The COTZALSELCH cooperative is a sustainable project for the Tzajalà, village. With its traditional jewelery workshops, experimental agro-ecological farm (horticulture, coffee, medicinal plants, compost, etc) the cooperative develops sustainable development projects sustainable with nature.
Work:
Volunteers will participate on agriculture activities, such as preparing the land for harvesting. They will also do construction tasks and will restore various cabins a the Ha O Mek Ka center.
Volunteers will have an opportunity to learn how to make jams, work with traditional and local crafts, textiles, produce honey and use regional medicinal plants. Occasionally, volunteers will support diverse workshops for some local women.
Accommodation:
Volunteers will stay at the center facilities, in a shared space. Volunteers will stay in shared cabins at the Ha O Mek Ka center.
Location:
Tzajalá, is located on the municipality of Ocosingo, an hour away from San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Duration:
From 2 month up to 1 year.
Remarks:
Interest on environmental issues. 3 international workcamps will take place during the year. Meals are prepared at the center and volunteers are welcome to help. Number of volunteers. 5 volunteers.
Starting time:
At any time.
Participation fee:
2500 Mexican pesos per month. Fee includes lodging and meals.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
Founded in 2006, Natate –the House in the Tree in Tsotsil, one of the Mayan dialects, is an independent civil association which works in the promotion of the international volunteering, for the solidarity and the comprehensive education for everyone, without a profitable objective, nongovernmental and non-religious.
Aims:
»To develop the volunteering service and promote the international solidarity under an intercultural and peaceful spirit. »To promote and develop the comprehensive education for young people. »To promote programs for the development of sustainable lifestyles. »To back and support groups of marginalized people and vulnerable minorities. »To promote the respect to human rights and dignity
Programmes:
International Camping Training Courses and Seminars Information and Awareness Campaigns National and International Volunteering
Natate is a member of the Coordinating Committee for the International Volunteer Service (CCIVS) and this lets it have access to programs and collaboration with more than 200 organizations in more than 80 countries. For more information visit www.unesco.org/ccivs
Through projects organized jointly with civil organizations, municipalities, groups and international and local organizations, Natate encourages the participation of young people in the preservation of the cultural and natural heritage, the protection of the environment, the construction of houses for the poorest, the improvement of social-educational structures, the utilization of alternative techniques of construction and sustainable technologies in several communities of the region of Chiapas.
Volunteering:
Natate considers the volunteering as a mutual exchange between a person or a group that offers his/her time, work and energy for the benefit of a project of common interest and a community which offers to the volunteers a learning, experimentation, personal and collective development opportunity. The volunteering is also considered as a social tool which collaborates to the promotion of the inter-cultural dialogue to create Peace, and creates a relationship between the local action and the global reflection.
Volunteering is not an activity, is a way of life, a way of acting!
In all the projects proposed by Natate, the citizen participation and specially that one of the young people is really important.
M/LTV Programmes:
•Environmental activities: cleaning, construction, recycling, awareness raising, reforestation •Education: Work with children, artistic workshops, protection of the environment, recreational. •Health: Support on the creation of workshops and translation of documents on sexual and reproductive health. •Office work: Translation, promotion of volunteering, presentations, preparation of activities, camp leader, updating the web page, contact with international organizations. •World heritage: restoration, renovation, and preservation of cultural and natural heritage. •Construction: Support to low income families in the construction and improvement of their houses.
Depending on the project, volunteers work up to 35 hours per week.
The trip:
The volunteers are responsible for the organization of their trip, to look for the best prices, to deal with the visa, if it is necessary. These procedures can be done once you are accepted in a project. We suggest looking up the costs of the trip before the registration, to avoid the cancellation of your participation for economical reasons. We suggest to the volunteers coming from other continents, arriving one or several days before the beginning of the project, so they can adapt to their new schedules. To travel to Mexico, it is advisable to verify the prices of the flights, since it can be really expensive. A lot of airlines fly to Mexico, including: Aeromexico, Lufthansa, Air France, Air Canada, United Airlines, KLM, Alitalia, among others.
Cultural and recreation activities:
There are a lot of opportunities for the volunteers to enjoy and discover this part of the country. In San Cristobal de las Casas and in the rest of the state there are a lot of possibilities to discover the Mexican and Chiapas culture. Guatemala is also near and the volunteers can take advantage of this geographical situation. During the project, the recreational activities will be limited to the surrounding area where the project is located. These activities will be organized jointly with the hosting community.
