to help the poor. They are not there to party hard every night and then just give handouts to the poor. Although there is a lot of fun to be had and I enjoyed myself every weekend traveling all around the country and seeing all the beautiful sites. But more beautiful than the sites are the people I had the opportunity to work with.

Whether you're interested in Micro finance, business training, English teaching Public Health, Education, Rehab, Special Education, or construction then HELP International is the summer program for you.

Working in countries all over the world from Africa to Fiji to India, you can stay from 6 weeks to 4 months- whatever works with your summer schedule best.

Check out the website to see if it's right for you like it was for me!
http://help-international.org/