VIC Farming
Code: cb42a131-fa41-11e9-abc3-00505603f1ab Copied
About the project
VIC Farming
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Volunteer in Colombia. is a non-profit organization created in 2014 by Blanca Aili Usuga. The headquarters of the organization is based in the Village of Paraíso in the Town of La Mesa, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
Mission :
The mission of Volunteer Colombia is to support the communities to improve their environment, financial and socio-economics situation in order to better their quality of life. By helping a community we make a difference giving them a hand to achieve their goals, supporting their community development, agricultural, educational , elderly and child care projects. Volunteer Colombia aims to achieve this with the help and support of abroad volunteers sharing and promoting the principals of solidarity, compassion, cooperation and respect for human rights and the environment.
Vision :
The vision of the organization is to be the first Organization based in Paraíso Villa supporting the goals and objectives of it's inhabitants to improve their environment, financial and socio-economics situation in order to better their quality of life.
Objective :
Our aim is to increase the production of sugar cane and coffee crops , the creation of sustainable farms, better education assisting the entrepreneurship programs and support the elderly,children and people with learning disabilities to relief the workload of their carers.
By assisting with education at the Schools and The Youth Centre we encourage and broad the children views in life to be creative and innovative. Helping at the coffee and sugar cane farms we encourage young people to stay and empower themselves to keep farming alive increasing its production and the farmer’s economy. By supporting the beekeepers with more knowledge and skills we are making a change in our environment and quality of crops. By giving a hand with entertainment and caring for the elderly and people with learning disabilities we bring some comfort for the ones that brought up this community and those who need assistance and support.
💼 What the programme involves
Farming
Sugar Cane Farms:
Volunteers will be involved in all areas of the process of Sugar Cane crops into Panela (a compound made from milling the sugar cane squeezing it to take their natural juice which is then cooked until it is good to make a block of sugar)
Volunteers will help from cleaning the land, making compost, sowing the seeds, cutting the sugar cane, transporting the sugar cane in a mule(donkye) and organizing it in the processing area to be milled, packing the panela blocks in plastic bags and cartoon boxes for delivery. Volunteers need to be open minded as farmers still working in a very rustic and old way using even mules to transport their products not only because there is not other way to do it but because there are not roads and the farms are in hills not plain flat terrain. Volunteers can come with new ideas or techniques to help them to improve this system.
Coffee Farms
Volunteers will be involved in all areas of the coffee production. From cleaning the land , help at the nursery, sown the crops, collection of the coffee beans, washing, putting the coffee beans in a machine to take the skin out, drying, classification, soqueo, resoqueo, packaging the end product, fertilization among others.
Beekeeping
Volunteers will be able to help the beekeepers to supervise the beehives, clean the area and make new spaces for the bees, make new beehives and panels, collect the honey, reasearch and help them to create new products as well as help with marketing ideas, new technologies, hygiene, among other tasks.
Volunteers will also be involved in the farmers training and education in subjects related to Crops in order to help to improve their quality, H&S, food management, environment, use of organic fertilizers among other topics. Volunteers will need to make a lot of research, presentations and orientation on their research to the farmers.
Volunteers will need to be proactive and have a lot of initiative to work on their own as well as to work with farmers.
Volunteers will need to walk from the volunteers house to the farms. Work will be mainly in the morning hours as it is very hot in this municipality. Walking back home volunteers may want to jump in the Apulo River to have a refreshing wash.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers will host at the organization headquarters volunteers house. Which is a bungalow of 5 rooms and two main toilets with showers and a small sitting room, the house can host up to 7 volunteers. The headquarters main house is the family house and Volunteers can make use of all facilities around the main house, TV room, sitting room, dinning room and gardens. The House is located in the country side, so we are surrounded by nature, hills,and a river and many beautiful birds also there is some dust. wifi, washing machine is free to use. Expect dust and mosquitoes, need to bring some more entertainment like books or movies.
🍲 Food
Volunteers will have 2 main meals every day Monday to Friday (Breakfast and dinner). Saturday Breakfast, Sunday None. Volunteers will be free to use cooking facilities at the weekend if at home. But need to buy their own stuff to cook.
Sometimes volunteers decide to eat out at the restaurants this is not included in the price. Volunteers will pay for their lunch Monday to Friday which cost a little fee of about EUR 2 to EUR 3.
