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Global Volunteers, a nonprofit international development organization, will begin sending short-term volunteer teams to Brazil and Sri Lanka this year.
In the coastal city of Salvador, Brazil, volunteers will work with at-risk children, and in Weligama, Sri Lanka, volunteers will help on building and teaching projects. Teams are now forming for summer and fall program dates. Here are details: You can help Brazil's children: In July, Global Volunteers will begin sending volunteer teams to Salvador, Brazil, a fascinating, historic and vibrant city of 2.6 million and the capital of the state of Bahia. There they will share their time and compassion with vulnerable children, working either at one of five preschools for impoverished youths or at a hospital for poor children with cancer or other illnesses. Inaugural teams are planned on the following dates: July 1-15, July 22-Aug. 5, Sept. 23-Oct. 7, Oct. 14-28, Dec. 16-30, Dec. 30-Jan. 13 and into 2007. The tax-deductible service program fee of US$ 2,250 for two weeks (and US$ 2,100 for one week) covers all meals, hotel lodging, project expenses, ground transportation in the community and team leader services. Airfare is extra. However, all project-related expenses, including airfare, are tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers. Sri Lanka Help rebuild lives in Sri Lanka: Much work remains to be done in Southeast Asia in the wake of the devastating tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, that killed an estimated 30,000 in Sri Lanka alone and left 500,000 homeless in the island nation. Beginning this fall, Global Volunteers will send teams of volunteers to work on homebuilding and education projects in the community of Weligama on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka. Working in partnership with the nonprofit Direct Tsunami Relief, Global Volunteers' teams will help build school facilities or new homes and paint or repair existing facilities. There will also be opportunities to teach conversational English and other subjects. This is an area that was severely damaged by the tsunami. In Weligama alone, more than 400 died and 8,000 found themselves without homes.
Initial service programs are scheduled on the following dates: Sept. 16-30, Nov. 4-18, and, in 2007, Jan. 6-20 and March 3-17.
Volunteers will be lodged in a tourist-class hotel and eat most meals at the hotel with lunch served at the worksite. The tax-deductible fee for the two-week program will be US$ 2,395, with discounts available for former volunteers, students, groups and Internet users. The fee covers all meals, lodging, ground transportation, emergency medical evacuation insurance, team leader services and other project expenses. Airfare is extra. To learn more, call 800-487-1074. Global Volunteers, an nonsectarian, nonprofit international development organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota., offers short-term service programs in 20 countries. All projects are directed by local community hosts and volunteers work one-on-one with local people. For details, call 800-487-1074 or visit www.globalvolunteers.org.
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