Volunteer Trip To Africa?

Free volunteer trips to Africa?

• Though I can't think of any specific examples off the top of my head I feel like I have heard many people in the past talk about getting to take free trips to Africa when they went to volunteer. (Community building and what not.) I would love to travel to Africa for this kind of thing but I am broke and so I was hoping to find such a program. Has anyone ever gone on a free trip to Africa? Or have you heard of someone who has? If you know anything about how to get into a program please provide details. Thanks.

• Answer:

  There is no such thing as a free volunteer trip to Africa or to anywhere else for that matter. Although you may be able to stay someone for free, you will be expected to pay for your own airfare and food. Coordinating volunteer activities is time consuming and expensive, and NGO's can usually hire locally for a lot less than your plane fare. The only way that you can get a free trip overseas to help with community building would be to do it through some kind of church mission trip - where the church raises funds to cover all of your travel expenses.