VOLUNTEER IN GREENLAND

"No country in the world offers travellers such a wealth of experiences as Greenland."
- Knud Rasmussen.

Of all the things I've experienced in my life, Greenland is definitely one of the highlights - the combination of making a difference and having the time of your life - it's just great!

PETER HAUSGAARD KROGH

Former volunteer

INFORMATION

Thinking about applying?

Are you dreaming of volunteering in Greenland in spring 25? (January to July) Read more on this page... application deadline is in September. Also read about how to earn money as a hotel assistant at Hotel SØMA. Write boldly, if you have any questions (nsh@somandsmissionen.dk)
WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM

GREENLAND?

YOUR ARCTIC ADVENTURE

Amazing nature experiences await you. Greenland is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, so fishing, sleeping outdoors, sailing, skiing and hiking in pristine landscapes are just some of the opportunities the Arctic nature offers.

CLOSE COMMUNITY

An everyday life in a Christian workplace where you get close to both your Danish and Greenlandic colleagues. A close fellowship with the other young Christians at the seamen's home.

MEANINGFUL WORK

As an employee at Hotel SØMA, you help make a difference locally and in a larger context. All profits from Hotel SØMA go to missionary and welfare work for seamen and fishermen in Denmark and Greenland.

The three sailor homes

SHALL I BE

VOLUNTEER OR HOTEL ASSISTANT?

You can choose between two different positions and have a say in what your workday looks like. Read more about it here:

The three sailor homes

A FORMER VOLUNTEER WRITES.

Miriam Lodahl is a former volunteer at Aasiaat Seamen's Home. Here she writes an honest, captivating and inspiring account of her service as a volunteer at a Seamen's Home.

FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Applications with a CV and at least two relevant references (recommendations, transcripts, etc.) should be sent to volunteer coordinator Nanna S. Hansen at nsh@somandsmissionen.dk.

Volunteer application form: CLICK HERE.

Hotel assistant application form: CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Nanna Hansen.

There are volunteer shifts in January and July. You can now apply for the spring shift F23, which starts in January. Remember to choose whether you want to be one of the few volunteers or a hotel assistant - both positions give you unique experiences in Greenland. 

  • 40 hour working week - a full-time job in Greenland
  • hourly wage and bonus after 9 months
  • You pay for the journey yourself
  • hotel work with the responsibility you want, e.g. team leader                        

 As a hotel assistant you have a job in Greenland. Your work at the Seamen's Home primarily consists of tasks in the hotel and in the cafeteria. You will receive thorough training in hotel and cafeteria operations, where you will initially be included and trained in all existing positions and tasks. After a thorough introduction to these shifts, your work will consist of a mix of assisting in the actual operation, but also eventually, if you want, working as a team leader on selected shifts. At the same time, it is expected that you will sometimes be used as a practical employee who can solve practical tasks.

EXAMPLES of work tasks. different from location to location.

Cafeteria

  • Cafeteria shifts where you'll be in charge of the cash register, taking orders, washing dishes and keeping the cafeteria neat and clean. Grill shifts, where you prepare and cook barbecue food for our guests, followed by cleaning and self-inspection. In the long term, you will have the opportunity to act as a team leader with responsibility for the cafeteria and grill, including special responsibility for quality assurance of the food that is sent out to the customer, control and follow-up on self-inspection, marketing on Facebook and physical signage. You will also have influence on shift planning in collaboration with your immediate manager.

Administration

  • Responsible for internal activities, reception work, soda and cigarette ordering and pick-up, Facebook and Instagram updates, answering emails and administrative work such as counting, follow-up etc...

Practical Tasks

  • Picking up goods, snow clearing, cleaning up, picking up and dropping off food, driving guests and general maintenance of our facilities.

Conference and tourism

  • Act as a conference host and occasionally as a guide on simple tourist tours
 

Professional qualifications

  • Good Danish and English language skills, driving licence, a vocational or upper secondary education, knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite and preferably work experience from the service industry.

Personal qualifications

  • Recognising, open and honest. Good interpersonal skills and good relational qualities. Good role model and personal Christian. Good at creating an overview, delegating tasks and full of drive and enthusiasm.