📍 About the location
The nearest village, San Javier is a small village with 750 inhabitants lives permanently in here. It is surrounded by farms, hills and rivers. It has a school that holds 260 students from the villas around and a few from San Javier . It Has a Medical Health Center with one nurse to care for all the inhabitants plus the small villas around and it depends from the main Hospital at the Town of La Mesa it is open only one day a week due to the lack of Nurses and Doctors. It has one elderly day center that is open every day from 9 am to 2pm to host the elderly from the Village and offer some entertainment , cultural activities and lunch for them. It has some very small countryside shops. It has public transport that runs from 7 am to 7 pm every 20 minutes from the Village to the main Town only. The roads are country side lanes and volunteers can walk everywhere in town.
The ParaísoVillage in general is a quiet place, very safe and secure. In the past was a very successful sugar cane and coffee producers but went down once the main producers pass away or move away to other places.
The ones that still living now days have struggle a lot to keep farming alive and there are not many opportunity's for young people to stay in the countryside, people lives in very poor conditions.
The Indigenas Panches, were the original inhabitants in this area and today only a few of them still alive
🎒 Leisure activities
Volunteers will have the opportunity to go hill walking to the Cross Peak or Pico de la Cruz, Trekking by the Apulo River a few meters from the volunteers house. Walk a long countryside roads to visit other villas around like Margaritas, Peña Negra, Alto del Frisol or go on the countryside ride minibus to this places.
Volunteers can visit also near by towns by Bus or Coach from the Town of La Mesa:
- La Esperanza where they can visit the Waterfall La Monja
- The Pedro Palo Lake
- Tena Town ... The Tambo Waterfall
- San Antonio de Tequendama : Orquid Sanctuary and the Tequendama Waterfall
- Anapoima and the hot springs
- La Mesa Town Bar and restaurants
- Bogota Capital of Colombia
Also The manager of the organization is a Caver or Speleologist and do go out for weekends trips to explore caves to different areas in Colombia. Volunteers can join this trips if interested but need to be aware of the risks of this extreme activity.
Volunteers need to be aware that we live in the countryside, so there are not many things to do after 5pm. People in the countryside goes to bed early and it is very quiet except for bank holiday weekends where people from Bogota come to the countryside and makes some noise. So volunteers will need to bring stuff for entertainment like movies or games or books (we have some and also volunteers can borrow books at the library). Mobile phones work but signal is poor, wifi works well.
We try our best to make their stay as enjoyable and entertaining as possible, the volunteers bring us joy and hapiness
⚠️ Requirements
1. CV
2. Copy of Passport and Visa
3. Copy of Criminal Records
4. Copy of Covid Card or PCR
5. Copy of travel Insurance
ℹ️ Additional information
VOLUNTER PERIOD
WEEK FEE US$
1: 310€
2: 480€
3: 720€
4: 960€
5: 1200€
6: 1440€
7: 1680€
8: 1920€
9: 2160€
10: 2400€
11: 2640€
12: 2880€
16: 3840€
20: 4800€
24: 5760€
All programs attract a Registration Fee of $140 USD on top of the Program Fee. All programs will have a $50 USD donation pay at the end of the program to help the projects sites with their own projects. This amount will be included in the Program Fee quoted to you when you apply.
WHAT DO THE FEES PAY FOR?
Registration Fee (refundable if you choose not to take part) – ongoing support from Volunteer in Colombia staff, program marketing costs, information pack, administration costs, travel costs to inspect programs and communication costs with volunteers.
Program Fee – airport pick-up, orientation, program supervision, accommodation and meals during volunteer program period, in-country 24/7 volunteer support and in-country administration costs.
WHAT ADDITIONAL COSTS WILL I HAVE?
Visa, flights, travel insurance (mandatory), vaccinations, criminal background check, transportation to placements, souvenirs, in-country trips or tours and spending money (volunteers in Colombia generally find US$40 to be sufficient for basic weekly expenses).
* - Terms and conditions do apply.
Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.
Sign in to apply📅 Available sessions
VIC Farming and Beekeeping Project
01/01/2020 → 01/01/2021
VIC Farming and Beekeeping ProjectAUTO-EXTAUTO-EXT
01/01/2024 at 00:00 → 30/12/2028 at 00:00
VIC Farming and Beekeeping Project
01/01/2022 → 31/12/2022
VIC Farming and Beekeeping ProjectAUTO-EXT
01/01/2023 at 00:00 → 31/12/2023 at 00:00
ℹ️ Key information
Age required
18–75 years old
Solidarity donation
720.00 EUR
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
La Mesa, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Colombia
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Colombia Peso (COP / $)
Exchange rate
1 COP = 0.000274 EUR
Rate as of 31/05/2026
Timezone
Colombia Standard Time
Local time: 21:21 (12/11/2026)
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🏠 Accommodation
🗣️ Languages spoken