Why Volunteer in Asia?
Volunteering in Asia offers the opportunity to discover unique cultures and customs in countries embedded with diverse and dynamic history. Ways of life in China and Japan may be extremely different from your own, but by volunteering and living there you will be able to really integrate yourself into a new society and learn so much about a different country and about yourself. Volunteering in China and Japan also offers you the opportunity and challenge to learn a new language and open your mind to so many new things from interesting food to unique traditions and spectacular festivals.
What type of placement can I do?
In Japan we offer Community Careplacements and Medical placements, offering volunteers interested in careers in medical or caring fields, particularly valuable work experience.
Volunteers on Medical placements primarily work as medical assistants in Red Cross Hospitals and undertake a variety of work from administrative tasks to interacting with patients and assisting with caring duties on the wards. Volunteers may also be asked to run English sessions with hospital staff to improve their English speaking skills and are widely encouraged to learn Japanese. The more volunteers become involved in every aspect of hospital life, the more opportunities will become available to them such as observing surgery and assisting in medical procedures.
Volunteering on Community Care placements may involve work with mentally or physically disabled adults, elderly people and children. Work may involve general care work, assisting in day to day life with residents of the centres and helping to run creative workshops for residents. Volunteering on Community Care placement can be incredibly rewarding for volunteers as they help to improve the quality of life for residents and well as getting a real insight into the Japanese health and caring system.
In China you can volunteer as an English Teacher in primary, middle or secondary schools or in colleges, teacher training centres and universities. Although China is seen as a developed country there are still vast areas, particularly in the South West, where people still struggle with poverty. Improving spoken English can have a very positive and empowering effect on the lives of local children, and volunteers are held in high regard as teachers there. Class size and teaching standards may vary – some schools may require you to follow a textbook whilst others may give you a more creative free reign.
Why should I volunteer for at least several months?
Lattitude Global Volunteering encourages and promotes long term volunteering, recognising the many benefits volunteering for more than 3 months can have on both the volunteer and the community in which they volunteer. Long term volunteering gives you the chance to adjust to a new culture and environment, get to know the community you are working with and really understand and implement where your help is needed.
Working with people, whether teaching children in a school, caring for the elderly or disabled or assisting patients in hospital, requires time and patience and volunteering for a long period of time ensures that you are able to create long-lasting and really valuable relationships with those you work with to make the impact you have as a volunteer all the more worthwhile.
Long term volunteering is sustainable as it enables us to create good, long-standing relationships with our hosts to ensure that we are sending volunteers where they are most needed.
And, as a charity, we keep our costs for long term volunteering as low as possible by asking you to pay a flat rate fee meaning that the longer you volunteer for, the more value for money it becomes for you and there are no hidden costs.
So where can you go in Asia:
-
China
In recent years China has become a major player on the world’s stage, both economically and diplomatically. However, many of it’s people are still living in poverty, especially those in the most rural areas.
-
Japan
The Land of the Rising Sun is made up of over 3000 islands of which Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku are the four largest. Japan is highly advanced technologically and in many ways is very westernised, yet it retains a strong sense of traditional culture.
