Health and Wellness Volunteer Program

As a volunteer with our Argentina Health and Wellness Program, you will work directly with poor Argentineans living in the slums of Buenos Aires. Most of them have neither access to health care nor knowledge about basic health issues and sanitary practices.

This is a hands-on program where volunteers work with men, women and youth of various age groups to educate them on how to improve and maintain their health and that of their children.

Volunteers with our Argentina Health and Wellness Program will plan and give informative talks and presentations on such topics as AIDS prevention, birth control, personal hygiene, nutrition, sanitary food preparation, obesity, pregnancy, and more. Your work with this program will have a direct impact on the quality of life of many Argentineans as well as on generations to come.

Argentina is the most visited country in South America, thanks to an elegant national capital, a lively, refined culture, and extreme geographical beauty. The nation's vast and varied terrain stretches from the spectacular tropical waterfalls of Iguazú on the Brazilian border to the frosty town of Ushuaia in southern Tierra del Fuego. In between are countless towns, cities, and rural regions each with its own unique brand of appeal. The second largest country in South America, Argentina is home to nearly 38 million people.

Nonprofit groups throughout Argentina are taking an increasing role in helping people who are living below the poverty line, especially in the area of education. In addition to ensuring that the basic needs of children are being met, one of the main goals of programs such as this is to find ways to help youth and adults from economically disadvantaged areas progress, and to give them the tools and encouragement they need to break out of poverty. This means developing educational and job training programs, providing day care for parents who must work, and creating programs that give local students the opportunity to learn English from native-speaking volunteers.

To complement your work in the community, you will be taking Spanish language classes at BridgeArgentina, our affiliate language school in Buenos Aires. For more efficient placement upon your arrival, we ask that you take our Online Spanish Placement to determine your language proficiency. If this is not possible, we will test you upon arrival at the school. You will be placed according to your language level in a group of four or fewer students, learning conversational Spanish for four hours a day*. After your class hours, you will go directly to your organization for your volunteer experience.

*Class time for groups of fewer than three students will be reduced from 4 to 3 hours per day.

Volunteers can choose to stay in either a hostel or with an Argentinean host family. Hostel accommodations are typically shared rooms and bathrooms and include breakfast. Host family accommodations include a private room and two meals per day (breakfast and dinner). Commute time to the program varies, but may be up to 30-60 minutes, depending on your placement. If you opt to stay with a host family, you will be glad to know that our host families are carefully screened and must meet BridgeVolunteers' requirements before being accepted as a host family. You will be given a key to your host family's home to come and go as you please.