PARTICIPATION FEE:
The projects proposed by Nataté have a monthly participation fee that has to be covered by volunteers. This fee is: 1,500 Mexican pesos, volunteers should buy and prepare their own meals. This participation fee covers, administration costs, lodging, light and tab water. In projects where meal is included the participation fee is 2,500 and 2,900 depending of the project.
IV. ACCOMMODATION &FOOD: •Nataté provides accommodation for the projects that take place in San Cristobal de las Casas. It is a house at the city center, with all facilities (kitchen, 3 toilets, a small patio) and 6 shared bedrooms.
•Volunteers buy their own food at their charge except in projects NAT11, NAT17 and NAT24 where the food is included in the participation fee.
•Volunteers can cook at home. Mexican food is good, and meat represents an important part of the diet. However vegetarians and vegans will not have any trouble finding what they need for their diets.
•In the case of projects outside of San Cristobal de las Casas, the lodging conditions are different. The information is written in each project description.
Insurance:
At the moment, Natate cannot propose a responsibility civil insurance, so we request the volunteers to have an accident and civil responsibility insurance and a trip insurance eventually.
Drug use:
The drug situation in Mexico is complicated. Even though the most part of the violence exists between the cartels and the dealers, the volunteers must be aware of the risks implied in the drugs’ use. Anyway, the drugs’ consume is strictly forbidden in the house where Natate accommodates its volunteers or in any of its projects. Natate will not tolerate to anyone the drugs’ use in the volunteers’ accommodation or in the projects. Breaking this rule will be enough reason for the volunteer to be asked to quit the project.
More information about Mexico and Chiapas:
Nataté performs projects in the state of Chiapas, located in the Southeast of Mexico; it is known for its touristic sites, which include natural attractive areas, pre-hispanic archaeological sites, colonial cities and the direct contact with different cultural groups that cohabit in this state. It has the highest native population in the country and has natural marvels which cannot be compared like the archaeological zone of Palenque and the Agua Azul waterfalls. It adjoins to the East with Guatemala, to the West with Oaxaca, to the North with Tabasco, to the South with the Ocean Pacifica and to the Northwest with Veracruz. The dominating and official language is Spanish. The mayan dialects spoken in Chiapas are: chol, tojolabal, tzeltal, tzotzil, mam y lacandon, which are related to Mayan origin dialects from the Peninsula of Yucatan and Central America. San Cristobal de las Casas is the largest city in terms of tourism. It is a city where people of different ethnics, races and cultures coexist. It is located in the Chiapas highlands.
Nowadays, San Cristobal de las Casas is one of the most beautiful and original cities from the region of the Altos of Chiapas (and America), and also it must be added the evocative colonial image that it has conserved along the centuries. Because besides that, it has also an everyday life that could be almost called traditional, with its market, its people and a lot of natives with their colorful dressings, coming from several communities and who arrive to the place to sell or exchange their products.
To help improve the quality of life in Mexico, satisfying housing needs and working with committed people and communities.
Working towards developing a social conscience and upholding housing as a fundamental right.
Work:
Volunteers will help with; • Attend planning meetings at the office. • Develop proposals. • Investigate possible contacts for market research. • Support surveys. • Participate in meetings with representatives. • Capture information (minutes of agreement, etc.). • Fieldwork.
Accommodation:
Volunteers will stay at a house in San Cristóbal de las Casas, sharing room with up to 4 volunteers.
Location:
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.
Duration:
From 3 months to 6 months.
Remarks:
Willingness to communicate in a systematic way with the program coordinator to plan, adapt and evaluate activities. Good level of Spanish. Willingness to interact with communities. Ability to communicate and share knowledge and experiences. Availability to participate in physical construction work to support families. Respect for cultural diversity. Be prepared (a) to carry out maintenance activities and ecological infrastructure. Having your own laptop for work related to volunteer work. Provide copy of personal identification. Availability and openness to cultural exchange.
Number of volunteers. 2 volunteers.
Starting time:
Any time.
Participation fee:
1500 Mexican pesos per month. Meals are not included.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
Founded in 2006, Natate –the House in the Tree in Tsotsil, one of the Mayan dialects, is an independent civil association which works in the promotion of the international volunteering, for the solidarity and the comprehensive education for everyone, without a profitable objective, nongovernmental and non-religious.
