Gap Year Anyone?

[Hacksaw Jim Duggan]

Wondering if anyone’s taken a break from work to do volunteer/nonprofit work.

I’ve been doin the corporate thing for 5 yrs with no clear career path due to layoffs/starting over. I kinda wanna shake things up and do some positive work abroad.

I’m wondering if anyone’s done anything like this or can recommend any groups/organizations.

[sexualhelon]

If you're looking for skate related ones, I highly recommend Ethiopia skate. I'm pretty sure everyone here has heard of Skatistan and they have locations in Phnom Penh, Cambodia / Capetown, South Africa / and Kabul, Afghanistan. They're a bit harder to get into skate wise since they prefer to hire locals but you could probably work in one of their offices. There's also girlskateindia which, despite the name, is open to dudes helping out.

Other more lax volunteer options could be joining a website like Helpx, Workaway, or woofing. I'm not a fan of the farm work since a lot of people get exploited doing it these days. A lot of farmers' may treat you like an illegal immigrant. Just sayin', check the references on those. You can also teach English for a year and make good money, relatively speaking, in a foreign country and get involved outside in the community outside of that. There's also working holidays depending on your age.

If it's what you want to do, I'd say go for it. Traveling will broaden your horizons and it'll all work itself out in the end. You'll make experiences and friends you'll keep for the rest of your life. Some people/industries/cultures may frown upon doing such a thing but there are plenty that respect it.

[Mark Renton]

Other more lax volunteer options could be joining a website like Helpx, Workaway, or woofing. I'm not a fan of the farm work since a lot of people get exploited doing it these days.

This is true but I personally still managed to do the least possible. I got lucky and lived in greater London. Might do this otra vez since I don't know what to do with my life. It's good both if you're traveling around or plan on staying in that city since you don't pay rent (and 'food').

Skate related there's also skatePal

[Owen]

Last year I took 9 months off work and spent 6 months of it traveling across Asia. I would highly recommend taking time out of work if you can and would do it again in a heartbeat.

[sexualhelon]

I'm also going to recommend house/pet sitting on the travel note. There are a couple of sites I use but this one is the most internationally know and used: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/su/xPMjlnXK   (full disclosure, it's a referral link but gives you 20% off.)

Pet/house sitting is the sickest. My wife and I love it. We've been able to stay in such amazing places and hang out with the coolest dogs/cats - like looking after a Labrador in an Indonesian palace flown in piece by piece to a Malaysian island. Not sure how good the odds are if you're a single dude, we've only done it together as a couple which people seem to prefer.

[JumpManShorty]

im doing it right now bro and if your got the chance and money do it. It's great and you might not have the opportunity again

[bob aus lewing]

i guess you've seen the thread i made about volunteering in buenos aires:
http://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=99808.0

if you don't find an organization right away that offers something you would like to make you can as well just go where you want to go an figure stuff out on your own. i was thinking about skateistan when i decided to take some time off to volunteer, but i really wanted to learn spanish as well so i finally decided to go to south america, linked up with this local foundation and proposed them to start a skate workshop. it's running great and the feedback from the kids is awesome.
if you need to make money in your gap year as well you could try working in a bar, hostel or a place like that, or i met people earning money by giving online english lessons to people in asia.

most important thing is just to do it, it will work out somehow.