Changing the lives of survivors and volunteers worldwide
Volunteering in a Disaser Zone Details
Many of the questions you’re likely to have can't be addressed specifically until we know where we’re going to be working. In the absence of a lot of concrete information, here’s what we can assure you. The work you will do on deployment will challenge you in ways you won’t expect and will provide you with a unique sense of accomplishment. It will be worthwhile.
Here are some general facts about volunteering on deployment.
The work
The kind of disaster recovery projects we run will be determined by the needs of the affected community. We will likely be running several projects at once on any given deployment with an initial focus on sustainable reconstruction. Other programmes might include educational support and may even expand into earlier response work such as clean-up.
Our Volunteer Resource Team is responsible for making sure each project or programme has the right number of volunteers. They’ll place you on a project where you're needed. While we can’t guarantee you'll always be able to work on your favourite job we will take any preference about what kind of work you want to do into account.
What's more, we are a “volunteer driven" organisation. That means that we encourage you to be proactive. If you see a need, have an idea that fits with EDV’s mission, and are driven to see that idea implemented, we’re all ears and we’ll help you as much as we can.
The Life
Your day to day life as a disaster volunteer will probably be quite different from what you’re used to. We won’t know what kind of living space you’ll have, if there will be 24 hour hot water, or what your day to day routine will be like until we know where and when we’ll be deploying.
While you may have to give up some creature comforts, the unique opportunity to live and work with people from all over the world in a new culture is well worth it. Our long term volunteers have gone to weddings in Thailand and been made godparents of children in Peru. As a disaster response volunteer, you'll get to know another culture in a way that no tourist ever will.
Staying Safe
Safety on deployment is our primary concern, and we take it seriously. Disaster zones can be chaotic places and construction work carries its own inherent risks. While people shouldn't be scared to come on deployment it is always sensible to exercise caution and common sense.
The experienced volunteers who lead EDV have done this before and we won’t consider sending you to any location or asking you to perform any job where there is excessive risk to your personal safety. We'll also provide comprehensive and up to date information about the situation on the ground so that everyone can help keep themselves, and each other, out of harm’s way.
That said we can't completely eliminate all risks. You are always advised to check your own government's travel advisory information. We will do everything we can to support and protect you but in general you should ask yourself "would I feel comfortable traveling there independently had there not been a disaster?" before committing to a deployment. If the answer is no, then maybe that deployment isn't for you.
You should also read our health and safety policy.