Aims:
»To develop the volunteering service and promote the international solidarity under an intercultural and peaceful spirit. »To promote and develop the comprehensive education for young people. »To promote programs for the development of sustainable lifestyles. »To back and support groups of marginalized people and vulnerable minorities. »To promote the respect to human rights and dignity
Programmes:
International Camping Training Courses and Seminars Information and Awareness Campaigns National and International Volunteering
Natate is a member of the Coordinating Committee for the International Volunteer Service (CCIVS) and this lets it have access to programs and collaboration with more than 200 organizations in more than 80 countries. For more information visit www.unesco.org/ccivs
Through projects organized jointly with civil organizations, municipalities, groups and international and local organizations, Natate encourages the participation of young people in the preservation of the cultural and natural heritage, the protection of the environment, the construction of houses for the poorest, the improvement of social-educational structures, the utilization of alternative techniques of construction and sustainable technologies in several communities of the region of Chiapas.
Volunteering:
Natate considers the volunteering as a mutual exchange between a person or a group that offers his/her time, work and energy for the benefit of a project of common interest and a community which offers to the volunteers a learning, experimentation, personal and collective development opportunity. The volunteering is also considered as a social tool which collaborates to the promotion of the inter-cultural dialogue to create Peace, and creates a relationship between the local action and the global reflection.
Volunteering is not an activity, is a way of life, a way of acting!
In all the projects proposed by Natate, the citizen participation and specially that one of the young people is really important.
M/LTV Programmes:
•Environmental activities: cleaning, construction, recycling, awareness raising, reforestation •Education: Work with children, artistic workshops, protection of the environment, recreational. •Health: Support on the creation of workshops and translation of documents on sexual and reproductive health. •Office work: Translation, promotion of volunteering, presentations, preparation of activities, camp leader, updating the web page, contact with international organizations. •World heritage: restoration, renovation, and preservation of cultural and natural heritage. •Construction: Support to low income families in the construction and improvement of their houses.
Depending on the project, volunteers work up to 35 hours per week.
The trip:
The volunteers are responsible for the organization of their trip, to look for the best prices, to deal with the visa, if it is necessary. These procedures can be done once you are accepted in a project. We suggest looking up the costs of the trip before the registration, to avoid the cancellation of your participation for economical reasons. We suggest to the volunteers coming from other continents, arriving one or several days before the beginning of the project, so they can adapt to their new schedules. To travel to Mexico, it is advisable to verify the prices of the flights, since it can be really expensive. A lot of airlines fly to Mexico, including: Aeromexico, Lufthansa, Air France, Air Canada, United Airlines, KLM, Alitalia, among others.
Cultural and recreation activities:
There are a lot of opportunities for the volunteers to enjoy and discover this part of the country. In San Cristobal de las Casas and in the rest of the state there are a lot of possibilities to discover the Mexican and Chiapas culture. Guatemala is also near and the volunteers can take advantage of this geographical situation. During the project, the recreational activities will be limited to the surrounding area where the project is located. These activities will be organized jointly with the hosting community.
PARTICIPATION FEE:
The projects proposed by Nataté have a monthly participation fee that has to be covered by volunteers. This fee is: 1,500 Mexican pesos, volunteers should buy and prepare their own meals. This participation fee covers, administration costs, lodging, light and tab water. In projects where meal is included the participation fee is 2,500 and 2,900 depending of the project.
IV. ACCOMMODATION &FOOD: •Nataté provides accommodation for the projects that take place in San Cristobal de las Casas. It is a house at the city center, with all facilities (kitchen, 3 toilets, a small patio) and 6 shared bedrooms.
•Volunteers buy their own food at their charge except in projects NAT11, NAT17 and NAT24 where the food is included in the participation fee.
•Volunteers can cook at home. Mexican food is good, and meat represents an important part of the diet. However vegetarians and vegans will not have any trouble finding what they need for their diets.
•In the case of projects outside of San Cristobal de las Casas, the lodging conditions are different. The information is written in each project description.
Insurance:
At the moment, Natate cannot propose a responsibility civil insurance, so we request the volunteers to have an accident and civil responsibility insurance and a trip insurance eventually.
Drug use:
The drug situation in Mexico is complicated. Even though the most part of the violence exists between the cartels and the dealers, the volunteers must be aware of the risks implied in the drugs’ use. Anyway, the drugs’ consume is strictly forbidden in the house where Natate accommodates its volunteers or in any of its projects. Natate will not tolerate to anyone the drugs’ use in the volunteers’ accommodation or in the projects. Breaking this rule will be enough reason for the volunteer to be asked to quit the project.
