Volunteer Opportunities in Afghanistan?

[HFishbine]

The work scene sucks and I'm a little tired of bitching and moaning. Short of limited involvement with the Dean campaign, I don't feel like I'm making much of a contribution to better the world.

As an antidote to the Bush destruction, I'm seriously considering doing something that would counter his, well... evil. I think one of the ways I could do this would possibly be to volunteer in Afghanistan. Does anybody know how to pursue this? I'd be willing to teach, help build schools, dig wells, anything not associated with the military. All I'd require would be:

1) Transporation
2) Food and lodging.

A stipend would be welcomed, but not necessary. I'd prefer a six month assignment (want to get back for campaign crunch time).

Any suggestions?

[HFishbine]

1. Kick

One kick in hope of a reply.

[Lisa]

2. there seem to be a lot of NGOs involved there ...

MSF, UNICEF, and other big international ones, as well as a lot of smaller groups. A couple of thousand, at the last count. Some of these are faith-based, like the Mennonite Central Committee -- I think they require that prospective volunteers be of that particular faith in order to participate.

I considered applying to work there too (someone from my school worked for the UNEP environmental survey last year) -- but I don't have the history of working with those groups, or overseas development experience (let alone in a war-torn country) -- and language would have been a problem (I don't speak Pashtun, Farsi, etc.)

If you have an existing professional trade (teacher, welder, engineer, medic, carpenter, farmer, surveyor) this might be something to build on ... the mapmakers I work with are always getting requests from NGOs to do work for them.

I talked with people who've worked in or near Afghanistan over the past 30 years, and decided that at present, my skills don't match what's needed ... instead, I'm helping do education over here, and fundraising for projects that are in place but are in desperate straits (e.g. the Kabul Women's Centre). I am doing this through the IDRF, a Toronto-based Muslim charity (even though I'm not Muslim) -- it's been checked out so I know it's not a scam and the funding gets to those who need it. They are actually in partnership with local Afghan charities like the Pamir Reconstruction Bureau, who already have facilities in place and are able to supply jobs to local people -- more of an empowerment thing, I figure, than me flying over there. Apparently the presence of so many overseas NGOs can really warp a town's economy ... the PRB/IDRF are trying not to do this because they know that eventually the aid money will dry up and they don't want to leave people worse off than before.

www.idrf.ca