Hosting Placements within ICYE NZ programme

ICYE NZ represents a particular case within the ICYE Federation.
Because of historic and social reasons our ICYE committee offers a different range of hosting placements, not all linked with social service or volunteering organizations.
Hence it is important for the exchangees coming to New Zealand to be prepared to various types of hosting situation.

Here you have a general overview of the placements:
1. Farm placements: the exchangees live in a host family whose principal activity is related to farming (dairy or horse farms). The exchangee is expected to share daily life with the family, helping in all activities related to household and farm business. Farms are often quite isolated and not well connected to public transport.
All exchangees will spend at least 5 months on a farm! It is a part of ICYE NZ programme and there can not be any exception, so please be prepared to this new experience that can be very interesting, funny and fruitful if you are willing to put yourself into it.

2. Work placements: the exchangees live in a host family who runs some kind of family business. The exchangee is expected to share daily life with the family, helping in all activities related to their household and business. There are different kinds of placements, but the aim is always to make the exchangee feel part of the family at all level of responsibilities.

3. Social placements: the exchangees live in social institution related to some kind of social activities. They support the staff members of the institution with the daily work and participate in all scheduled projects. The exchangees do not have a host family and often share a flat together with other staff members at the placement. These placements are often placed in smaller towns (ranging from 5,000 to 70,000 people) and many are in a rural area of that town .The placements have mainly to do with children, teenagers or elderly people.

Therefore all exchangees must be prepared to experience a variety of placements. Be aware that not all placements will include a "social activity" in the sense they would expect.

The intercultural experience within ICYE NZ is always a priority but it can follow different paths such as sharing daily life with host families and supporting them in their working activities.

It doesn't mean that the exchangee is a "cheap worker" since the host family will try to let her/him be a part of the family, from every point of view.

And this is maybe the best way to get in touch with New Zealand reality, by living day by day in a family and getting an insight on their lifestyle.

More detailed information about specific work placements can be found by downloading the ICYE New Zealand Work Placement Profiles document in Microsoft Word format (119kb)

Family life

The average family has 2-3 children.
Grandparents usually live independently, either in their own house or an Elderly Persons Care Centre.
Young people usually live with their parents until 18-22 years. They may have to move to other cities for University or Tertiary studies. Young people living away from their parents live in hostels or flatting situations.

A large portion of the families belong to the middle class, but in saying that, their standard of living can still vary a lot. NZ families DO NOT have maids!!! This means that every member of the family including the exchangee has to join in with the daily housework such as dishes, washing clothes or cleaning. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP YOUR OWN ROOM TIDY - BE CONSIDERATE!!

This does not only apply to the female exchangees but also the male exchangees. For some of you this adjustment maybe quite hard but remember, that for many host families, the adjustments they have had to make in hosting an exchangee are equally hard at times.

People are generally environmentally friendly and avoid unnecessary waste. However in saying that New Zealand is not as environmentally friendly as some European countries. If you are hosted on a farm you will find that most families burn their rubbish rather than recycle therefore we would advise you to ask your host family the practices in their house. You will find that people in the big cities such as Auckland and Wellington recycle a lot more than others.

Many exchangees want to live in a city or big town but most of the ICYE host families live in the country. Be prepared to be open to all new environments, as it can be a very positive aspect of your exchangee year in New Zealand.

Remember: Please, Thank you, and a smile will get you a long way in New Zealand!