Who Are We?

OUR VILLAGE is an independent, Canadian based, non-Governmental organization which aims towards redeveloping international volunteerism.

Through hands on experience and development initiatives, we believe that international volunteer experiences can assist in elevating poverty and creating a global community but also benefits the volunteers themselves.

Our Village creates unique programs, at an affordable price that are directed towards helping the participants truly gain a cultural understanding and a mature and responsible outlook on the global community.

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How Did Our Village Start?

Our Village was founded in 2005 by a young Canadian, Ali Manek. After volunteering with different organizations, Ali consistently questioned, "How are the funds I paid being used." When he realized that the funds were not reaching those who needed it, he decided to "fix what is wrong with volunteerism."

Ali used his innovative method of "direct-donations" to ensure that every dollar donated gets to those who it was intended to benefit. This started after the Pakistan Earthquake in 2005 and continued to lead Ali and his friends on a journey that has reached 22 different countries.

Currently Our Village sends volunteers to a number of different countries and works with local NGO's, work in rural communities ignored by large AID Agencies, and does not believe in sending volunteers into situation where they are taking away jobs from locals.

Our Village is determine to continue to offer participants low-cost volunteer missions, provide adequate training and education before departure, make it easy for participants to fundraiser, and meet the needs and requirements of specific cultures and communities in North America and Europe.

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Our Inspiration...

Born on May 27th, 1976 to Zeenat and Jaffer Manek, Sajeed lived his life full of joy and happiness putting smiles on the faces of everyone he met.  He was a strong and motivated individual who overcame the most difficult situations with a spirit unlike any other.

During his life, Sajeed showed time and time again what it meant to overcome the struggle and suffering that he faced. He taught us that our lives are short and we must use the resources we have to help make other's lives easier. He showed us that no matter who we are, no matter where we come from or which religion we follow, we must embrace each other under the flag of humanity with honour and dignity.

Sajeed overcame many obstacles in his short life, but in the end he was taken away from us on his 10th birthday, 1986. He left behind his two loving parents, two sisters, and younger brother.

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What Type of Volunteer Are We Looking For?

Our Village placements are targeted towards Education, Health Care, Women, and Children.

We believe the saying "if you empower a man, you empower a community... If you empower a woman, you empower an entire nation".

Most placements are in under resource schools, hospitals, orphanages, and rural communities. Participants can expect to be asked to work as a teacher, hospital assistant, orphanage facilitator, or in community development programs through education.

Volunteers are recommended to join one of our organized volunteer projects so they can get the most out of the experience. Although we send groups of volunteers to a country at the same time, all volunteers will have their own specific placement and location. We do try to keep participants close to each other.

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Why Us?

Very few international volunteer agencies or NGO's provide you with the holistic volunteer method that Our Village prides itself on.

With Our Village, not only are you paying considerably lower fees that most organizations, you are receiving a life changing, eye opening experience that starts months before you go to volunteer.

Participants have the options to take part in pre-departure orientations where they can meet other volunteers who will be joining them in the country, partake in a number of skill building activities, leadership development training, and international travel/volunteering seminars.

Participants are strongly encouraged to fund raise and a fundraising package is provided to each participant to help them along the way. Our Village works with partner NGO's in Canada to provide donors with tax deductible Donation Receipts.

Our Village is a small NGO which gives participants the opportunity to know who they are working with and have an intimate experience from start to finish.

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Where Do We Work?

Our Village has worked in a number of different countries including India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Costa Rica, and others.

Presently we are sending volunteers to:

• Ecuador in South America to work in rural villages as teachers, facilitators and other educational related positions.
• Tanzania, East Africa to work in hospitals, orphanages, and schools.

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Our Village Future

Each year since Our Village was founded, programs have grown. Participants have increased and infrastructure has developed allowing Our Village to send more and more groups. Our Village is proud to send small groups of 10 volunteers per trip to create an intimate experience, however we hope to continue to grow by offering more trips and expanding to more countries.

• 2009: Ecuador and Tanzania
• 2010: Kenya and Costa Rica
• 2011: Congo, Nepal and Vietnam

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