How to volunteer in Amsterdam
Tags:amsterdam study abroad volunteeringIk ben een vrijwilliger.
I recently started volunteering at the Guus Kieft School in Amstelveen. I’ll talk about my so far wonderful experience there another time, but I want to mention how incredibly easy it was to find what may be the best community service project of my life. While walking and shopping in the 9 streets of Amsterdam late one chilly afternoon at the beginning of January, I stopped into the vacancy bank, a central repository of all the volunteer opportunities in Amsterdam. While some may say the Dutch are over-bureaucratized, in this case it’s a good thing.
When I returned for my scheduled appointment a few days later, the employee I had briefly mentioned my background and interests to had compiled a list of seven opportunities of potential interest to me. He then patiently explained each one to me, translating the description on the Dutch website and leveraging the vacancy bank’s resources to give me more information about the organizations. After forty-five minutes, I was on the phone with the head teacher at the school, discussing what I would be doing there. The next day, I started volunteering. This is a far cry from volunteering back home at Virginia Commonwealth University, where one of the only resources is a trifold pamphlet with the names and possibly outdated telephone numbers of Richmond area volunteer organizations.
Haven’t considered volunteering? It’s a great way to get off the VU campus and spend some time in the community. And, yes, it looks great on your resumé. Too many people around the world are living in such interesting places, but never see or do any of the interesting things.
Contact information for the Vrijwilligerscentrale Amsterdam (VCA) taken from their Dutch-only website, http://vca.nu. Call or walk-in to schedule an appointment:
Main Vacancy Bank
Hartenstraat 16 1016 CB Amsterdam
020-530 12 22
amsterdam@vca.nu
Open:
Tuesday: 13.00 – 17.00
Wednesday through Friday: 9.00 - 17.00
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[...] I feel that I’ve matured emotionally and grown as a person. I’ve already written about how to volunteer in Amsterdam, but I haven’t discussed what may be my favorite study abroad experience. With the school [...]