please do actual volunteering and not voluntourism where you go overseas and teach some poor people english in a country that doesn't speak fucking english or something completely fake like that
I take offence to this.
I recently returned from Vietnam, where the country's current situation with an increasing tourism industry creates a scenario where knowing even the most basic of English can get you through a pool of applicants.
There are many 'charity' restaurants in various cities, often owned by Westerners, where they train up homeless people to be waiters/waitresses/cooks. The fact that it provides such a service to the community, combined with it being owned and run by Westerners, naturally makes them quite popular amongst Western tourists.
Now, how many homeless people are there out there in Vietnam? What is it that makes the current waiters/waitresses/cooks at these restaurants so special, such that they acquired that position? It is often the fact that they know some basic English. Many of these people learned their English from such volunteering services, or were inspired from it to continue further. It's a sad fact that those not knowing English are essentially doomed to unemployment like that, but you can only help a finite number of people.
This is the case with many job positions in Vietnam that are the least bit related to tourism. I've spoken to many of the locals, expats, restaurant proprietors and tour guides, and I sadly hear the same story.
It's easy to dismiss teaching English overseas as 'fake volunteering', as the effects are not immediately obvious. But I'm just letting you know this for your information because based on what I do know now, it seems that such services can really go a long way.
Note: This is not to say that there aren't English teaching volunteering services out there that I feel are barely able to use the title 'volunteer'.