Volunteering in Ecuador
While living abroad, some expats wish to get involved in the local community life.
What organizations expats can turn to if they want to volunteer in Ecuador?
How to join a charitable institution, what are the steps?
Which causes have the greatest need for volunteers in Ecuador?
Thank you in advance for sharing your experience and advice,
Maximilien
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A good place to start in Quito would be
cccmedia in Quito
At ... where a registration voluntary "donation" is asked upon arrival here, they offer to pick you up at the Quito airport and move you around Ecuador for various volunteering opportunities ...
-- In Quito:聽 child care, teaching, children with special needs, orphanage program.
-- Amazon rainforest:聽 animal rescue program.
-- Gal谩pagos Islands:聽 conservation program.
聽 -- High school students teen-group program.
Keep in mind that the Gal谩pagos may be an unsafe area during the height of the El Ni帽o weather season.
cccmedia in Quito
However, it's important to remember that there doesn't have to be an organization already in place to help.
Before I arrived in Southern Ecuador, in the Vilcabamba area, I saw from photos I had seen online that there was an extreme need to help the animals of this community. At one point, I saw two animals in dire need of fostering, but no one on the site where I had seen them had been willing to take them in. I contacted people on the thread and managed to find someone to take them and care for them until I could arrive (I adopted those dogs, numbering two at the time, but after a week, I had nine because one had been pregnant!). The result of this was the founding of the animal rescue organization Ayuda Mascotas Ecuador (AME). Since then, AME has rescued and helped many animals. We are presently in the process of working with the local zoo in our area to educate people on the responsibilities involved in owning and caring for a pet, and we are hoping to, eventually, have our own rescue enter.
What this boils down to is that there is always a need, and if you cannot find an organization in place, you can help to organize and develop an organization to help!!
You can also participate in activities of Love Cuenca; see FB page of the same name.
As for anti-cruelty laws for animals, they do exist. For example, it is illegal to leave animal chained up.聽 However, most Ecuadorians won't call if someone has their pat chained because they don't want to have problems with their neighbors. It is something that, for the most part, just isn't done.
As an animal rescuer, while I am often appalled at what I see in Ecuador, it is important to understand two things regarding animals in Ecuador. First, Ecuador has long been an agrarian society, and, in such a culture, dogs are seen as tools. Their jobs are to guard - period. This is important to Ecuadorians because, as in most poor countries, people's homes must be guarded to protect their property from break-ins. The other thing is that poverty is what prevents most people from being able to provide decent care for their animals. One of the things I try to do where I live in the poorest area of Ecuador is to help my neighbors out with food and medicine. I have some sweet neighbors who love there dogs, but putting food in their mouths must often come before putting food in their dogs' mouths. So, I help out by making Satin Balls to fatten up their dogs, dropping off dry food and handing out flea and tick control medicines. Even if we can only help one family, that is important.
Animal welfare awareness is definitely on the rise in Ecuador. Our rescue group in Vilcabamba was just asked to participate in a local zoo/aviary program called "Your Dog, Your Responsibility". These types of programs are happening everywhere with the hopes that the next generation of Ecuadorian pet owners will be able to better provide the proper care and attention every animal needs to live a healthy life.
Our policy is to charge enough to cover our overheads, with any left over going to the work of the foundation. Our Spanish schools in Quito and Cuenca and our travel agency are "social enterprises" generating core funding to keep us in business. Every volunteer that we connect with a pre-vetted project helps us to fulfill our mission.
We place over 250 volunteers a year, both individuals and groups, and we are happy to advise on the best way of getting your volunteering set up. You can find our websites by googling "Yanapuma."
Preferliby in聽 an area with native聽 students聽 as long as there is bus service聽 to and from. I've been to Ecuador. 3 time now and love the country and most of all the people. My name聽 聽 聽Paul. Forrer
E mail.聽 聽paul forrer @ gmail .com.聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽I'm planning on. Jan, Feb.聽 March .
Thank you everyone for such valuable information. It gets me excited with the prospect of helping and getting to know others in the community. I am both an animal lover and have volunteered in shelters at home and overseas. I'm also an ESL/EFL instructor by profession. I hope that this thread will remain active for a long time because I don't foresee getting to Ecuador (Cuenca possibly) before next spring. Or will this information be archived in a new section of the Guide to Ecuador?
Many thanks for all the information and inspiration!
Warmest wishes,
PS
peripatetic_soul wrote:I hope that this thread will remain active for a long time because I don't foresee getting to Ecuador before next spring. Or will this information be archived in a new section of the Guide to Ecuador?
Many threads that go inactive are maintained in place.聽 It's common to see posts from three or four years ago even though nobody has posted on the thread in the past couple of years.
cccmedia in Quito
would like to look in to helping out in EUCADOR IF I CAN . MY EMAIL
**聽 I AM 77 BUT IN VERY GOOD HEALTH THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
Reason : Do not post your personal contact details for your own security + avoid posting in caps lock
cmcnew18 wrote:I'm a 24 year old American with brief EFL teaching experience....
I have a university degree in Journalism, speak Spanish and Portuguese, and would be a good fit for anything to do with writing, including social media, translation, and blogging.聽 I'm struggling to get much interest from any of the schools or tour operators I've contacted.聽 Any expats out there with advice for someone open to ANY way to support myself in Ecuador?
Welcome to the Ecuador forum, New 18.
You are young, obviously motivated and come across as having plenty of energy.
However, it's a stretch to think that anybody is going to pursue you to take a job when you're thousands of miles from here.聽 Tons of Ecuadorians and a bunch of Gringos are looking for work, and they're already here.
Your best bet may be to arrive here on a non-immigrant volunteer or (Spanish) student visa -- typically good for 12 months -- and see if you can assist less-fluent Gringos in all the services they may need... visas, apartments, transportation, dealing with the bureaucracy and translating being common examples.
cccmedia in Quito
After you get here, start by contacting ABC Radio News in New York.聽 Like a lot of national and international news organizations based elsewhere, it's likely they don't yet have a "man" in Quito.
If you can demonstrate vocal ability, writing ability and awareness of EC news values... you could be doing spots, ROSR's, actualities and Q-and-A's on national radio the next time a volcano blows or there's an unpredicted change in presidentes or when the night finally comes when they re-open the casinos.
Ask for the network's chief of foreign correspondents to get started on that.
There's no reason you can't feed stories to multiple news outlets.
cccmedia in Quito
Andy
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