Jamaica: Volunteer Care/Orphanage work in the Caribbean

Jamaica: Volunteer Care-Work with Children and Adults

• Placement locations: Mandeville
• Types of care projects: Orphanages, child welfare agencies, children’s homes, homes for the elderly
• Ages: Working with babies, children or the elderly
• Number of people cared for: 10+
• Role: Assisting with local staff including playing with children, cleaning, counselling, feeding basic teaching and giving general help
• Accommodation: Host families
• Price: From £1445
• What’s included? Food, accommodation, transfers, insurance, personal webpage, induction and orientation, 24/7 support, social activities
• What’s not included? Flights, visa costs, spending money
• Length of placement: From two weeks
• Start dates: Flexible

At Projects Abroad Jamaica we work with orphanages, children's homes, an infirmary, a government child welfare agency and other social service organisations in and around Mandeville. Though we cannot solve all the social problems affecting modern day Jamaica, we can work to make a difference in the lives of a large number of underprivileged children and adults. But we cannot do this without the help of our volunteers.

As a volunteer on a Care project in Jamaica you have an important role to play, whether you are a trained professional offering us the benefit of your experience, on a gap year or a career break looking for some experience of development work. Everybody is welcome, provided you are willing to work hard and be committed to your role, your work-colleagues and the people you are there to help.

Voluntary work with orphans, the elderly and child welfare with Projects Abroad

In whichever volunteer Care project you find yourself, you need to be ready for a challenge. Many of the children have had very difficult lives and may require special care and attention. Some children have special needs and are on special diets and/or require physiotherapy, special education plans and social development intervention plans. Your job is to help improve their lives in whatever way possible. This will be quite varied; it may involve playing games and sports with the children, helping with their homework, or attending to their daily needs (bathing, feeding, laundry, playing or teaching). You may even want to take a group out on a trip. Projects Abroad will support you in any way that we can.

Helping with basic education is also important as many of the children arrive at the homes after being orphaned, abandoned, or placed there by the courts and have received no previous formal education. Volunteers also teach in pre-school or special needs schools for children with mental, physical, and learning disabilities. Volunteers at these placements assist with interactive activities that enhance the growth and development of the children. Volunteers also help to provide vital information about nutrition and some of the homes we work with have their own small farms on site.

Working at a care placement in Jamaica offers you the opportunity to help in the emotional, social, educational, and physical development of children. Please be aware that you will be asked to do more than just play with the children and a flexible attitude is always appreciated. All the care work in Jamaica focuses on providing a worthwhile service, which will show real results for the children or placement and also expands the skills of the volunteer.

The elderly need your attention as well. By working with the elderly you provide assistance to individuals who have been neglected or abandoned by their families or who are in need of support at this stage in their lives. The objective is to provide efficient needs-based care to these individuals. Volunteers can assist on this project by helping to feed the elderly as well as reading to them, taking them for a walk around the compound, and engaging them in wholesome activities that will stimulate them mentally, physically, and socially. This is a chance to really get creative and help to touch the lives of the elderly in a meaningful way. Volunteers who have experience working with the elderly can even develop new programmes.

Volunteering Abroad on a Care Project in Jamaica

In addition to working in an orphanage, children’s home or home for the elderly, volunteers can also choose to work on the Child Rights Initiative.

The Child Rights Initiative (CRI) is a Care project that combines the four broad categories of children’s rights based on UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. These are Participation Rights, Survival Rights, Developmental Rights, and Protection Rights. The project directly addresses the social needs of children in Jamaica as well as utilising the skills of volunteers in related fields. Volunteers work alongside social workers, psychologists, counsellors, therapists, psychiatrists, nurses, doctors and child protection officers on a wide variety of tasks in diverse care delivery settings.

As a volunteer with CRI you will work directly with clients and take on a wide variety of work. Tasks may include the following areas; investigations, adoptions, foster care, trauma and career counselling, family support, family reintegration and case management, administrative and practical tasks like case studies, visiting homes and orphanages, filing, interviews, conducting investigations, preparing reports, going to court, teaching remedial classes, dance, drama and art, and conducting psychological and educational evaluations.

Volunteers need to be computer literate and have excellent communication skills in order to prepare reports, participate in seminars and conferences and develop plans and programmes. Your knowledge and skills will determine the extent to which you are involved in some highly technical and clinical components such as psychological evaluations and counselling. All volunteers requesting to work on the CRI project must be fluent in English.