Volunteer With HWB
Volunteers are the heartbeat of Herbalists Without Borders!
Are you an HWB member who is interested in volunteering for our core group? Almost everything we do is remote work based using online tools and Google Drive.
We have many roles open due to the pandemic, and even just a few hours a month is helpful. If you are self-driven and can identify needs and run with it, that is even better! Join a Volunteer Call (link available to all members), or email office@hwbglobal.org if interested.
Also due to Covid, no cross-cultural exchange partnerships or trips are planned at this time. We welcome any support and volunteer work you can provide!
We are keeping information regarding members who welcome international or regional travelers who are interested in volunteering for free clinics, permaculture herbal gardens, or international borderless medicine. If you are already planning on visiting an area that has free people's clinics or an ongoing project, please contact the office and we can put you in touch with the local coordinator to see if they are open to having you reach out when you are there.
International Support:
Herbalists Without Borders is an international network of herbalists, traditional healers, complementary alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners, botanical medicine product makers, botanical tradespeople, herb farmers, gardeners, ecologists, students, and humanitarian aid workers.
Others who are interested in the vital roles of plants in primary health and wellness, sustainable agriculture, trade, botanical traditions, and ecological preservation, are also welcome to join us!
Herbalists Without Borders organizes unique herbal, health & wellness projects. We invite you to learn more about each and join our efforts.
HWB is not like other "without borders" organizations. We have a very small budget working in a grassroots model, and we are membership-based. HWB Members are who do this work. We believe in local empowerment for community service, followed by a radiating wheel of regional support in times of need and disaster.
We do not host individuals to travel to other cultures to install Western herbal clinics, we do not want to perpetuate the white savior model, and we do not have deep pockets to fund clinics.
We look to people working in their own communities and we look for ways to leverage our resources and network to support one another.
Local work and community service is a less colonizer-oriented model -- and who knows better than local people the language, culture, traditions, and plants of the area?
There may be international Chapters and groups that do welcome visitors to help as volunteers, to learn about local plants and traditions, and who visit others in the spirit of learning as much as giving, and we work to connect appropriate volunteers to needs.
If you have the means and time to visit other regions or will be traveling and are interested in connecting to others in your travels, review our international projects and then contact our office and we can connect you to other members that may welcome your visit.
Please note that we are ALL volunteers, and Coordinators often are organizing out of their homes, businesses, or herbal schools.
They may host clinics only monthly or quarterly, travel to remote areas with limited car (or motorbike) space to visit very rural communities, operate on a very limited budget or out of their own pocket, and may work in very remote areas without the ability to host visitors.
Our goal is to support those working in their own communities, creating sustainable long-term projects, so our focus is not travel, but local community outreach.
Please be respectful of our committed and dedicated volunteer Coordinators and understand that not everyone will have the capacity to welcome visitors.
Please also be aware of what you can offer in relation to culturally relevant care, local bioregional plant usage, language and communication requirements, and ability to take care of yourself if in different regions and nations.
Interested in Volunteer Opportunities Within Our Team?
1. Join Herbalists Without Borders™ as a member.
2. Check out our CORE remote/online volunteer opportunities to see if there are any roles or tasks you may be interested in taking on.
3. Visit our 2nd Fridays Volunteer Hangout page you will have access to after becoming a member, and see if you’d be able to join an upcoming volunteer call.
4. If the 2nd Friday call does not work with your schedule, reach out to director@hwbglobal.org to set up a call with the Executive Director to learn more.
We look forward to getting to know you better!
Tips for cross-cultural volunteer exchanges and support:
- Respect the local culture & local herbal traditions
- Be self-sustainable to not burden the team you are visiting
- Understand you are learning from them as much as offering a helping hand
- Be truly a help and not a hindrance to people working in their communities
- Understand the impact your visit may have economically on local Chapters, members, and hosts
- Acknowledge you are there to learn as much as you are there to assist
- Have a skillset that is of use
- Support without colonialist mindset coming from a savior complex
- Only go where asked and needed
- Recognize local culture and traditions may be working as they are, and you are there to help and learn, not take over
Our Projects:
- Visit our special project pages below to find out more about it and any volunteer opportunities.
- We work to enable local and regional Chapters to support their own communities – as those who knows more about the language, culture, and local herbs and need more than one who lives there.
- At HWB we do not practice colonialist “help” but true learning experiences and cross cultural exchanges to progress health justice and herbal medicine.
- Of course at times people may request additional support – following disasters or if they are unable to organize local support.