# How Volunteering In Thailand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093 "2005-01-10T20:44:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Binky\_Rudich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Binky\_Rudich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binky_Rudich)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/1 "2005-01-10T20:44:30Z")
A friend is finishing school in a few weeks and would like to goto Thailand to help with Emergency Relief efforts. I was hoping some might happen to know how she should proceed. She contacted the Red Cross already and got blown off. ---
**Author:** ![Binky\_Rudich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Binky\_Rudich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binky_Rudich)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/2 "2005-01-10T20:46:55Z")
please excuse the poorly written subject…it started out ‘volunteering in thailand’ and then I was going to change it to ‘How to Volunteer…’ but obviously got distracted halfway through. oops. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/3 "2005-01-10T22:21:31Z")
She can check the Bangkok Post, Nation and Phuket Gazette online. She can contact any of the numerous charities mentioned in any of the several threads that were in several of the forums. Doctors without Borders, Red Cross/Crescent, Oxfam, Unicef, etc. come to mind. Does she have any particular talents that might be applicable? Also, where is she located? And has she considered volunteering in Indonesia or Sri Lanka? These places were much harder hit. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/4 "2005-01-10T22:22:36Z")
Shoot, I forgot to ask, how’s your two speed clock doing? And how about those Space Pandas? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/5 "2005-01-10T22:39:08Z")
The Peace Corps could be a route for trying that. The USA freedom Corps could offer an opportunity for it too. ---
**Author:** ![GawnFishin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9bcb4/32.png) [@GawnFishin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GawnFishin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/6 "2005-01-10T23:17:07Z")
> [@USAID](#): > > Volunteer opportunities in disaster settings are extremely rare, and are usually limited to people with prior disaster experience and technical skills (such as health, engineering, etc). To register your skills and experience for a possible volunteer opportunity, go to the Center for International Disaster Information’s registration page. [From here](http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/help/), then once you get to the [Center for International Disaster Information](http://www.cidi.org/donate.htm) you get this… > [@Center for International Disaster Information](#): > > Volunteers without prior disaster relief experience are generally not selected for relief assignments. Candidates with the greatest chance of being selected have fluency in the language of the disaster-stricken area, prior disaster relief experience, and expertise in technical fields such as medicine, communications logistics, water/sanitation engineering. In many cases, these professionals are already available in-country. Most agencies will require at least ten years of experience, as well as several years of experience working overseas. It is not unusual to request that volunteers make a commitment to spend at least three months working on a particular disaster. Most offers of another body to drive trucks, set up tents, and feed children are not accepted. Keep in mind that once a relief agency accepts a volunteer, they are responsible for the volunteer’s well-being -i.e., food, shelter, health and security. Resources are strained during a disaster, and another person without the necessary technical skills and experience can often be a considerable burden to an ongoing relief effort. And then I found this, [World Volunteer Web](http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/dynamic/cfapps/news/tsunami_help.cfm), it has a lot of information but still it does mention that help is normally sort from those with disaster relief experience or qualified professionals. There are a number of links on that page where you could probably register to help. ---
**Author:** ![grettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@grettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grettle)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/7 "2005-01-10T23:30:34Z")
She may have to pay (unless she can get sponsored) but the Trang program of crossculturalsolutions will be focusing on helping restore the region.[website here](http://crossculturalsolutions.org) ---
**Author:** ![Binky\_Rudich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Binky\_Rudich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binky_Rudich)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/8 "2005-01-11T00:28:59Z")
ShibbOleth: You rock! I can’t believe the first person to reply to one of my posts caught my name ref…good job. Thanks for the info everyone, I’ll pass it all along asap. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-volunteering-in-thailand/284093/9 "2005-01-11T05:30:21Z")
> [@Binky\_Rudich](#): > > ShibbOleth: You rock! I can’t believe the first person to reply to one of my posts caught my name ref…good job. > > Thanks for the info everyone, I’ll pass it all along asap. I saw that play, rock opera, whatever it is, back in 1980 at the UofF. There is n’er an obscure reference that can get past our watchful eye!