Gap Year Volunteering

Culture and Community

Why do a culture and community placement?

The most important aspect of gap years in general is global cohesion. Thousands of people go abroad every year and immerse themselves in another culture, sharing knowledge, learning acceptance and tolerance, and making lifelong friends. A culture and community placement is, therefore, the most direct way of really getting involved and finding out what makes a culture unique. So what will you be doing? The variety of culture and community placements reflects the diversity of the world! Here are some of the options you might pick.

Arts and Crafts

Educate yourself in traditional techniques and use special machinery to make the arts and crafts of your chosen country, including anything from puppetry to pottery making! You’ll be learning intricate skills from local artisans and preserving ancient production methods.

Drama, dance, song

Many cultures have long standing musical and dramatic traditions from which you can learn time-honoured songs, dances and plays. You might also get the opportunity to teach yourself, running after school clubs for children whose schools might not have folk arts on the curriculum.

Language and cookery

Various placements offer language lessons, and cookery classes, usually in partnership with other cultural activities. This is a fantastic way to really connect with a community, and, as you’re spending all your time in the local area, you’ll learn quickly. You can also get involved with teaching English in your village.

Historical preservation

Here, you’ll be working on an ancient site, helping to clear the area, uncover and map the ruins and preserve them as part of the national heritage of your chosen country. You’ll also get to visit local sites of national importance, for example, if you were staying in Cambodia, you might visit the national museum or the Killing Fields.

IT teaching

One of the most worthwhile ways to spend a gap year is teaching IT. Invaluable as a talent, and hugely helpful for job hunting, skilled IT teachers are in short supply in developing countries. In fact, many schools may have a donated IT suite which no one knows how to use. If you’re familiar with the internet and basic software packages, you’ve almost certainly got the know how to teach basic IT, and you won’t only be teaching students, but also local teachers, allowing the learning to continue long after you’ve come home.

Community health projects

These projects are usually based around sports or health programs, for example, volunteers might organise a volleyball competition for local children, or help out with a mass vaccination drive.

Living with a community

In most placements, you’ll be living with a host family in a city, town or village; however a live-in placement involves spending time in a more rural setting, for example living with nomads in Mongolia. Here, you’ll get involved with every aspect of this unique lifestyle, from tending animals to living in a yurt and become totally immersed in the community.