Volunteering in Brazil

This topic is a touchy one for meeeeeee! I am an American social worker and it has been pretty difficult to even find volunteer work in my field let alone a paying position. I live in Brasilia and a city this size should have plenty of opportunities. I did have success volunteering for a semester at The American School here running a skills group for kids with autism. This is not my field of expertise though. Most of my work has been with refugees in the US and I have struck out with volunteer opportunities here. Most organizations just don't respond to inquiries. I have also e-mailed about 20 or so orphanages and received no response. Perhaps its time to just show up at places and scratch the e-mails. I have met with an organization or two and been told they will contact me soon with how they would like me to volunteer and they never get in touch with me. It's also important to note that my Portuguese is limited. I keep telling them though that I don't need great Portuguese to play with kids and plan some fun activities for them. I'm thinking about going to the local Mosque here soon to try to get in touch with the local refugee population. I've been here for 14 months now...Still trying!

"Most organizations just don't respond to inquiries" - Welcome to Brazil!

Hello Thebirdhere1,

Well, from you 13plus years of experience here in Brazil I can tell you that you've got two insurmountable problems that you're facing. First is that in your field (social work) almost all of the positions are public service jobs that are reserved strictly for Brazilian citizens. Expat's can't even apply to take the "concurso publico" test to qualify for such positions. How do you fight that???

Your next insurmountable problem is your lack of Portuguese language skills. Even in the workplace here in Brazil there are only TWO forms of English spoken - LITTLE and NONE. How can one expect to communicate with their superiors, co-workers, customers, clients, etc., in an all Portuguese speaking environment if they themselves can't speak the language? In my years here I can tell you with absolute certainty that the single greatest factor resulting in the failure of expats to adapt to living and working in Brazil, and the one that most often causes them to leave the country is the language barrier. Here, speaking Portuguese is as essential as using sunglasses, sun screen and a hat outdoors!!! Just can't function without it.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

In Sao Paulo there is a great resources on Avenida Paulista:
http://www.voluntariado.org.br

You attend a 2 hour lecture and then you can find out about opportunities near you. There are some coming up this month, as 11-09 was National Volunteer Day (I think!)
- facebook.com/centrodevoluntariadodesaopaulo/photos/a.196983763677902.51897.191985337511078/951774631532141/?type=1&theater

I would also recommend trying to find volunteer opportunities through religious organizations. My experiences have mainly been with Catholic Church groups throughout Latin America, and they are quite welcoming. There are many groups who work with the homeless or food insecure as that is a big problem here:
- facebook.com/amigosdosopao

Below are some other organizations that I or friends have volunteered with in Sao Paulo:

General
- facebook.com/ProjetoSocialAcaoVoluntariaSp
Art/Theater
- facebook.com/IdeiaSP-Projetos-Sociais-Artes-e-Eventos-502924796428578/timeline/
Animals:
- facebook.com/ProjetoSocialAcaoVoluntariaSp
HIV/AIDS
- versocial.org.br
Environmental:
- facebook.com/SOSMataAtlantica

FYI,  you can find a lot of groups on Facebook, as they link to each others pages.You can also find flyers and information posted around the more "bohemian" parts of the city, like Vila Madalena or Centro.

Also, if you are an expat working for a corporation, your company likely has a "Social Responsibility" arm which runs programs or contributes money to organizations. Contact them for more information. Many companies often have "service days" where employees go in groups for volunteer actions.

As mentioned many times on this site, your ability to work or volunteer with groups will often depend on your level of Portuguese.

