Volunteer Information / FAQ

The Most Important Question:

“Do you know for a fact that this is where the Lord wants you to serve?”

If the answer is YES, then you can be sure that the Lord will provide for all your needs.  This ministry operates under the principle stated in Matthew 10:5-10 and Luke 22:35, 36.  To paraphrase, the Lord is telling His volunteers to go and use what we have.  He will provide the rest.

If the answer is YES, then you can be sure that when the devil throws all kinds of trouble at you, you can stand strong knowing that you are where the Lord wants you to be no matter how difficult it is.

If the answer is NO or I am not sure, then we would recommend that you pray earnestly about it until you have a clear answer.

Who will pay for Volunteer expenses while serving with GFN?

As mentioned above, all volunteers come to work with GFN trusting that God Himself will provide for all their expenses. Please see Matthew 10:5-10; Luke 22:35, 36; and Philippians 4:19. We operate under the principal of use what you have to further God’s work and then trust God for the rest.

Should we only pray for financial resources or pray and seek support?

• Once we have done all we can to build up God’s work, “we should exert every energy to secure the freewill offerings of God’s people for the support of these new plants.” 9T 272.1
• “God’s work is now to advance rapidly, and if His people will respond to His call, He will make the possessors of property willing to donate of their means and thus make it possible for His work to be accomplished in the earth.” 9T 272
• Once we have given all we can and have followed God’s directions to let His people know of the needs, He will provide the rest.

What is the process for becoming a volunteer with GMI/GFN?

• Apply with GMI at the following link: www.gmivolunteers.org/
• Once your application is received by GMI and your references contacted, then GMI will forward your information to GFN who will evaluate your information.
• Interviews will then be set up with two or three GFN personnel.
• Once you have been approved to work with GFN, GFN will apply for a work permit from the Government of Grenada. Work permits are renewed on an annual basis.
• Once you receive a copy of your work permit you are free to book your tickets to Grenada.
• Estimated time to process your application, apply for and receive a work permit will be approximately two months.

• Do you want health insurance? Then the process below is for you. (This process may be time consuming due to a lot of requirements and changes on how the GC processes volunteers. We have not yet successfully processed a volunteer under the new rules.)
• Go through the process above of applying with GMI and being interviewed with GFN.
• Once GFN notifies you that your application has been accepted, send your request for GC status to GFN who will ask the Grenada Conference of SDA to apply for a call for you. Your call once approved all the way up to the GC will then be posted on the Adventist Volunteer Services website where you can apply for the approved position. 
  www.adventistvolunteers.org/ (Adventist Volunteer Services is the General Conference organization that processes all volunteers.)
• Once you have gone through the GC application process and are approved for the position the Grenada Conference will apply for a work permit/VISA for you.
• Once that has been granted you are free to come.
• Estimated time for all of that to take place is about three months or so.
• Health insurance is provided through the AVS/GC and the expense is the volunteer’s responsibility to pay on an annual basis. Several years ago the expense was about $500 to $600 per year for a family of four and this insurance was primarily for major sickness or accidents.  You will need to verify current prices and coverage for your family.

Where can I find general information about Grenada?

There are a variety of sites that you can find through Google. Here is one we have used.

www.grenadaexplorer.com
/General.htm

What to Bring?

