Volunteering as a Hospitalero/a

[Robo]

Dumb question time, sorry.

Pat and I are looking to start volunteering next year as hopefully I can start to ease back my workload.

We have booked into the HosVol training here in Australia.

Dumb Question Number 1.
Are there other associations/organisations that provide such training. The HosVol training is 'recognised' by quite a few Albergues/Groups, which is great. But it begs the question, what training is required to serve at others that are not listed?

Are there other organisation such as HosVol servicing different groups of Albergues?
Not being picky, the HosVol list looks great. Just curious.

Dumb Question Number 2. a.k.a. Dumber Question.
Are 'volunteers' only required at Donativo Albergues?
Seems to be the case in the ones I have stayed at.

I'm sure others of whatever 'type' have need of help at some stage, if only for the local team to have a break.

 

[J Willhaus]

There are various organizations which take volunteers. HosVol just has a larger number of albergues than most. There is the Confraternity of StJames from the UK which has two albergues. FICS serves 3 albergues and the contact to volunteer for them is @Rebekah Scott . There other organizations from various countries which provide volunteers for specific albergues or locations such as Roncesvalles and the Pilgrim office in St Jean. There is also the pilgrim office in Santiago. There isn't really a central location to volunteer.

Private albergues may seek helpers through organizations like Work Away.

We have volunteered with FICS and HosVol and enjoyed both experiences. With HosVol we often just tell them when we will be in country and they offer us an albergue. You can "request" a location, but we usually just go where they say there is a need. It's always been a good experience. The small towns have been our favorites. You become more of the community even in just 2 weeks.

We have only worked at donativos. We like those best, but some organizations do have a set charge such as Roncesvalles.

 

[ivar]

Just a word from someone who is running a "for-profit" business. I guess many albergues/pensiones also are set up this way. It is legally not possible for us to have someone working for us under minimum wage and also to have someone work for us without a work visa.

I think this is different for a non-proifit, but I am not sure how that works.

 

[David Tallan]

I know that the albergue in Samblismo on the Primitivo is a private, non-donativo albergue that operates with volunteer support. I don't know if it is registered as a non-profit. And I think that one of the chapters of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims has a relationship with a private albergue that includes some volunteering. So volunteering at private albergues seems quite possible, if more of a case by case thing than the albergues run by HosvlVol, FICS, etc.

 

[peregrina2000]

I think the difference between what @ivar said and what @David Tallan said is that one describes what the law requires and one describes the actual practices on the ground. It’s of course up to everyone individually to decide how they want to deal with the legalities, but I’ve heard @Rebekah Scott’s spin on this issue enough to know that I wouldn’t feel comfortable “volunteering” at a for-profit place.

 

[LTfit]

Just a word from someone who is running a "for-profit" business. I guess many albergues/pensiones also are set up this way. It is legally not possible for us to have someone working for us under minimum wage and also to have someone work for us without a work visa.

I think this is different for a non-proifit, but I am not sure how that works.

This is quite true although in practice some non-donativos may "get-away" with having volunteers. Although I know Javi at Samblismo and have stayed with him twice (no volunteers at the time) I would personally not volunteer in a for-profit albergue. It is free labour.

Donativos have completely different rules governing them and depending on the autonomous region. Same holds true for an Albergue Turístico. I saw this when I had an albergue in Castilla y León and compared notes with friends who had one in Galicia.

Locals can cause trouble for you if you have a Albergue Turístico and do have volunteers. I've heard of albergue owners being denunciado to the local police for such actions.

Both HosVol and FICS are regularly in need of volunteers. I personally would start there. Help keep up the traditional hospitality

 

[Kirkie]

This is quite true although in practice some non-donativos may "get-away" with having volunteers. Although I know Javi at Samblismo and have stayed with him twice (no volunteers at the time) I would personally not volunteer in a for-profit albergue. It is free labour.

Donativos have completely different rules governing them and depending on the autonomous region. Same holds true for an Albergue Turístico. I saw this when I had an albergue in Castilla y León and compared notes with friends who had one in Galicia.

Locals can cause trouble for you if you have a Albergue Turístico and do have volunteers. I've heard of albergue owners being denunciado to the local police for such actions.

Both HosVol and FICS are regularly in need of volunteers. I personally would start there. Help keep up the traditional

I think this gives @Robo the clearest answer to his questioning, if not exactly his questions.
(By the way, @Robo, questions are not dumb. In my opinion).
If an answer to a question cannot be found by using a search engine, then of course this forum is a very useful source of information, based on experience of volunteers and trainers.

 

[Luka]

So how would a private donativo albergue be defined? I know 2 owners of donativo albergues who also need to make a living out of it. So would that classify as a for profit? They both work with volunteers. And I have been a hospitalera myself at a private donativo albergue too (Reposo del Andayón in Cuerres on the Norte, not existing anymore).

