Advice on Choosing an Intermediary Organization:

Committed intermediary organizations that care make a huge difference to what Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi can achieve. Here are some impartial guidelines.

Ethical Volunteering leaflet: Checklist of things to look for in an intermediary organization.

 

Ethical Volunteering website: Offers a 3 step process to evaluating an intermediary organization. Elaborates on the above leaflet and offers more detail on how intermediary organizations can affect the places they work, for better or worse.

 

Private sites:

The first site created about the refuge: Built by a former volunteer of the refuge. There you can find the experiences of volunteers who worked in the refuge.

 

A photo diary by Per Einarsson, of working with the capuchins in the monkey park and Sonko, the then 7 month old puma. Lots of beautiful photos of the entire experience. The author is getting more and more information from all the ex-volunteers who are still in touch so keep visiting!

 

A web site created by Cedric, a volunteer of the refuge: It contains some more information and photos. Languages: English, Spanish and French.

Partner organizations:

Quest Overseas - Quest Overseas provide safe, rewarding, inspiring gap year expeditions and are Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi's partner for UK gap year schemes.

El Alto fair-trade outdoors clothing: An ethically sourced, socially responsible, high quality outdoor clothing brand which is made in La Paz. The factory is wholly owned by Bolivians and the staff are a group of hugely talented tailors from El Alto itself. 2% of all sales to charity - half to Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi, half to onepercentfortheplanet.org.

Loro Libre - an organization that raises awareness of parrots where they live, as wild animals that should not be kept in cages. In Spanish at www.lorolibre.org or English at www.araproject.org.

Articles written about the refuge:

Restoring Humanity by Helping Animals, Dropping Knowledge - a great site promoting dialogue about development, this article celebrates our holistic approach and Juan Carlos's acclaim.

Refuge town - an article about the sanctuary in an Israeli nature magazine ("Masa Aher", Hebrew for A Different Journey).

A report in Los Tiempos Not about the refuge but starkly showing the need for our work.

Volunteer Work with Wild Animals in the Bolivian Jungle - A volunteering story written by Per Einarsson (in Swedish). See his site below

Saving People by Saving Animals: Building Self-Esteem in Bolivia. By Shannon Walbran. A very interesting article written about the refuge and the organization.

Make animal magic: An article published in "The Times" (England) by a journalist who volunteered at the refuge.

Rehabilitating animals in the Bolivian jungle: A story by Chris Flack who volunteered in the refuge.

Nena's Ark: A story that featured in Radio Netherlands - touching account of a volunteer's experiences at with us.

Animal Lover Sets Off Article in The Bath Chronicle celebrating one volunteer's decision to come and volunteer, requesting veterinary donations for the refuge.

It is not a place for the squeamish: nsnews report about the refuge.

Volunteering in Inti Wara Yassi: A story written by Janine Beck about her time in the refuge.

Volunteering in Bolivia: Another volunteering story written by Tomer Weingram (in Hebrew).

Profile of the president of C.I.W.Y: A profile that was prepared at the time when Juan Carlos Antezana was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1995.

Weekend Post weekender: An personal account that appeared in the Weekend Post about volunteering with us, by Margie Joyce. (Large download.)

The Metro: We appear in the Metro. (Large download.)

Real Travel (pp.1-2, p.3, p.4: A personal account that appeared in Real Travel about volunteering with us, by Gemma Sharkey.

People helping us meet new people:

Volunteer South America: Free, comprehensive listing of grass-roots volunteer opportunities in South America (English)

Green Volunteers: Ecological volunteering service (English)

Go Eco: Ecological volunteering service (Hebrew)

Ecoteer: Wide-ranging volunteering listings (English)

Grands Singes: Information about primates and working with them (French)

Recommended reading:

Bring Your Own Children: South America! A Family Sabbatical Handbook: describes a family's year-long sabbatical traveling throughout South America, and includes a lengthy description of their time at CIWY, complete with photos of volunteers and animals (including cute ones of Roy), travel tips, resources, and maps. The author's son, who was 7, talks about his experience there, and ends each chapter with the pros and cons of the region from a child's point of view. They'll donate a portion of the proceeds to the park if you mention CIWY when you order the book. Order at www.rumskytravelworks.com or just send an email to robin@rumskytravelworks.com and they'll send you the book and invoice. (English)

 

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