More information about Mexico and Chiapas:
Nataté performs projects in the state of Chiapas, located in the Southeast of Mexico; it is known for its touristic sites, which include natural attractive areas, pre-hispanic archaeological sites, colonial cities and the direct contact with different cultural groups that cohabit in this state. It has the highest native population in the country and has natural marvels which cannot be compared like the archaeological zone of Palenque and the Agua Azul waterfalls. It adjoins to the East with Guatemala, to the West with Oaxaca, to the North with Tabasco, to the South with the Ocean Pacifica and to the Northwest with Veracruz. The dominating and official language is Spanish. The mayan dialects spoken in Chiapas are: chol, tojolabal, tzeltal, tzotzil, mam y lacandon, which are related to Mayan origin dialects from the Peninsula of Yucatan and Central America.
San Cristobal de las Casas is the largest city in terms of tourism. It is a city where people of different ethnics, races and cultures coexist. It is located in the Chiapas highlands.
Nowadays, San Cristobal de las Casas is one of the most beautiful and original cities from the region of the Altos of Chiapas (and America), and also it must be added the evocative colonial image that it has conserved along the centuries. Because besides that, it has also an everyday life that could be almost called traditional, with its market, its people and a lot of natives with their colorful dressings, coming from several communities and who arrive to the place to sell or exchange their products.
Igloo Kokolo was born with the idea to create a self-sustaining environment. Igloo uses sustainable designs and lives within a sustainable environment. With these principles they are committed to disseminate experiences and techniques for sustainable living in balance with the ecosystem and the creatures that live in it. Its mission is to educate people about the care of the environment, through courses, seminars and workshops to spread an alternative life in balance with the environment. Kokolo is on the south shore of Mexico's largest lake "Chapala" in the municipality of Tizapan, 1 hour and 20 minutes from the city of Guadalajara.
Work:
1-Planning, dissemination and development of workshops and workcamps. 2 - The volunteers will participate in an outreach program of the center, which is to visit colleges in the city of Guadalajara giving talks about the center and volunteering. 3-Volunteers will do maintenance and improvements to the building, volunteers will have the opportunity to learn our techniques of bio construction.
Accommodation:
Volunteers will stay at Igloo Kokolo.
Location:
Mismaloya, Tizapan el Alto, Jalisco MÉXICO.
Duration:
From 1 to 3 months.
Remarks:
Good level of Spanish.
Number of volunteers. 2 volunteers.
Starting time:
From June to September.
Participation fee:
1500 Mexican pesos per month. Meals are not included.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
Founded in 2006, Natate –the House in the Tree in Tsotsil, one of the Mayan dialects, is an independent civil association which works in the promotion of the international volunteering, for the solidarity and the comprehensive education for everyone, without a profitable objective, nongovernmental and non-religious.
Aims:
»To develop the volunteering service and promote the international solidarity under an intercultural and peaceful spirit. »To promote and develop the comprehensive education for young people. »To promote programs for the development of sustainable lifestyles. »To back and support groups of marginalized people and vulnerable minorities. »To promote the respect to human rights and dignity
Programmes:
International Camping Training Courses and Seminars Information and Awareness Campaigns National and International Volunteering
Natate is a member of the Coordinating Committee for the International Volunteer Service (CCIVS) and this lets it have access to programs and collaboration with more than 200 organizations in more than 80 countries. For more information visit www.unesco.org/ccivs
Through projects organized jointly with civil organizations, municipalities, groups and international and local organizations, Natate encourages the participation of young people in the preservation of the cultural and natural heritage, the protection of the environment, the construction of houses for the poorest, the improvement of social-educational structures, the utilization of alternative techniques of construction and sustainable technologies in several communities of the region of Chiapas.
Volunteering:
Natate considers the volunteering as a mutual exchange between a person or a group that offers his/her time, work and energy for the benefit of a project of common interest and a community which offers to the volunteers a learning, experimentation, personal and collective development opportunity. The volunteering is also considered as a social tool which collaborates to the promotion of the inter-cultural dialogue to create Peace, and creates a relationship between the local action and the global reflection.
Volunteering is not an activity, is a way of life, a way of acting!
In all the projects proposed by Natate, the citizen participation and specially that one of the young people is really important.