This will require some thought and prayer! The first thing to consider is what the airline will allow you to bring in your suitcases. American Airlines (and most other airlines as well) will only allow you to bring a total of 50 lbs. in two suitcases and one 40 lb. carry on (the weight limitations are different for Grenada (with the exception of Air Jamaica) since the last leg of your flight will be on a small turboprop airplane. (One other exception is a Monday flight on American Airlines out of Miami direct to Grenada). I don’t think they will allow you to pay extra for overweight suitcases on the turboprop; flights. Double check all of this to make sure it is current and accurate information. Essentially you need your personal belongings and what ever tools you need to do your job. Many apartments are “furnished” although sparingly so kitchen items may be necessary and you will need to bring your own linens. What necessities you can’t fit in your suitcase are available here they just cost twice as much and the quality isn’t always as good as you would like (My wife bought a Teflon coated frying pan for $75 EC (Eastern Caribbean Dollars). $75EC / 2.67 = $28.09US and it isn’t good quality.). So if you have room in your suitcase that is best. If all else fails you can always send a box of additional things as needed. Keep in mind that you will have to pay duty on what you import. Depending on the duty officer helping you at the post office, you can pay from 5% to 55% of the value of what is in the box plus some percentage of the cost of shipping. There is one officer that is a real stickler (he does his job accurately) but the rest have been quite lenient with us.

If you need to ship more than an extra box or two, shipping a pallet, crate or even a container are all possibilities. Check with Tropical Shipping (and other shippers) for current rates. www.tropical.com You can receive duty free concession on one shipment of personal belongings. You will still have to pay a 5% service fee on the value of all used belongings. New belongings will be charged full duty averaging 55% of the value so make sure you put new items to use before you ship them!

What can I expect to budget for our monthly expenses?

Currency Conversion:

To convert EC dollars to US dollars divide by 2.67. $100.00 EC equals $37.45 US. For a quick rough estimate multiply the EC dollar amount by four and then divide by ten to arrive at an estimated conversion to US dollars.

Food:

Depending on your diet and how much you eat we estimate that you can plan to spend anywhere from $250 to $350 per month (US dollars) per person. If you live in the US a different estimate that may be more accurate is to double whatever you spend per month in the US. (Growing a garden in Grenada is a good idea.)

Rent:

Rent will range from around $800 EC for a one bedroom apartment to $2000 EC (or more) for a three bedroom apartment. Houses range from $1600 EC (miracle price) to $3000 EC (or more). Up to this point we have been able, through God’s grace, to keep our rental costs to $1800 EC or less but costs are increasing.

Deposit:

A deposit in the amount of one month’s rent will most likely be included in the first month’s rent. This can be expected from most rentals on the island. The deposit is completely refundable when you leave as long as you have taken care of things.

Phone and Internet:

There are a several options in this area. If you want access to the internet, you will need to plan for the cost of a phone line and internet connection. If you do not need the internet you can opt for using a cell phone. If you have a cell phone that can be unlocked or is unlocked bring it. You can purchase a new sim card here for a lot less than the cost of a whole phone. (Incoming calls on a cell phone are free here.) Below are web pages for the local phone/internet companies:

Cable and Wireless:

Phone:

www.candw.gd
/services/index.asp

www.candw.gd
/services/residential/dels.asp

mobile.candw.gd
/bFree_index.htm

mobile.candw.gd
/Handsets_index.htm

Internet Dialup:

www.candw.gd
/internet/solutions/dialup.asp

Internet ADSL:

www.candw.gd
/internet/solutions/ads
l/adsl_packages.asp

Internet ADSL Modems:

www.candw.gd
/internet/solutions/adsl
/adsl_modems.asp

(There may be more options than those listed on the C&W website. Sometimes they have specials as well.)

Digicel:

Digicel is the other main cell phone service:

www.digicelgrenada.com/

Flow (fiber internet connection)

www.flowgrenada.com
/broadband.html

Power:

Grenada Electricity Services (GRENLEC) is the power company here 
www.grenlec.com/. Power is generated by large diesel generators. Power prices change as the cost of fuel changes. Currently the rate is $0.84 EC per KWH ($0.31 US). At that rate you can expect about $150 EC per month or more for a small apartment (if you are careful with the power you use). A family of four can expect to pay about $350 EC (or more) per month. Power is not as clean or reliable here as it is in North America/Europe. Plan to use surge protectors or UPS units with sensitive electronics.

Water:

The National Water and Sewage Authority (NAWASA) is the water company here mypages.spiceisle.com
/nawasa/nawasa_history.html . This is the least expensive bill. A family of four can expect to pay about $45.00 EC per month.