I too find it incredible that there is limited volunteer work available.   I recently went through a traumatic separation here in Curitiba and have sole custody of my two children.  I am desperatly trying to make a new life including meeting new friends; so I thought that I could volunteer my time and do some good at the same time meet like minded people.
When I lived in Canada I completly renovated and rebuilt my home, so I thought a "Habiat for Humanity" type of group would be awesome... after months of searching...... nothing.  It seems that most of the volunteer work is based through the churches, especially the evangelical churches, which have absolutely no interest for me.
Still searching

I have similar problem. I am a Social Worker too, my field of expertise is - Child Care. Though Brazil has 4th highest orphans, there is no chance for anyone to work without knowing Portuguese as rightly said by James. Experienced & Smart Social Workers have the art & ability of working in any circumstances even overcoming language barrier. And i have done that for many years. But for this we must know atleast basic Portuguese to communicate with co-workers.

I had been in Brazil since 6 months & i have learnt many phrases, and able to understand Portuguese to medium level in a conversation.

Thank You Very Much Melmark for sharing information about Organizations & NGOs for Volunteer & Social Work Jobs.

Good luck with your search. Unfortunately here in Brazil most people have the strange idea that assistance of any kind should always come from the government. Of course it never does, but they live in hopes anyway. Brazilians themselves are not overflowing with the spirit of volunteerism as a result so there are few volunteer organizations other than NGOs. Also the absurd level of bureaucracy here tends to keep the number of NGOs willing to operate here relatively low.

Also the public service, itself, tends to block such volunteer groups. Public servants here have extremely strong unions, and they complain long and loud whenever anyone, even volunteers, try and do anything remotely involving whatever they consider "their" work.

Regarding the churches here in Brazil, while they spend obscene amounts of money, it is usually spent on expanding the church in developing nations far removed from Brazil, rather than helping Brazilians in need.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

Dear James,

Thank You Very Much for the information, facts & reasons why an expat find job in Social Work sector in Brazil. As you rightly said most of the jobs are in Government & knowing Portuguese is MUST.

Regards.

If anyone wants connections to organisations in Rio let me know and I can try put you in touch with people on the ground. However, I do think it's important for us as expats to take a moment to ask ourselves why you feel the need to volunteer, what you expect to get out of it, what you can realistically bring to the community etc. Many of the local organisations I have been involved with need real basic hands-on skills, (and yes Portuguese is ESSENTIAL!), sadly many people come through Brazil looking for some form of voluntourism or to fit some feel good/look at the poor kids I helped for a week picture, rather than a commitment to staying and building anything sustainable that is helpful. Having said that, there are also a lot of wonderful people doing meaningful work so I do think we can make a difference, we just have to be prepared to do it within the Brazilian way of life.

Thanks everyone ! I'm really working on my Portuguese and you all just reinforced the importance. I think I have found a refugee project in Sao Paulo to volunteer my skills from a far, some program development. This is great as this was my professional work in the US.

It's not a "need" to volunteer.  It's a desire.  For me, it's actually a way to meet local people with similar ideals and values.
My life is basically 24/7 caring for my kids so I don't get to go out bar-hopping or doing other social events.  it's basically afternoons when they are in school, or weekend "family freindly" events.

tourmanage wrote:

It's not a "need" to volunteer.  It's a desire.  For me, it's actually a way to meet local people with similar ideals and values.
My life is basically 24/7 caring for my kids so I don't get to go out bar-hopping or doing other social events.  it's basically afternoons when they are in school, or weekend "family freindly" events.

Wow, now there's something I can really relate to. I was "Mr. Mom" to my 4, now adult, sons and daughters in Canada years before the movie came out that popularized the term. There were days when one would kill to have some ADULT company, and volunteering is a great way to accomplish that.

Unfortunately here in Brazil volunteering is very limited. Perhaps you could find your own way to volunteer your time. Contact a local church and see if there are any needy members of their congregation who would benefit from English classes, but can't afford such a luxury on their own. If you do find something along that line send me a private message and I can give you a link to some teaching material that you can run computerized classes, they're in PDF format and have MP3 soundtracks for the listening exercises. If you're giving your time for free and providing the material they won't even care if you don't have previous teaching experience. They're thankful for all the help they can get.

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team