• Share your passion and love with children
• Work with rural schools and help shape the futures of the children
• Live with a local family and explore day-to-day Costa Rican life
• Connect with nature’s best in Costa Rica in your downtime

How would you like to enjoy paradise while working with children? Volunteer in Costa Rica in the Orphanage/Childcare project! New Hope collaborates with local institutes that provide housing, education, clothing and food for orphaned children. These institutes are setup by the local communities or churches, and they are doing a fantastic job at helping many children from destitute families. The orphanages however, constantly face staff shortage. By volunteering in Costa Rica, you will be working to help these orphanages to reach out to more children. While you’re putting smiles on the faces of the children, be sure to also enjoy Costa Rica’s enchanting natural beauty and verdant flora and fauna.

As a volunteer in Costa Rica, you will be working with children from impoverished backgrounds at an orphanage or childcare. You may also work with volunteers or assistants at the center. Depending on your individual interests and skills, and on the needs of the local staff, your daily activities involve, but are not limited to:

• Teaching basic English, Math, Science, Physical Education, or other subjects of interest
• Provide care, love and attention to children
• Providing daily care to the children such as preparing meals and watching over them
• Help them with their homework
• Participate in playtime activities
• Educating on personal hygiene, and safety rules and precautions
• Developing stimulating new ideas to interest the children to learn
• Organizing and leading extracurricular activities such as games, sports, art, music, dancing, story-telling, drama lessons, etc.
• Assisting the local staff with administrative duties, promoting fundraising activities, and helping to plan events and excursions for the children

Volunteers will be working in an orphanage or a community-supported institution that helps children. These institutions need all the help they can get, and your support would help them to manage better. The ones who benefit most from your help? The children, of course. Shine a light in their lives by showing them the love, care and support that they deserve. This would in turn, help them to believe in themselves and motivate them to work towards a better future. Give away plenty of love to unfortunate children, while experiencing gorgeous Costa Rica in your free time.

There are no specific qualifications needed to join the Orphanage/Childcare project beyond a fluency in English and a preferred basic/intermediate fluency in Spanish. If you cannot speak Spanish, we recommend enrolling in our Spanish language program. Volunteers should also be enthusiastic, reliable, flexible, patient and strive to be good role models for the children. Experience working with street children is considered a plus. Volunteers must also respect the locals and the host organizations, along with their rules and projects.

The project is located in Puntarenas and San Jose. Puntarenas is a port city and a major tourist area in Costa Rica. It boasts a coastline full of unspoiled islands, pristine beaches, and beautiful natural landscapes. At the peninsula, stunning natural beach areas such as Tambor, Santa Teresa and Montezuma can be found. This area also hosts the Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve, San Lucan, Chira, Tortuga and Coco Islands. The Monteverde area, located north of Puntarenas, has both national and international significance because of its conservation efforts and the laidback lifestyles which revolve around nature. The primary attraction is the Monteverde Biological Reserve, although there are many other attractions such as mesmerizing nature sites, picturesque trails, hanging bridges, as well as butterfly and frog exhibits.

San Jose is not only the capital city of Costa Rica but also the diversified cultural core of this magnificent country. In addition to fine dine restaurants and classic taverns, dozens of historic monuments, Spanish colonial architecture and interesting museums add to the euphoric ambience of San Jose.