The worldwide YFU community depends on the efforts and support of over 12,000 active volunteers. These professionally trained volunteers are involved in all aspects of YFU programs – student and host family selection and placement, preparation, orientation, school enrollment, on-program special activities as well as support during the exchange.
Who can become a YFU Volunteer?
Perhaps you are a former exchange student or a parent or host parent of an exchange student and want to help give other students the exiting opportunity of “making the world their home”?
Perhaps you are someone (parent, teacher, semi-retired person or university student) who believes in the value of exchange for students and your community in South Africa or Namibia?
So if you have a few spare hours per week (or just every now and then) there are many ways to get involved with YFU!
Would you like to:
- Meet new people?
- Learn about other countries, languages and cultures?
- Build friendships with people from all over the world?
- Become more involved in your local community?
- Become part of the YFU family?
Then become a part of our YFU volunteer team in South Africa or Namibia and join the thousands of YFU volunteers around the world who “donate” their time, skills and abilities to make our exchange programs a success for our students and their natural and host families!
Typical Volunteer Activities
- Meeting and greeting and assisting students with check-in and transfers at airports
- Helping at inbound and outbound student and host family orientations or camps (once or twice a year)
- Interviewing student applicants and their families before departure
- Helping to find potential host families
- Conducting application interviews with host families
- Being a contact person for an inbound student or a host family and checking on a monthly basis on how the student and host family are doing
- Providing support (a sympathetic ear or shoulder to cry on) to students and host families in your local area
- Assisting at or conducting information sessions and other student recruitment activities in your local community or local schools
- Helping promote YFU Student Exchange programs through media and public relations activities
- Helping with transport to and from orientations, airport etc.
- Organizing and conducting fundraising events and activities
- Designing marketing materials (posters, flyers etc)
… and much more!
YFU reimburses volunteers for expenses involved in supporting our students and our programs and volunteer training and support is provided.