Guatemalais a mountainous country that enjoys Caribbean and Pacific coasts.  The natural beauty is marred by high unemployment rates and the fact that over half of the country’s population income is below the poverty line.  The economy is improving, but has been accompanied by higher than average inflation.  Industry is developing, but the nation’s largest source of income is remittances from Guatemalans living in the US .  Volunteers are needed to provide support to those living in poverty by providing medical care, helping to develop social systems, and business opportunities while safeguarding the nation’s pristine environment.

Many opportunities exist to volunteer for free in Guatemala , especially if you are interested in working with children.  Abused, neglected, and abandoned children find themselves in one of the nations many orphanages.  It is a challenge to provide each child with individual attention when it is a struggle to provide healthy nourishing food for hundreds of hungry mouths.  Doctors, nurses, and other medical specialists are crucial to maintaining the children’s health.  Medical services are so expensive that this care wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of medical volunteers from Guatemala and around the world.  One group of US doctors even planned and funded a trip to one orphanage to perform cleft palate surgeries on local children.  They would have had to live their entire lives with this correctable birth defect if it wasn’t for the compassion of these generous volunteers.

Teachers are also a critical component to break the cycle of abuse and poverty in this struggling nation.  Well educated and cared for students are much more likely to find steady work and create a stable loving home for their future children.  Volunteer teachers are both local and international volunteers.  Spanish is important, and free Spanish lessons are available to volunteers so that they can better interact with the children.  Vocational programs exist to prepare these young people for the work force, and to supplement the orphanages income which reduces the dependence on local and foreign aid.  Running a local hostel for travelers, operating a butcher’s shop and meat market, and fish farming are a few of the other methods one program uses to put food on the table, generate additional income, and to train the students in their care.

If you are interested in free volunteer programs in Guatemala that deal with animals, choose from one of the many organizations that houses, treats, and protects indigenous wildlife.  Animals are seized from traffickers and are treated before they are re released into the wild.  Other animals are seized from neglectful or abusive owners; help rehabilitate them as centers work to find them a new home.  Some programs are very similar to the humane society in the states where others are in remote areas and feel more like a wildlife sanctuary.

Environmental consciousness is improving in Guatemala and organizations need volunteers to help build and maintain eco tourism projects.  Other initiatives focus on teaching proper hygiene and bathroom sanitation.  Well drilling and water purification techniques are also being taught to provide clean pure water to all of Guatemala ’s inhabitants.  Be welcomed by smiling and grateful faces when you decide to participate in one of Guatemala ’s free volunteer programs.