 

[LTfit]

So how would a private donativo albergue be defined? I know 2 owners of donativo albergues who also need to make a living out of it. So would that classify as a for profit? They both work with volunteers. And I have been a hospitalera myself at a private donativo albergue too (Reposo del Andayón in Cuerres on the Norte, not existing anymore).

It doesn't matter if the albergue is a private (one's own home), municipal or run by a church, if it truly has a donativo status then as far as I understand the owner may have volunteers. Once you set a fixed price for a bed or a meal then the situation changes.

 

[Anniesantiago]

There are various organizations which take volunteers. HosVol just has a larger number of albergues than most. There is the Confraternity of StJames from the UK which has two albergues. FICS serves 3 albergues and the contact to volunteer for them is @Rebekah Scott . There other organizations from various countries which provide volunteers for specific albergues or locations such as Roncesvalles and the Pilgrim office in St Jean. There is also the pilgrim office in Santiago. There isn't really a central location to volunteer.

Private albergues may seek helpers through organizations like Work Away.

We have volunteered with FICS and HosVol and enjoyed both experiences. With HosVol we often just tell them when we will be in country and they offer us an albergue. You can "request" a location, but we usually just go where they say there is a need. It's always been a good experience. The small towns have been our favorites. You become more of the community even in just 2 weeks.

We have only worked at donativos. We like those best, but some organizations do have a set charge such as Roncesvalles.

How do we find out about HosVol training? Is there a link or application or ???
I volunteered at San Anton one year and am volunteering at Najera this year but would be interested in learning of other opportunities.

 

[J Willhaus]

You can get training in the US through American Pilgrims on the Camino. They usually do a couple of trainings each year. If you want to go to the training in Spain on in another country (Canada, Germany, Italy, etc.) HosVol will will post the classes on their website. Links below.

Hospitalero Training - American Pilgrims on the Camino

americanpilgrims.org

Camino de Santiago

Bienvenido a la Web de la Federación Española de Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino de Santiago. Todo sobre el Camino de Santiago, información, guías, descripción, planos, consejos, albergues, hospitaleros, noticias, Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino.

www.caminosantiago.org

 

[Eamonrodden]

Dumb question time, sorry.

Pat and I are looking to start volunteering next year as hopefully I can start to ease back my workload.

We have booked into the HosVol training here in Australia.

Dumb Question Number 1.
Are there other associations/organisations that provide such training. The HosVol training is 'recognised' by quite a few Albergues/Groups, which is great. But it begs the question, what training is required to serve at others that are not listed?

Are there other organisation such as HosVol servicing different groups of Albergues?
Not being picky, the HosVol list looks great. Just curious.

Dumb Question Number 2. a.k.a. Dumber Question.
Are 'volunteers' only required at Donativo Albergues?
Seems to be the case in the ones I have stayed at.

I'm sure others of whatever 'type' have need of help at some stage, if only for the local team to have a break.

When you do the training you will get a list of organisations and their addresses.
Good luck

 

[Rebekah Scott]

If I may dive in:
A "non-profit" albergue is run by a charity, municipality, association, church, or monastic group. Some run on a purely donation basis, some charge a nominal fee to cover their costs. This is an idealistic way to try to shelter travelers, it aims at the bottom of the camino market (with hotels aiming for the better-heeled who demand more services). Volunteer labor cuts out a major overhead expense. Non-profits are allowed to use volunteers for that reason.
"Donativo" does not necessarily mean "non-profit"... nor vice-versa.
"Non-profit' is the key word, aka "sin animo de lucro." Ask the proprietor up front if he is a registered non-profit organization.
If you volunteer at a private/for-profit albergue, (even if the owners are great people,) you are not only violating labor laws, you are taking work away from locals who need jobs. You are enabling the owners to further undercut local wages, and you open yourself to exploitation by people who are cashing-in on your goodwill.
Being a sucker is not in the camino spirit, IMHO, but this stuff continues to go on.

I coordinate volunteers for FICS. We do not require hospitalero training courses to volunteer at our three albergues, but we recognize the value of training -- we're kicking around a program of our own. Meantime, we use an "on the job training" model that pairs newbies with experienced hospitaleros. Somehow we've ended up with a corps of truly exceptional hosts, true models of classic camino hospitality.

Get in touch if you'd like to join up. I make up next year's schedules in December!

 

[dick bird]

My partner Eileen and I are the Hosvol hospitaler@ trainers for Australia. As we are based in Sydney, that´s where we run courses although we can and do run courses elsewhere in Australia in conjunction with local camino groups. At present, there are still spaces free on the course in Sydney on January 27th and 28th. If you are interested, you can apply via the Australian Friends of the Camino website -

Volunteer as a Hospitalero/a in a Pilgrim Albergue - Australian Friends of the Camino

On this page: What does a hospitalero do? How can I become a hospitalero? What is the hospitalero training program? Training dates List of Albergues Application form

www.afotc.org

Hosvol also run courses in Spain, The Netherlands, France, Canada, the US and South Africa but not the UK for some reason.
So far as I know, Hosvol is the only organisation that actually trains its volunteers. We do provide a list of other entities that run donativos, but it isn´t comprehensive and is probably not up to date. I think you would have to do a lot of trawling of the internet to find them all. The quickest way might be to eyeball Gronze to identify all the donativo albergues in Spain.

