Volunteering in Mexico

We offer you various volunteering projects in different regions of the country. PEI, our partner organisation, coordinates your placement locally. Volunteering gives you the opportunity to engage in a project and get to know the country, the culture and the people of your host country eye to eye. It is very important that you bring along a high degree of independence, resilience, flexibility and empathy.You may engage in very different projects and you will be with the poorest parts of Mexican society and also with indigenous populations. You will be met at the airport in Mexico City. You stay in a hostel for the first night. The next day, you take part in a daylong orientation and introduction about Mexico, its customs and the people. You also learn about safety and health risks. If you are interested, you may take a Spanish language course before you start the volunteering project. The language courses take place either in Mexico City, Oaxaca or Zacatecas. During your volunteering time you stay in a local family or in the project.

here are five sample projects:

ME001 La Ventanilla Ecoturismo, Oaxaca

Oaxaca is one of the most diverse states of Mexico. Many indigenous people live here. This project was founded on the beach of Ventanilla and is active in saving sea turtles. Check out: http://www.cdi.gob.mx/ecoturismo/oaxaca.html. Volunteers can participate from 4 to 24 weeks. They can join the restaurant crew of the community run restaurant El MaiZ or the can clean and maintain the tourist accomodation. Between August and October volunteers can join the turtles project and go on nightly canoo trips to count nests and eggs. There are other seasonal projects (fruit harvest), and you can help all year round with organizing workshops and with marketing. This is a very heterogenous project where volunteers can do many different things.

Volunteers' tasks:
Cleaning and preparation of the tourist accomodation
Help in the turtle project
Organize recycling workshops
Help with the fruit harvest
Clean the island beaches
Help with marketing of local produce
Reforestation
Make and clean trails
Biological agriculture
Environmental education

Suggested duration of the program:
You can choose between a 4, 6, 8 or 12 weeks stay in Mexico. The program starts all year round. You should arrive on a Friday, and after the daylong orientation you are transferred to the project.

ME002 Education project in Barra de Potosi

"The enchanted children of Barra de Potosi" is a very special and different projecz. Barra de Potosi is a small fishing village on the Pacific coast. Is is in danger of loosing its identity, especially through tourism. On the other hand, the local indigenous population is especially illiterate. Ninos Encantados de la Barra give the village children the possibility to participate in workshops, theater productions and also profit from homework sessions. Ninos Enantados need volunteers urgently and they are looking forward to receive them from 4 to 24 weeks. (http://ninosencantados.com/).

Volunteers' tasks:
Realize workshops with the children
Help with homework
Plan leisure time with children
Help with childcare

Suggested duration of the program:
You can choose between a 4, 6, 8 or 12 weeks stay in Mexico. The program starts all year round. You should arrive on a Friday, and after the daylong orientation you are transferred to the project.

ME003 Community development in Maya Nut Program

The Maya Nut Program in Papantla, Veracruz, helps indigenous women on the edge of society. They learn to produce their own food and make a small income to help support their families. Volunteers help in community projects for the indigenous population. The state of Veracruz is very happy to receive volunteers especially during the months of April and July.

Volunteers' tasks:
Help in community projects with the indigenous population.

Suggested duration of the program:
You can choose between a 4, 6, 8 or 12 weeks stay in Mexico. The program starts all year round. You should arrive on a Friday, and after the daylong orientation you are transferred to the project.

ME004 Community development

The project in Isla del Viejo Soyal Tepec in Oaxaca has also to do with community development. In this area live 53% of all indigenous people of Mexico. Half of them is very poor. In the year 1947, a large artificial lake was created and the indigenous population was forced to relocate. Today, there are 300 families living here. They are ancestors of the Mazatecan and have their own language.

Volunteers' tasks:
Help improve and clean the guest quarters
Teach foreign languages
Teach computer skills
Help in the office or the local restaurant
Help with organisation, marketing, design, production, quality control and arts and crafts
Develop workshops in waste and recycling management
Document oral history and legends

Suggested duration of the program:
You can choose between a 4, 6, 8 or 12 weeks stay in Mexico. The program starts all year round. You should arrive on a Friday, and after the daylong orientation you are transferred to the project.

ME005 Summer Youth Expeditions in Michoacan

Michoacan is a tropical region with beautiful vegetation and pine tree forests in the west of Mexico. In this project, volunteers from all around the world engage together with Mexican students. Various workshops are being held, and the topics are nutrition, environmental care, health provision, culture and identify. These workshops are conducted in over 350 communities of the region, mainly for young people These young people are invited to learn in these workshops and help shape their home communities afterwards. Volunteers live in host families or in the projects.

Volunteers' tasks:
Help repairing the communal rooms
Help organize workshops with different topics

Suggested duration of the program:
This program takes place during the months of July and August. You can participate for 4 weeks.