Paris, France: The France-based Aviation Sans Frontières (ASF) charity is assisting in one of the biggest resettlement programmes in the world, but its staff will not be piloting repatriation flights but joining them as passengers. ASF received an overwhelming response when it issued a call recently for volunteers to physically escort groups of 30-35 of these refugees as they are taken by air from Kathmandu to Brussels.  Visit site

Makati City, The Philippines: In the Philippines, two Japanese volunteers help send young Ifugao people to school and, in the process, learn to cook rice without a rice cooker...

Jephonie Himmiwat is an Ifugao, one of the indigenous people in the northern Philippines. Her people and their land are inseparable, thus both are called by the same name, Ifugao. 

In Japan, two women enjoyed a very different upbringing. Twenty-three-year-old Kiyoko Okamoto spent four years as staff at the Mister Donut chain while she was studying international economics in the city of Fukuoka. Thirty-year-old Kozue Kamijo worked part-time in a restaurant while attending a business school in the Japanese capital.

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The volunteer programme in the Nationale Naturlandschaften invites volunteers to support the German national parks, nature parks and biosphere reserves. International volunteers contribute to the park's activities through their special competences and experiences – e.g. language skills, expertise and own traditions – and are a big benefit. (Website in English, German and other languages)  Visit site