Transportation:

Taking a bus costs from $2.50EC to $3.00 EC ($1.50 for children?) per ride, depending on your location 
www.grenadaexplorer.com
/Transport.htm . It is one ride to town (St. Georges which is the capital) and an additional ride to Grand Anse where there is a mall and better grocery shopping. Taking the bus to Grand Anse and back will cost $10.00 to $12.00 EC per adult. We will help out with transportation on Sabbath and for grocery shopping as we are able to do so on Thursday afternoons.

If you are not going to live near the project or near town, we recommend praying for God to provide a vehicle for you. Getting around on the busses can be quite time consuming especially if you live out of town.

Additional Expenses:

You may want to plan on purchasing two weeks worth of non-perishable food. Following a storm or some other disruption of shipping, (most food is imported here) the store shelves can become quite bare.

Other items to bring?

If you plan to be here long term you may also want to consider purchasing some other items you may not have thought about:

• A small generator could be most helpful. Power loss after a storm can be quite crippling to our work for weeks or months. The 2000W Honda models are ideal for noise and efficiency reasons (but they are expensive up front). They can keep a fridge and a computer running while being very economical. Larger generators (like the one we have) are incredibly noisy and they drink gas by about a gallon per hour. Gas costs around $4 per gallon and at that price it doesn’t get used much.
• A water filter for your sink. Some people have a strong constitution and can get used to water in other countries. Others don’t and end up feeling sick. Bottled water is available here but can add quite a bit to your monthly expenses. A five gallon bottle can cost around $25 EC. If you use two of those a week you can imagine the cost over time. A filter such as the one at this link can pay for itself in about seven months. 
  www.purestfilters.com
  /bio-logic_water_filter.htm
• A small shop vac. We brought one of these and are continually making use of it for a variety of uses (including sucking up ants and other invaders!).
• If you want to live “in the country” you may want to consider bringing money for a vehicle. Often we can find apartments to rent that are a short walk from the bus lines but that is not usually the case in the outlying areas. Keep in mind that duty on used vehicles that are imported is about %135 of the value of the vehicle plus 135% of the cost of shipping.

Shipping a crate, pallet or container of personal effects to Grenada?

You have one opportunity to ship your personal possessions “Duty Free”. Duty free means that you will be given concession on all the taxes except for a 5% handling charge. So you will pay 5% on the value of your items plus the cost of shipping.

Ship to address:

• This is important! Make sure the ship to address is as follows:

Your Name

C/O Grenada Conference of SDA

Your Ship to Address

Manifest:

• Create a manifest for your items that show a number for each box and a general description of what is in the box, such as clothes, kitchenware, tools, toys, electronics, etc.
• For each box declare a value of the contents. For new items be sure to declare the value of the item and have receipt to prove the value. (Little tip. If you buy something new, use it before you come so that you can honestly say that it is used! Then pray about what value to declare.) For used items we have found that 25% of the new value for common household items seems to be acceptable. For used items with the appearance of value such as electronics, or tools, etc we have used 33% of the new value. There are no set rules on this. Please realize that items here are 2 to 3 times the cost of what we pay at home and there are no garage sales here, so be reasonable and trust in the Lord for Him to supply the means to pay the 5% duty that will be charged on the total of all your possessions. Keep in mind that new items will result in full duty averaging around 55%. Please have receipts handy so that each new item is valued accurately.

Shipping Company:

• We and other volunteers have used Tropical Shipping. They have been reliable for us. www.tropical.com

Receiving your crate:

• Bring your manifest, work permit and passport when clearing your crate.

What to expect as you arrive at the airport in Grenada?

