Costa Rica: Volunteer Care-Work in Latin America | Gap Year | Overseas | Work | Children | Projects Abroad

Costa Rica: Volunteer Care-Work with Children

• Placement locations: Liberia and surrounding small towns
• Types of care projects: Day care centres, disabled school, home for the elderly, kindergartens
• Ages: Children aged 0 to 18, young adults or the elderly
• Number of people cared for:
  8 to 120
• Role: Assisting with local staff including playing with children, basic teaching and giving general help
• Accommodation: Host families
• Price: From £1395
• 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 one month
• Start dates: Flexible

A placement on one of our voluntary Care Projects in Costa Rica will be a challenge but you will begin to see the positive impact of your work from the very moment you arrive. You do not need any qualifications to volunteer, or to have had any previous experience. As long as you have energy, enthusiasm and compassion it does not matter whether you are 17 or 76. Gap year students, career breakers or retired volunteers are all welcome.

Costa Rica is a relatively prosperous Central American country with a developing tourist industry and a reasonably good standard of living. Although this is a country with huge potential for economic growth, however, there is always a need for extra assistance at the many kindergartens, day care centres and special needs centres.

Volunteering abroad on a Care Project in Costa Rica

Our voluntary Care placements are based in and around the city of Liberia, in the north west of Costa Rica and in the smaller towns of La Cruz and Santa Cruz, located one to two hours drive from Liberia. The placements are spread throughout the towns and are normally within walking distance or a short bus or bike ride from your host family.

The majority of our Care placements are in kindergartens and day care centres for disadvantaged children, with ages ranging from just a few months old to thirteen years old. The placements often under-staffed, so there is a great deal you can do to contribute to the much needed care and support of the children on your Care placement.

You can help with day-to-day practical tasks and important life skills, ensuring that the young children have been washed and fed, as well as assisting with basic education such as teaching numbers and the alphabet. You might also help with reading, writing and arithmetic.

Songs, games and sports are also popular activities to help with. The children will welcome any new ideas that you may have for drama activities, putting on a concert or arranging a sports day. Enthusiasm and a willingness to throw yourself into your work, and of course a love of children, are vital!

With older children, you can make a real difference just by offering your friendship. This is also the perfect opportunity to put any skills you have to good use. Suggestions for various games and activities will always be well received. From finger painting to football, the time you dedicate will help to add fun and enjoyment to their lives. Anyone with skills in art or music could put these to use by suggesting activities to the local staff, who will be glad to make room for your ideas. The options available are limited only by your imagination!

The working day usually runs from about 7 or 8am to early in the afternoon, but your specific time-table will be decided with your supervisor when you arrive.

Voluntary Special Needs work with Projects Abroad

We also work with disabled and special-needs children and teenagers in a special education centre. You will be working alongside local staff in the centre, caring for babies, children and young adults with disabilities such as Down’s Syndrome. By giving much-needed support to the staff, and care and attention to the children, our volunteers really help to make a difference. You will need lots of dedication and patience on this placement, but you will be sure to find it an immensely rewarding experience.

Volunteers can also choose to work in a home for the elderly. Volunteers can work here full time or visit the home for a couple of hours in the afternoons after working at one of the day care centres in the mornings. The residents are aged between 80 and 102! They really appreciate receiving visits from our volunteers and enjoy activities like reading, card games, arts and crafts and light physical exercise. Volunteers can also help arrange special events like dances or school visits.

Most of the care centres and kindergartens in Costa Rica have a holiday from mid-December to mid-January or mid-February, with a shorter holiday in July. Volunteers are able to travel or enjoy the festivities with their host family over the Christmas period, then from the first week of January we organise a variety of holiday programmes. These may include painting a care centre, sports coaching or working with a smaller number of children at the care centres which remain open during the holiday period.

All volunteers on Teaching, Care, Sports, Journalism or Spanish placements in Costa Rica have the opportunity to add a 7-Day Conservation Project to the end of their main placement. For more information visit our 7-Day Costa Rica Conservation Project page.