大咖福利影院

Paying to volunteer.聽 This subject was brought up on an old post so I thought I鈥檇 update it a bit.

People were questioning why volunteers in Costa Rica are asked to pay a 鈥渧olunteer fee鈥� to volunteer -does not sound like it makes sense.聽 I have now experienced both sides of this.

When we first moved to CR I wanted to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.聽 When I contacted them I was told that the 鈥渧olunteer fee鈥� was something like $1,500 for a two week program.聽 Coming from the U.S. where you don鈥檛 normally pay someone to help them I chose not to get involved.聽 At the time, I found it outrageous that they鈥檇 charge a fee.

The other side of the coin.聽 My daughter began the non-profit Parrot Rescue Center of Costa Rica (PRC) about four years ago.聽 There is NO financial government assistance for animal sanctuaries in CR.聽 Quite the opposite.聽 The initial fees to set up the legal paperwork was over $2,000.聽 To construct the first habitat was $2,500., and then there was setting up a corporation, legal fees, biologist fees, veterinarian fees, food, required separate kitchen and the list goes on and on.聽 I fronted all of her set up costs.聽 Since then we have constructed six more habitats and have outgrown this location.聽 We鈥檝e reached our maximum capacity.聽 And the fledglings cannot be released at our current location.

In the U.S. there are many, many organizations and donors that help non-profits of all kinds, and there are many.聽 In Costa Rica there are very few.聽 For any non-profit to provide a service, they obviously have to find a way to create an income.聽 For the majority, those that need volunteers, have no choice but to charge them for volunteering.聽 There's of course a cost for the volunteers to be there and the need to create funds to support the project.

My daughter draws no salary but there are of course numerous things that need to be paid for every month.聽 We are also expanding to a 69 hectare property near Nicaragua.聽 This will help us expand our ability to help repopulate three endangered parrot species, protect as much primary forest as possible and help educate the people of that area on the importance of their environment.聽

Once we have moved to the new location we will be accepting volunteers.聽 We will have no choice but to charge a fee.聽 It will be $350 per month for lodging, etc.聽 Without the help of others we could not physically do all the work that will be required but also could not handle it financially.聽 The initial set up costs for this project will be just under $300,000.00.聽 Yes, charging volunteers is necessary and in this case no one is profiting from it.聽 But, the birds will be happier!

And yes, there are many animal sanctuaries, more like zoos, here that are anything but out to help animals or the environment.聽 For them it is all about the money.聽 The government is enacting new rules to help alleviate this problem but it will take time.聽

All you can do if you choose to volunteer is ask a lot of questions.聽 If you鈥檙e going to pay them, ask whatever questions you feel appropriate.聽 Where does the money go?聽 What percentage goes back into that project?聽 If they draw a salary how much is it?聽 If it鈥檚 an animal sanctuary, do they release the animals?聽 If not, why?聽 (And no, not all animals can be released.聽 We have some parrots that are here for life - up to 80 years.)聽 If they don鈥檛 want to answer your questions, walk away.

Hopefully this clarifies a bit.聽 If you want to contact me by private ex-pat message, I can suggest places to volunteer or look into others you might be interested in.

- Expat Dave

P.S.聽 And sorry once again, my posts seem to be turning into books lately.聽 馃��