On the last leg of your flight you will be asked to fill out an information sheet. It will ask you all your personal information including passport number and date of issue. It will also ask you, Port of Embarkation (Miami, New York, San Juan, Trinidad, etc.), Intended Address (St. Paul’s, St. George, etc.) (St. Paul’s is the town we have rental houses in and St. George is the parish), Type of Accommodation (rented Apt./cottage), Purpose of Visit (Missionary) and Intended length of stay (your return ticket date or work permit exemption expiration date). On the back of the form you will be asked to list the items you are bringing into the country and the value of the items.

Once you get off the plane you will meet an Immigration officer who will look over your passport, work permit, and information sheet and ask you any further questions he may have. My experience is to keep it simple and of course honest. He may ask you what type of work you will be doing. The simplest answer is that you are serving as a volunteer missionary with the Grenada Family Network and the SDA Church to do (Media, Construction, Agriculture, etc.) work. If they ask further, the Grenada Family Network TV and Radio station project is a registered non-profit corporation supported entirely by the church. For the most part the SDA church is respected here.

After he stamps your passport, you will gather your luggage and proceed to customs. There you will have the choice of the Green Line (nothing to declare) and the Red Line (items to declare). Legally anything you bring into Grenada is dutiable. Different people deal with this in different ways. Some people reason that anything they are bringing in is for church work (which is non dutiable but generally requires a request to be released from paying the duty) and therefore they go through the green line. This in our opinion is risky and you can be fined or worse. We recommend sticking to the letter of the law and go through the red line praying that the Lord will cause the customs officer to have mercy. The last time we went through the red line the officer asked us for receipts on our electronic purchases and charged us duty on our laptop and printer. He ignored all our other personal possessions.   In general, I wouldn’t expect to have to pay duty on your personal items (clothes, shoes, etc.) just the more valuable looking items. Having receipts may be helpful so that he doesn’t guess wrong on each item’s value. There is a $300 EC ($112.36 US) duty free concession for each passenger so that may help a bit. Laptops are charged 5% duty while most things average about 55% duty.

After that you will meet us outside. We are looking forward to picking you up!

May God bless you and grant you safe travels.

Sincerely,

John Bartels

Director

Grenada Family Network

Grenada Family Network

Volunteers needed for Grenada Family Network

Job Titles:

• Media Specialist – TV
• Media Specialist – Raido
• IT Engineer
• Agriculturist
• Construction
• Wellness Center Attendant

February 11, 2010

Job Titles and desired skills are listed below. Not all skills listed below each title are required to accept an applicant.

Media Specialist – TV (Six Positions)

• Volunteers are needed who are skilled in producing and airing television programming for the purpose of telling the world the Good News of Jesus’ soon return. Programming will be developed to reach people of Caribbean descent who are our primary target audience. Developed programming will be aired on Grenada Family Network (soon to be broadcasting in Grenada), and Global Family Network that reaches much of the English speaking world via the internet and satellite.
• Desired skills include the following:
  • Producer
  • Directing
  • Video switching
  • Camera work
  • Camera color correction
  • Graphics insertion
  • Teleprompting
  • Audio mixing
  • Audio editing
  • Lighting
  • Make up
  • Non-linear editing using editing systems such as Adobe Premier Pro and Final Cut Pro.
  • Graphic design
  • Programming
  • Creative ability to design and build Caribbean flavored sets with the intent of capturing and retaining the viewers’ attention.
  • Understanding the use of different colors and their affect on emotions would be helpful
  • Broadcast Engineering – capable of design, installation, operation and maintenance of production and broadcast systems
• A volunteer having their own digital camera equipment would be a plus for shooting outdoor nature shots.
• Other duties will be requested as needed.

