Chile, Santiago – Volunteer Mobilization Assistant

Location: Habitat for Humanity Chile, National Office
Term of Service: 6-12 months, beginning as soon as possible

Summary: Are you a dynamic and proactive individual that has volunteer experience or has worked with volunteers? We’re looking for you! This is a good fit for someone who enjoys working outdoors and in visiting rural areas. You must be able to travel independently and be a good problem solver. Additionally, you should be comfortable communicating and meeting with businesses and institutions about the central “Building Homes without Borders” project.

Reporting to the volunteer mobilization coordinator, this volunteer will provide logistical and organizational support to national and international construction work teams. With international teams, this includes picking them up at the airport, taking them to their hotels, accompanying them to the construction site and serving as an interpreter when necessary. With national teams, the work consists of helping identify and recruit individuals and help them organize into teams. The volunteer will also help support the department with orientation for new and potential volunteers. We provide an orientation about Habitat-Chile’s programs and our project “Building Homes without Frontiers”, our main construction project with volunteers.

We’re looking for someone with advanced English and Spanish with a background in one or more of the following: public relations, tourism or hospitality, marketing, advertising, translation and interpretation, communications, education and recruiting or interacting with groups.

Requirements: Flexibility; fluent written/oral skills in Spanish and English; excellent communication skills both written and oral; basic marketing and organizational experience; ability to work with diverse groups; Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint). We are looking for someone who takes responsibility and initiative, is motivated, dedicated and proactive.

Preferred Skills: 2-4 years of university education; construction site experience; ability to work in a team; creativity; experience working in multi-cultural environments.

Support from Host Organization:
HFH will provide: office space, office equipment, computer, work-related transportation (by bus), Habitat-Chile is attempting to secure free housing for the volunteer. If the office is unable to do so, we will provide a $200 monthly housing stipend. There are a number of shared apartments and residential hostels for rent to students in the area surrounding the office.

Volunteer Budget: Volunteers will be responsible for all costs associated with living in the host country. An estimate for a single individual is given below. (All figures in U.S. dollars.)

* The volunteer staying for more then 3 months will need to apply for a visa of temporary residency. Contact the nearest Chilean consulate for specific information regarding visas. Be sure to clarify what type of visa you will need (tourist/business, single or multiple entry), length of stay and what to do about visa extensions, if necessary.
**Utilities and some food are often included with the housing cost in home stays.

Description of Assignment Location: The volunteer will be serving in the National Office, located in downtown Santiago. The role of the National Office is to provide administration and support, as the actual construction occurs only outside of the city. Santiago is a city of approximately six million people, and as such has all of the attractions, activities and services that one would expect form a city of this size. Phone service is good, internet access is almost universal and cell phone usage is common.

The prices listed for the home stay would include a private room in a family home, with breakfast, dinner and utilities (electricity, water) included. Although housing could be found relatively close to the office, the volunteer would most likely have to take a bus or the subway to and from work.

Appropriate dress for the office would best be described as business casual (nice jeans and khakis are acceptable). Chilean dress outside of work is generally casual. Chilean weather runs the gambit from very warm in the summer to quite cold and wet in the winter, so it is important to bring clothes for all types of weather.

Additional Information: Must provide proof of valid MEDEX medical insurance, visa, passport, work permit (if necessary) and plane ticket for return trip home. It is suggested that you purchase an open-ended flight ticket. Passport must be valid for at least six months past the return date.

Additional items to pack: Essentially, anything you could find in your home country you could find in Chile, so there is little need to stock up on anything before coming. Although, while most anything in readily available in Chile, not every type of everything is available, so if you have a particular brand of something that you prefer (say, sunscreen for example) it may be best to bring a good supply. Also, it would be prudent to bring along all prescription medications as well as emergency contact phone and fax numbers in your home country.

Life in Chile:

Geography: Chile's lean strip extends some 4300km (2666mi) from the desert north to the glacial south, is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west and shuttered by the Andes on the east. Rarely extending beyond 200km (124mi) in width, Chile makes up for this by rising rapidly from sea level to 6000m (19,680ft) while the country's latitudinal extremes give it a formidable array of landscapes, climates, flora and fauna.

Available Services: Credit and debit cards are almost universally accepted in Chile and ATMs are plentiful and easy to locate. This is probably the easiest and most efficient way for a foreigner to handle money matters in Chile. Banks and Casas de Cambio will cash traveler's check, but one is generally given a slightly less favorable exchange rate than with cash, in lieu of a separate commission.

Medical services and facilities in Chile are excellent. For anyone with some type of medical coverage, finding acceptable and affordable medical care should not ever be a problem.

For long distance travel in Chile, there is a variety of reasonably priced, excellent bus lines that go virtually everywhere in Chile. There are some train lines, but they go to very few areas and are usually more expensive than buses. There is also an excellent domestic air carrier in Chile, LAN Chile. Santiago has an excellent subway system, called "metro". In Santiago, as in all major cities, there is a bus system that serves almost all parts of the city. Taxis are also common and usually very good, and almost always use a meter, especially in Santiago.

Chile has an extensive network of non-profit and service organizations. In the area of housing, two well-known institutions are Hogar de Cristo (Home of Christ) and Un Techo Para Chile (A Roof for Chile). Both of these organizations, however, build temporary, emergency type housing that are sub-standard in many respects. Habitat Chile is unique in its mission of building dignified, sufficient, long-term housing.

Safety and Security: Crime rates are low to moderate throughout Chile. There have been few violent crimes committed against foreigners. Most crimes against foreigners involve pick pocketing or theft from purses, backpacks, or rental cars. Visitors should be as alert to the possibility of crime in Santiago (especially in the Suecia entertainment district), Valparaiso, and other cities in Chile as they would be in any large city. Essentially, Chile is a safe country , but, as always, basic precautions need to be taken and good common sense should be used. The Chilean police (“Carabineros”) is arguably the most trusted police force in Latin America.

Cultural Insights: On the surface, Chile appears to be a very prosperous country, which it is, especially by Latin American standards. Chile's economy has been growing well for the last decade. Scratch the surface, though, and one finds that this prosperity has not reached the entirety of the population. By most estimates, Chile is among the ten countries with the most inequitable distributions of wealth in the world.

Chile is a very welcoming place for visitors. The water is drinkable and the food is safe, although produce should probably be washed well. The people are very hospitable and open towards travelers and visitors, especially those that speak Spanish. Although many work settings require formal dress, and Chileans often take a lot of care about what they wear when they go out at night, the general standard is relaxed or casual dress.

Chileans are, understandably, very proud of their wine. Pisco, liquor made from grapes, is also very common and used to make the national cocktail, the pisco sour. While Chile is well known for its seafood, which is outstanding, most day-to-day dishes consist mainly of meat, vegetables rice and/or potatoes.

Socializing and family life are very important in Chilean culture. Sunday lunch with family and friends can often be an all day affair. While in most work settings punctuality is required and observed, Chileans often exhibit a very laid back attitude about time. Generally, when meeting up with Chileans, if you're on time, you're early. While this can be frustrating to someone from a non-Latin culture, the upside is a more laid back general attitude that is often a pleasant change of pace.

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