Interesting discussion there. Thanks K.

No comment on this as never had any experience or connections in this area whatsoever. Rather like what someone said about...not having to volunteer through any organisation, just turn up and help as and what needed.

Oh actually we did once...On the day of the Tsunami, we were waiting to board the plane to Thailand so we watched the news from Heathrow. Our plan had been to go and spend some days in Krabi. We instead turned up at the RedCross centre in BKK helping them loading/unloading/packing etc for the day. That's my kind of volunteer work.

Yeah I agree... I've done that a few times and it's always been fun, or interesting...

Sometimes, trying to help isn't always that easy... I've been trying to arrange to work as a volunteer at a friend's mum's school upcountry (she lives in Naan and I really like the idea of staying there for a month or two. It will be much more interesting than just backpacking and seeing one place after another...) So far, it's been an administrative nightmare (thats still going on...) Hopefully it will be sorted before I go up north next month.

Wow! Helping out after the Tsumani sounds really cool.

I think volunteer organisations have their place. For gap year students etc. they need someone to organise a placement, accomodation, language lessons etc for them, but the fees some of them charge verge on the extortionate. And I doubt that the schools or the organisations the volunteers are supposed to be helping see much of the money.

Also, since most people can't / rarely want to vounteer to help for more than a couple of weeks, I think they're aimed more at making westerners feel good, like they're helping someone, than at actually helping the local people themselves. eg. If you teach English in a school for 2 weeks, there's very little you can actually teach the kids in that time. By the time they get used to your accent, another vounteer comes along.

Volunteering seems to be the cool thing to do here at the moment. A bit like trekking in the midddle of nowhere or visiting convicts was a couple of years ago. People on Khao San like to compare volunteer stories, sorry 'experiences...' They all claim to have worked / been in places where there are no other 'farang.' The volunteer experience in the middle of nowhere, somewhere upcountry has become a kind of trophy travellers tale.

I find the whole thing hilarious. In return, like to tell people that I worked in an office in BKK with no other farang for a year. But, for some reason they never seem that impressed...