AECTEA Association - Free Volunteer Opportunities in Brazil

"I learned that feeling at home has nothing to do with any particular place on the earth. Home is a place where people welcome you, which I found with the volunteers in AEC-TEA." - Danäe Hüyjser, Holland, 2005

"My family moved to Salvador. I stayed for AEC-TEA. It is not only an association; it's like a home too, for local people. AEC-TEA supports and helps local volunteers, it opens opportunities. - Andre Mario Goncalves, Capim Grosso, 2005 (currently volunteering in Sweden)

Our space

AEC-TEA rents its space from another local association. The building is like a small school, with one half serving as volunteer housing and the other half hosting our office, classrooms, and computer lab.

The volunteer house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms (cold water showers), sinks and clotheslines for washing clothes, a kitchen, and an outdoor eating area. The space also has gardens, hammocks, as well as mango, guava, pinha, banana and avocado trees. 

Because AEC-TEA is a community center, volunteers will have plenty of opportunities to practice Portuguese and learn about local culture while living here.

Housework

All volunteers share the daily duties of cooking, cleaning, gardening, maintenance and shopping. For our health and well-being, the house must be kept very clean and organized and it´s the responsibility of all the volunteers to do their part and be self-motivated. 

"Brazilians are extraordinarily clean people. One shower a day is the minimum, even for children, and up to four or five is normal. Brazilians clean every day in the same manner that Americans spring clean their houses once or twice a year. Furniture is moved, and soapy water and bleach splashed everywhere, making the house into a temporary slip and slide playground." - Rachel Samuelson, USA, 2005

Meetings

House meetings are held once a week to discuss issues related to projects, the house, cultural issues, and other topics of interest to volunteers. Language teachers have weekly meetings with course coordinators to share ideas for their classes. All are invited to participate in weekly coordination meetings, as well.

"Living in a house with many people can be really fun and exciting…but it’s always a surprise, because we know that maybe one volunteer wants to teach English, but isn’t really into helping around the house. Problems come up where we least expect it. The solution is to talk, either in organized meetings with the whole group, individually, or both. As the group of volunteers change, probably the house rules and relations will change, too." - Karina Nakanishi, Brazil, 2003

Interview with Charles Exdell 

In this interview Charles explains important topics about living and working with AEC-TEA in Capim Grosso, Brazil.