Incidentally, I believe FICS is happy to accept Hosvol trainees and experienced hospis (but we would like you to work at one of ours first).

 

[Rebekah Scott]

HosVol happily employs volunteers from the FICS and CSJ, too. We all are playing on the same team, after all.
Many regional pilgrim associations are not members of the Federation; they run their albergues with their own corps of volunteers, but welcome outside help when need arises. (Like Burgos, Bilbao, Guipuzcoa, Estella).
When someone has a last-minute cancellation or emergency, a substitute can often be found with a call to a colleague.

 

[Anamya]

My partner Eileen and I are the Hosvol hospitaler@ trainers for Australia. As we are based in Sydney, that´s where we run courses although we can and do run courses elsewhere in Australia in conjunction with local camino groups. At present, there are still spaces free on the course in Sydney on January 27th and 28th. If you are interested, you can apply via the Australian Friends of the Camino website -

Can people enrol in a courser like this if they have no plans of being a hospitalero in the near future, but are interested in learning new skills? Or are you expected to be available at some point, given the shortage of hospitaleros?

(I totally understand if the course is for people who are really keen and ready to go)

 

[dbier]

Bearing in mind that *all* training depends upon the country you're in and who's sponsoring your training...

...American Pilgrims on the Camino does offer hospitalero/a training. It's not free. One of the (reduced from 3 nights) requirements is that, in addition to having completed the last 100km of any Camino, you have to have stayed at least one night at a non-private albergue. I verified that Albergue El Cruce in La Espina, although donativo, is private, and thus does not meet the requirement to take the training. The poor lady at APOC is probably quite tired of me.

Best of luck to those of you who get to take it.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I verified that Albergue El Cruce in La Espina, although donativo, is private, and thus does not meet the requirement to take the training.

I have learned something new as I never realized that some donativos are privately owned.

 

[David Tallan]

I have learned something new as I never realized that some donativos are privately owned.

For sure. When I was staying at Casa da Fernanda on the Camino Portugues, it was donativo. This year the Albergue in Samblismo was a privately owned donativo.

 

[dick bird]

Can people enrol in a courser like this if they have no plans of being a hospitalero in the near future, but are interested in learning new skills? Or are you expected to be available at some point, given the shortage of hospitaleros?

(I totally understand if the course is for people who are really keen and ready to go)

If somebody meets the criteria, we would happily accept them on the course, although we would expect that they intend to work as a hospitaler@ at some point. Plans change, some are long term so don´t feel there is an obligation to work in the following year. This January, we are running another course in Sydney to meet demand, so there are places. If you are not sure, you can let us know and offer to defer if there is someone on the waiting list who is really keen.

 

[JazsWay]

I think the difference between what @ivar said and what @David Tallan said is that one describes what the law requires and one describes the actual practices on the ground. It’s of course up to everyone individually to decide how they want to deal with the legalities, but I’ve heard @Rebekah Scott’s spin on this issue enough to know that I wouldn’t feel comfortable “volunteering” at a for-profit place.

“For profit” places that I know of would never use a reputable organization to get free helpers. They may grab a stray pilgrim here and there and let them stay to help but the owners of these places are rightfully under much scrutiny and in reality, the people that I know abide by the law and I know several of these type places.

 

[David Tallan]

Just a quick note to say that there may be albergues and other organizations providing services to pilgrims that are not registered as "non-profits" which are not making a profit (or very little profit) and which may have difficulty functioning without volunteer support. Any such support is, of course, voluntary. If one values the services that these places are providing and what one gets out of volunteering, it doesn't seem unreasonable to want to volunteer there.

This might explain the volunteers at Samblismo in post #4. Closer to home, it explains why myself and other moderators volunteer here in these Forums.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Can people enrol in a courser like this if they have no plans of being a hospitalero in the near future, but are interested in learning new skills? Or are you expected to be available at some point, given the shortage of hospitaleros?

(I totally understand if the course is for people who are really keen and ready to go)

I was a HOSVOL volunteer trainer for three years. We called these students "workshoppers." The came to the training without any intention of serving... IMHO, they were wasting our time and resources. We are not in the weekend workshop "self-enrichment" entertainment business. We train people to volunteer in albergues.

 

[Vacajoe]

I was a HOSVOL volunteer trainer for three years. We called these students "workshoppers." The came to the training without any intention of serving... IMHO, they were wasting our time and resources. We are not in the weekend workshop "self-enrichment" entertainment business. We train people to volunteer in albergues.

This is especially true if space is limited. It would be terribly unfortunate if a dedicated pilgrim could not attend training because that space was taken by someone attending just to have an experience.