Volunteering in Far-Off Lands

Working as a volunteer in a foreign country may offer you an opportunity for hands-on experience in a field that you are interested in. For example, for budding Indiana Jones types, Israel’s Antiquities Authority has just released the latest list of 25 archeological sites that require volunteers. They warn that it’s a job for the physically fit who prefer hard work to beach bumming.

Volunteers must get themselves to and from Israel, and on some projects they are charged a small fee. Accommodations range from sleeping bags in the field to kibbutz guest houses.

For information, contact Israel Antiquities Authority, P.O. Box 586, Jerusalem 91004, Israel; tel. 011-972-2-292607.

Global Volunteers, a private, nonprofit organization, arranges volunteer programs year-round in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas. The one-to-three week projects range from helping to preserve the rain forest in Costa Rica to renovating school facilities in Vietnam and teaching English in Poland.

Volunteers pay their own costs: food, lodging, ground transportation and air fare. Costs average $350 to $1,995, plus air fare. Global Volunteers is not subsidized by any government or religious agency.

For further information, contact Global Volunteers at 375 E. Little Canada Road, St. Paul, MN 55117; telephone (800) 487-1074 or (612) 482-1074.

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For those searching out low-cost lodging in Canada this summer, a new booklet listing the independent hostels across the country is now available. Facilities range from a houseboat in Kenora and an elegant Victorian home in Niagara Falls to a country inn in Picton, Ontario. The dormitory accommodations average $12 a night.

The booklet can be purchased for $4 from the publisher, Backpacker Hostels Canada, c/o Longhouse Village, R.R. 13, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada P7B 5E4; tel. (807) 983-2042.