M/LTV Programmes:
•Environmental activities: cleaning, construction, recycling, awareness raising, reforestation •Education: Work with children, artistic workshops, protection of the environment, recreational. •Health: Support on the creation of workshops and translation of documents on sexual and reproductive health. •Office work: Translation, promotion of volunteering, presentations, preparation of activities, camp leader, updating the web page, contact with international organizations. •World heritage: restoration, renovation, and preservation of cultural and natural heritage. •Construction: Support to low income families in the construction and improvement of their houses.
Depending on the project, volunteers work up to 35 hours per week.
The trip:
The volunteers are responsible for the organization of their trip, to look for the best prices, to deal with the visa, if it is necessary. These procedures can be done once you are accepted in a project. We suggest looking up the costs of the trip before the registration, to avoid the cancellation of your participation for economical reasons. We suggest to the volunteers coming from other continents, arriving one or several days before the beginning of the project, so they can adapt to their new schedules. To travel to Mexico, it is advisable to verify the prices of the flights, since it can be really expensive. A lot of airlines fly to Mexico, including: Aeromexico, Lufthansa, Air France, Air Canada, United Airlines, KLM, Alitalia, among others.
Cultural and recreation activities:
There are a lot of opportunities for the volunteers to enjoy and discover this part of the country. In San Cristobal de las Casas and in the rest of the state there are a lot of possibilities to discover the Mexican and Chiapas culture. Guatemala is also near and the volunteers can take advantage of this geographical situation. During the project, the recreational activities will be limited to the surrounding area where the project is located. These activities will be organized jointly with the hosting community.
PARTICIPATION FEE:
The projects proposed by Nataté have a monthly participation fee that has to be covered by volunteers. This fee is: 1,500 Mexican pesos, volunteers should buy and prepare their own meals. This participation fee covers, administration costs, lodging, light and tab water. In projects where meal is included the participation fee is 2,500 and 2,900 depending of the project.
IV. ACCOMMODATION &FOOD: •Nataté provides accommodation for the projects that take place in San Cristobal de las Casas. It is a house at the city center, with all facilities (kitchen, 3 toilets, a small patio) and 6 shared bedrooms.
•Volunteers buy their own food at their charge except in projects NAT11, NAT17 and NAT24 where the food is included in the participation fee.
•Volunteers can cook at home. Mexican food is good, and meat represents an important part of the diet. However vegetarians and vegans will not have any trouble finding what they need for their diets.
•In the case of projects outside of San Cristobal de las Casas, the lodging conditions are different. The information is written in each project description.
Insurance:
At the moment, Natate cannot propose a responsibility civil insurance, so we request the volunteers to have an accident and civil responsibility insurance and a trip insurance eventually.
Drug use:
The drug situation in Mexico is complicated. Even though the most part of the violence exists between the cartels and the dealers, the volunteers must be aware of the risks implied in the drugs’ use. Anyway, the drugs’ consume is strictly forbidden in the house where Natate accommodates its volunteers or in any of its projects. Natate will not tolerate to anyone the drugs’ use in the volunteers’ accommodation or in the projects. Breaking this rule will be enough reason for the volunteer to be asked to quit the project.
More information about Mexico and Chiapas:
Nataté performs projects in the state of Chiapas, located in the Southeast of Mexico; it is known for its touristic sites, which include natural attractive areas, pre-hispanic archaeological sites, colonial cities and the direct contact with different cultural groups that cohabit in this state. It has the highest native population in the country and has natural marvels which cannot be compared like the archaeological zone of Palenque and the Agua Azul waterfalls. It adjoins to the East with Guatemala, to the West with Oaxaca, to the North with Tabasco, to the South with the Ocean Pacifica and to the Northwest with Veracruz. The dominating and official language is Spanish. The mayan dialects spoken in Chiapas are: chol, tojolabal, tzeltal, tzotzil, mam y lacandon, which are related to Mayan origin dialects from the Peninsula of Yucatan and Central America.
San Cristobal de las Casas is the largest city in terms of tourism. It is a city where people of different ethnics, races and cultures coexist. It is located in the Chiapas highlands.
Nowadays, San Cristobal de las Casas is one of the most beautiful and original cities from the region of the Altos of Chiapas (and America), and also it must be added the evocative colonial image that it has conserved along the centuries. Because besides that, it has also an everyday life that could be almost called traditional, with its market, its people and a lot of natives with their colorful dressings, coming from several communities and who arrive to the place to sell or exchange their products.
« In total I spent just under 3 weeks in Iceland. I had the best time of my life ever. And I feel my life has benefited from the change it has brought about within me and the valuable lessons I learnt. I have more awareness of life, a larger sense of adventure and heightened curiosity about the world. »
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