Want to learn how to farm organically? Decrease poverty? Protect rural communities from Global Warming? Volunteer shoulder-to-shoulder, empowering the poor? Live on a Caribbean island with people from all over the world? Learn Spanish? Actively create a better world?

Come to Richmond Vale Academy (RVA) to train to learn how to be a community service leader in developing countries! RVA’s programs focus on farming, sustainability, environment, learning and community development in the Caribbean and Latin America. No degree is required, just a willingness to volunteer and learn about how you can make a difference! The minimum age limit is 18 (there is no maximum). The program is taught in English, but there is a huge emphasis on learning Spanish if you choose a Latin American program.

Now there are 3 different programs offered to fit your needs:

    Fighting with the Poor – Program to Ecuador. Starting: Nov 15, 2011. Training for 3 months on St Vincent, volunteer-travel in Ecuador for 5 months, summing up experiences for 1 month on St Vincent (total: 9 months). Cost: Training fees apply.
    Gaia Activist Program. Starting: March 1 and Sept 1, yearly. Volunteer for 6 months in the Caribbean (total: 6 months). Cost: Training fees apply.
    Fighting with the Poor- Program to Latin America (Belize, Brazil or Ecuador). Starting: March 1 and Sept 1, yearly.Training for 6 months on St Vincent, volunteer-travel in Latin America for 6 months, documenting and teaching about your experience for 6 months in the Caribbean (total: 18 months). Cost: Training fees apply, some scholarships are available.

* Fees include: Food and accommodation for the entire program.  Also flights to and from, pocket money and heath insurance while in Latin America.

RVA’s programs include studies about sustainability, organic farming, the importance of self-sufficiency in poor communities, the risks/effects of Global Warming and Climate Change in the Caribbean and Latin America, etc. Students will also experience community living, cooking, cleaning, harvesting food, garden farming, building furniture, and other skills needed to be a self-sufficient leader who can do anything they put their mind to. In the end, students will leave as environmental activists capable of bettering the world!

This is a great opportunity for people who would like to travel, volunteer, have already graduated, have just quit their job, don’t want to attend university just yet. I am from CT and I know how tough the job market in the US is right now. This is a great, affordable opportunity to take some time to think about which direction your life should go while helping.

Since 2003, I have periodically volunteered in Nicaragua, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea and Qatar.  However, I felt that if I really wanted to make a difference when volunteering abroad, I should probably get some training to do so–so here I am!

Please let me know if you, or someone you know, would be interested in learning more about these programs. It is an amazingly culturally rich experience! Right now, we have volunteers from more than 20 different countries on campus (Brazil, Hungary, Latvia, Ecuador, Venezuela, USA, Italy, Denmark, Slovenia, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Cameroon, Lithuania, the Caribbean, Korea, and the list goes on). I feel I will really learn a lot about the world, the future, and myself here.

My belief is that together, we can change the world!

I am here to answer any questions (unless I am harvesting fruit, practicing Spanish or swimming in the crystal clear Caribbean Sea)! Feel free to email me at virvoed@vcu.edu or visit our website www.richmondvaleacademy.org. I hope to volunteer with you on Saint Vincent soon!