To want to go and volunteer somewhere.

[Brunocatmon]

I'm 60 next year. Obviously even though I'm very fit and healthy right now I don't know what the future holds.

I'd like to go overseas and volunteer for a short period of time at some point. Maybe for 3 months.

Has anyone done this at this stage of life? If so, where did you go? What did you do?

Thank you

I haven't but keen to go and spend a week volunteering at the calais refuge kitchen.

What kind of thing are you thinking of doing?

Yes, what kind of thing do you want to do?

Start by looking at what skills you have, that could be usefully transferable to working in another country.
What about something like WWOOF - helping out on farms for board?

Make sure you're actually helpful rather than just partaking in voluntourism. If you're paying to do it you're doing it wrong.

I've never heard of this.

I was a children's nanny before I had my own family and a doula in more recent years. That might work somewhere

I didn't know that was a thing but I could do that. I do speak some French.

I'd recommend volunteering locally first, try a few different things to see what you like doing. I've found it's quite different from work, when I'm volunteering I like to be busy in a clear role.

Slightly different, but I spent a month in Paris last year volunteering at the Olympics and Paralympics, and it was an incredible time experience. Next year I’ll be volunteering at the Commonwealth games, and I’ve met people who do loads of big sporting events all over the world on a very frequent basis

Yes i can see why that would be different to being at work.

suggestions from others are very good. The Calais refuge kitchen is a good option and volunteering here, perhaps with Care4Calais is a great idea. This is an insightful blog post about volunteering overseas: https://alisoun.com/volunteering-overseas/

What did you do?

Thank you for tgat. I will take a look.

You should look into it. Basically don't go somewhere and do work that a local can do and actually be paid for.

At the Olympics I was helping spectators, at the Paralympics I got athletes on and off their buses and helped vips with transport. There are loads of different roles at all these events depending on your skills and what they need- at my Olympics venue there were about 1000 of us in event services every day, but I met volunteers where they did quite specialised/ unique roles

I would be wary of organisations that place you in positions with children (teaching/orphanages etc) for short term positions. It's not great for children to build up relationships with new people, only for them to move on within a few weeks. Also, there are plenty of people in the country who are able to do childcare and basic teaching.
Organisations such as https://vso.my.salesforce-sites.com/VsoJobBoard VSO, require longer term commitment and skills that are not easily available in the country, or people who are able to teach those skills to local people.
You probably will find an organisation that will take your money and give you a three month volunteer experience, but I would look closely at the ethics.
Why not look at volunteering here in the UK instead - our local, community preschool is desperate for reliable, regular volunteers who can commit to a morning a week to just play with the children, freeing up the staff, so they can concentrate on the nursery nurse stuff/admin.
And, definitely plan a three month travel trip! Seeing the world is a brilliant thing to do, whatever your age!

Ahh got you. I will research that.

Could you possibly volunteer with the red Cross?

I've just signed up to volunteer on the lgbtq switchboard. That's a start.