<p>OP-My first question would be how much this volunteer opportunity is going to cost.</p>
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This is not necessarily true. Such trips can be done in a way that benefits both the trip taker and the local community. If organized in a way that’s sensitive to the local community they can be a nice way to create cross-cultural communication.</p>
<p>That said, as someone who runs a non-profit working with impoverished communities in another country I’m generally skeptical of such programs. In my experience, in order to cover the real costs of the program non-profits have to charge participants an astronomical sum. Aside from airfare, the cost of housing, feeding and lodging (even as a homestay) far outweighs the value of the work an untrained volunteer can perform. We have chosen not to run service learning trips because we feel it’s wrong to require students to pay huge sums under the illusion that they’re providing valuable labor to the organization.</p>
<p>As GMT points out, there’s nothing wrong with taking a trip that provides an interesting cultural experience. What I’d ask people who take these trips to do, however, is to really think about whether this trip is to benefit the community served or whether it just a really cool way to see a new part of the world as more than a simple tourist. If it’s the latter, more power to you. Enjoy the trip, do some good and learn something about the world, just don’t go bragging to your friends (or god forbid colleges) about all the good you did for those poor natives. If it’s the former, consider that you could help these people more by donating a tenth of what you would have spent on your trip to a charity on the ground in the community which the organization could use to pay a local person to paint that school or fix up that community center.</p>
<p>Here’s a good site to help you assess your program:
<a href=“Volunteering Abroad - How To Do It”>http://www.coyotecommunications.com/volunteer/international.html</a></p>
<p>For articles critical of such programs just google “voluntourism”. You’ll find a ton.</p>
<p>And to address your original question, organizations that run such trips go to great pains to keep their participants healthy. No one is going to have 18 year olds working with ebola patients. It’s most likely you’d be drinking bottled water and eating well cooked and in some cases specially prepared food. It’s bad PR to send a bunch of kids home sick.</p>