Being an Exchange Student is also to strive to become an Active Global Citizen. What is that?
During your stay as Exchange Student we hope you'll also find inspiration on how you can contribute on making a change in your own country, whether you are an student here in Denmark, or you are a Danish student going abroad.
We (AFS) recommend strongly you find some kind of voluteering during your stay. This could be just a couple of hours a week. You are not allowed to have paid jobs during your stay.
What needs do you see in your home country? Where can you find inspiration for solving this need?
We will here list a few organisations for inspiration where you can volunteer. The listed might not be interesting to you, but there's almost an infinite list of options.
Nordjysk Fødevareoverskud (North Jutland Food Surplus)- An organisation based in Aalborg, collecting groceries from stores etc. and handing it out to low-income families. The organisation is based in Aalborg. Website in Danish only, but if you're interested, talk with your host family or contact AFS Aalborg.
Det Kærlige Måltid (Meals with love) - A volunteer organisation preparing and delivering meals to families in vulnerable circumstances from sickness.
There are other similar organisations. We've just highlighted a couple of them.
Almost every little village has it own local sports organisation driven by volunteers. At DGI you can find all the organisations. Scroll to the bottom of the page, where you'll find a map.
There is a long line of second hand stores, who always needs help of sorting donated items and preparing it for sale. If you're a skilled crafts man some of them also need assistance to fix some of the donated items before sale.
There are second hand stores part of national organisations, who collects money for their primary focus, like: first aid, drug and alcohol abuse, human traficing etc., but there's also local second hand stores with a local focus. This can vary from store to store.
Contact the stores.
People with handicap and elderly people can often find themselves in a very lonely situaiton. You can volunteer to visit an assigned person for an hour or two per week. Your visit will become their highlight of the week and makes a huge difference in their lives.
Many kids from vulnerable families, often living without contact with their father or mother, benefits greatly from having an older friend, who will volunteer to spend a few hours with them once a week. It can be playing computer games, board games, playing hide and seek, going on trips to the beach or exploring the nature around their homes. Only imaginations makes the limitations.
You can find more information here: Frivilligjob