What's a good international volunteer program?

Go to www.wwoof.org. It is a site that connects you with farmers that need help on theri land. Help ranges from construction to child care, depending on what the farm requires. This is a direct help to local communtites and expands awareness of a better way to raise food. Also, you get free room and board.

www.invisiblechildren.com It's a very worthy cause, doing voluteer work in Uganda. Very rewarding, I'm sure.

There are a lot of interesting volunteers-needed projects going on in Guatemala (which, incidentally, is a fascinating place). Here's a list of some based out of Xela ("the capital of the highlands") http://www.xelapages.com/Volt.htm

I don't think the most rewarding, authentic volunteer experiences result from commitments with international aid groups. Bottom line - we don't travel to help others, we travel to help ourselves. We do aid work so we can feel good about it - and often volunteering leaves us smarter, more grateful people afterwards. Look for communities in the world that can teach you something. Go and live there. Try you best to pay them back for all that they have taught you (with money, time and talents). Your new friends in the community will help you find work that fits your interests. Plus, once you live in the community, you can respond to the real needs that you see based on your own strengths and interests. Also, local people really appreciate it when your money is going directly into a community and not into overheard for an aid organization. I lived with a family in the Andes that taught me about natural dyes while I "volunteered" teaching them English and building a house for them. In India I spent time in Varanasi with a man who taught me about silk weaving while I helped his wife babysit his kids.