This page contains important information about how to contact volunteers while they are on Expedition in Costa Rica. Due to the remote nature of our project sites, you should assume that volunteers will have no access to the internet or their phone for up to 19 days at a time. Before you attempt to contact a volunteer on Expedition, please refer back to this document so you use the most appropriate contact method.
General Messages and Updates
News and updates on our work in Costa Rica
Follow Raleigh Costa Rica on Instagram and Facebook to see photos and updates from our programmes. You can also see updates of our work by reading our blogs. The country blogs are written by volunteers and staff to keep our alumni, supporters and the wider public up to date with our activites. Our team and the volunteers in Costa Rica will be very busy over the coming months so please be understanding if these are not updated as frequently as you’d like.
Volunteer Contact Form
Volunteers may not always have access to their phones or phone signal to be in touch with you back home… If you would like to send a message directly to a volunteer on their project site you can do so via this link here.
This is for non-urgent messages of support or encouragement, and updates from home that don’t require a response. Once you complete the details on the form and click submit, your message will be sent directly to our staff in Costa Rica and be delivered to volunteers on a regular basis during project site visits or changeover.
Sending Post
You can also post letters to volunteers on Expedition. The postal address for Costa Rica volunteers is:
Raleigh International Costa Rica
Diagonal a la Oficina Administrativa de la Finca del CATIE
Finca Ganadera, CATIE.
Turrialba, Cartago.
Código Postal: 30501
Costa Rica
Diagonal a la Oficina Administrativa de la Finca del CATIE
Finca Ganadera, CATIE.
Turrialba, Cartago.
Código Postal: 30501
Costa Rica
Due to constraints with the Costa Rican postal system, please:
- Do not send mail to volunteers within the last 3 weeks of the Expedition. It may take up to 3 weeks for volunteers to receive post.
- Do not send any parcels (anything that wouldn’t fit through a normal letterbox).
- Do not send anything of value. We are unable to guarantee the delivery of any mail, and we strongly recommend no valuable goods be sent.
If you are unsure of whether to post something or not, please contact Volunteer Journey Team.
Enquiries or Important Messages
Important messages could include flight information, exam results or important updates on family. If your message is important and needs a response, please send it directly to the Volunteer Journey Team using the following details:
volunteerjourney@raleighinternational.org or +44 7874 382248
The Volunteer Journey Team is based in Raleigh Head Office and would have supported the volunteer with their pre-departure preparations. Once they receive your message, they will be able to pass it on and arrange for a response in the most appropriate way. Usually this will involve sending it straight to the Raleigh South Africa team, who will then deliver your message to volunteer the next day via radio/phone call. Please expect a couple of days delay in us responding to you.
If you phone outside of normal working hours (09:00 – 17:00 GMT Monday to Friday), please leave a voicemail or send an email and a member of the team will return your call.
In cases of Emergency
EMERGENCY INCIDENT SUPPORT
In the case of a serious emergency which cannot wait until normal working hours (9:00 -17:00 GMT Monday to Friday), you can contact the Raleigh International Emergency Incident Number:
+44 7874 382248
If your call is not an emergency, you will be redirected to other members of the team who will be able to assist you during normal office hours.
Further Information
The volunteers will be collected at San Jose airport, and driven to the nearby British School to stay the night, before being driven to Raleigh’s Fieldbase in Turrialba, about 2 hours away from the airport. As soon as they arrive at the base, induction will begin. We will email the registered Emergency Contact to inform them that the volunteers have arrived safely. This email will be sent within 24 hours of the volunteers’ arrival in Costa Rica.
It is unlikely that they will be able to call home in the first couple of days because of the busy induction schedule. The first three to four days will then be spent undergoing training in various skills including camp craft, first aid, health and safety and cultural awareness. They will also receive in depth briefs on Costa Rica and the projects the groups will be undertaking. Following this, the volunteers will be allocated into their project teams before then deploying to their project sites. Office-based Volunteer Managers will immediately get stuck into their roles!
You should assume that no news is good news throughout the Expedition as volunteers will have very little or no access to the internet or phones for up to 19 days at a time. Should the need arise, teams can get in touch with Fieldbase (our office in Costa Rica) by phone or radio at all times, supported by our UK team.
Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Raleigh. For more information, please visit our website: https://raleighinternational.org/information-for-parents/
If you do have any questions or queries, do not hesitate to get in touch.