Media Specialist – Radio (Three Positions)

• Volunteers are needed who are skilled in producing and airing radio programming for the purpose of telling the world the Good News of Jesus soon return.  Programming will be developed to reach people of Caribbean descent who are our primary target audience.  Developed programming will be aired on Grenada Family Network (broadcasting locally in Grenada), and Global Family Network that reaches much of the English speaking world via the internet and satellite.
• Desired skills include the following:
  • Producer/Production Director
  • Audio mixing/recording
  • Audio editing
  • Programming
  • Understanding of music styles that are in harmony with God’s principles for pure music
  • Audio Engineering – capable of: design, installation, operation and maintenance of record and broadcast equipment.
• A volunteer having their own recording and editing equipment would be a plus
• Other duties will be requested as needed.

IT Engineer (Two Positions)

• Volunteers are needed who are skilled in IT Engineering for a new project to develop a TV and radio station that will broadcast the Good news of Jesus’ soon return to the world via satellite.
• Volunteers are needed who have the following IT related engineering skills:
  • Ability to design systems involving, LAN, SAN, NAS, WAN, Fiber Channel, Fiber Channel over Ethernet, Apple based networks as well as PC based networks, Archive systems, QoS, Segmented Networks, Web content and Email filtering, Impenetrable firewall, etc.
  • Ability to install and maintain all aspects of these networks.
  • Experience in designing and maintaining web pages with audio and video streaming.

Agriculturist (Three Positions)

• Volunteers skilled in all aspects of gardening are needed in order to develop a gardening program for Grenada Family Network.  Small scale gardens will provide fresh produce for GFN volunteers.  Large scale production on a local plantation is in the planning stages.  Cutting edge gardening practices will be filmed/produced to air on GFN networks.
• Desired gardening skills include the following:
  • Ability to plan and develop GFN gardening programs
  • Organized and efficient gardening practices on small and large scale gardens/plantations
  • Ensure agricultural productivity and safety of GFN food supply
  • Irrigation System design, installation, and maintenance
  • Grading techniques
  • Soil testing and balancing
  • Starting Plants
  • Green housing work
  • High yield crop techniques
  • Organic gardening techniques
  • Minimize crop damage from insects and disease using Natural methods
  • Determine maturity dates and crop yields taking insect and potential weather damage into account.
  • Efficient harvesting and food preservation (canning, drying, etc.)
  • Record keeping
  • Purchase of supplies and equipment
  • Equipment maintenance
  • Be able to work with various types of livestock.
  • Be able to specify and enforce safety regulations
  • Additionally, the volunteer should be organized and able to develop or assist in developing scripts for gardening programs.  The ability to deliver a professional on-camera presentation of all the gardening programs would be a plus.

• Other duties as will be requested as needed.

Construction (Three Positions)

• Volunteers skilled in all aspects of construction are needed in order to develop and construct new buildings for Grenada Family Network.  Projects to be constructed include TV and Radio studios, and TV and radio broadcast facilities.  Plans for additional buildings are in the development stages.
• Desired construction skills include the following:
  • Drafting
  • Building design
  • Civil Engineering
  • “Green” Building Practices
  • Ability to accurately read building plans and specifications for concrete and wood construction
  • Ability to supervise and/or manage building projects
  • Hands on experience in concrete / wood construction and finish carpentry
• Other duties will be requested as needed.

Wellness Center Attendant (Three Positions)

• Volunteers skilled in alternative healthcare work are needed to begin a new Grenada Family Network wellness center ministry.
• Desired healthcare skills include:
  • A thorough knowledge of Spirit of Prophecy teachings on healthcare using natural remedies and the eight laws of health to clean, strengthen, and heal the body.
  • An understanding of the extreme importance of cleansing the body of poisons/toxins as the foundation for good health and recovery from disease.
  • A good knowledge concerning the harmfulness of drugs and the helpfulness of herbs.
  • A working knowledge of individual herbs and their benefits to health
  • Experience in applying hydrotherapy, massage, steam baths, fever baths, pH testing, and the eight laws of health to guests who are seeking to recover from sickness and disease.
  • A willingness to go to Eden’s Pathway (www.edenspathwayhome.com) for a complete training program and a desire to duplicate their homelike, alternative healthcare program for the benefit of the Grenadian people.