Monthly Archives: February 2009

A message from Josie Crimp who is volunteering as a Librarian in Mexico:

Dear all,

I’d like to let you know about a volunteering opportunity for a librarian in Mexico. NPH International run children’s homes in 7 different Latin American countries. They take on children who have either been neglected or abandoned, and give them a permanent home.

I have spent the last 6 months volunteering as the librarian at the NPH home in Mexico, and have 6 months more here. I am hoping that when I leave at the end of June there will be another volunteer ready to take over from me and develop the library further. So I’ve decided to start advertising for the position now!

The position is for a minimum of a year, but all your living expenses are paid for – albeit at a basic level, so it’s an amazing opportunity to travel without a massive commitment to your pocket.

I’ve found my experience here an immense challenge – living with 600 children, learning to speak Spanish from scratch, living on orphanage food – but I’ve never once had any regrets about coming here, and I feel I’ve developed immensely in the 6 months I’ve been here.

If you’re intererested in applying, more information about the charity can be found on the website – www.nph.org – and you can apply online by clicking on ‘Volunteers’ and then ‘Applications’ (Select United States on the list of countries) .

It’s worth noting that whilst Spanish knowledge is useful, I arrived having been learning it for only 3 months, and survived. A qualification in librarianship isn’t a requisite, but I think my training, and my experiences in english public libraries helped me massively with my work. And, obviously, don’t apply unless you like working with children!

Please take a moment to think about it – if you want your life to change this year, this is a surefire way of doing so!

Many thanks,

Josie Crimp
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