Frames:

  • Working hours will vary with alternating day and evening work, we schedule at least 14 days ahead. There will be work on weekends and public holidays. Average working hours are expected to be 40 hours per week, but a high degree of flexibility is expected.

The Hotel Assistant position is for you if you want to try a full-time position abroad and want to develop personally and professionally in a safe and Christian workplace. The position should be seen as a regular job where you will have the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills that you can put on your CV.

If, after working as a hotel assistant, you haven't had enough of Greenland and would like to take on more responsibility, you can apply to become a junior manager at a seamen's home by contacting your manager.

However, there are many similarities with everyday life as a volunteer. So take a look at this film from Nuuk Seamen's Home. You can watch the film here.

  • 30 hour working week
  • Volunteer salary - part-time volunteering
  • you get the journey paid from Copenhagen
  • Both hotel work and diaconal work

As a volunteer, you will work 30 hours a week and about half of the working hours will be spent on diaconal work. The remaining time is spent on tasks at the hotel and in the cafeteria.

SEE EXAMPLES OF WORK below
Please note that work may vary from location to location.

Diaconal Work (15 hours/week)

You will have the opportunity to get involved in diaconal areas where you will receive ongoing sparring to develop the activities you are interested in. At the seafarers' homes, we divide our diaconal activities into primary and secondary activities. The primary diaconal activities vary very little from seafarers' home to seafarers' home, and all have in common that they are targeted at seafarers and fishermen. Harbour visits and ship visits are regular activities. Secondary diakonia is more widespread and varies from seafarers' home to seafarers' home. Examples of secondary diakonia are children's clubs, homeless breakfasts, village visits, prison visits, etc... You are expected to be able to plan and work independently, and a high degree of self-discipline is required in diaconal work. The work can be challenging at times, where you see and hear a lot. We have set procedures for debriefing, but we prefer that you as a volunteer also know yourself and are a robust person.

Cafeteria and hotel (15 hours/week)

You will receive thorough training in hotel and cafeteria operations, where you will initially be included and trained in all existing positions and tasks. After a thorough introduction to these shifts, you will work 15 hours a week in the cafeteria and grill, where you will work the cash register, take orders, cook barbecue food, wash dishes, do cleaning and keep the cafeteria clean and tidy. 

Professional qualifications

  • Good Danish and English language skills, driving licence, a vocational or upper secondary education, knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite and preferably work experience from the service industry.

Personal qualifications

  • You are a personal Christian with the desire and courage to share your Christian life, open and honest, a good listener, want to meet other people and get to know them, good at collaborating, courage to take the lead and be a role model for others, you can set yourself in motion and stay focused on a task, are open to unforeseen and sudden tasks and opportunities, you are good at getting ideas and can plan and perform activities for others.

Frames:

  • Working hours will vary with alternating day and evening work, we schedule at least 14 days ahead. There will be work on weekends and public holidays. Average working hours are expected to be 30 hours per week, but a high degree of flexibility is expected.

The volunteer position is for you if you want a different volunteer position in Greenland. You are a Christian and therefore want to be something for others. You understand that we take our diaconal work seriously and treat your position and working hours accordingly. You can thrive in an uneven workday where leisure, work and everyday life are mixed together. You are ready to put your own needs before the needs of others and are naturally curious to spend time with people you don't know. You're also prepared to be a role model and culture creator.

If you haven't had enough of Greenland after volunteering and would like to take on more responsibility, you can apply to become a junior manager at a seamen's home by contacting your manager.

The volunteers in Nuuk (2021) made a short film about what it's like to volunteer in Nuuk. However, there are many similarities with volunteering at the other Seamen's Homes. You can watch the film here.

Payroll

As a volunteer, you will receive a volunteer salary, as it is a partly voluntary job, of approximately 8-9000 DKK/month. As a hotel assistant, you will receive a regular hourly wage, as it is a regular job, with a possible evening/night supplement and a bonus of approximately DKK 12,000 after nine months of employment.

The seamen's homes are three-star hotels with the name Hotel SØMA.

HOTEL SØMA runs the "Seamen's Home | Cafeteria & Social" as a local diaconal and maritime welfare programme.

As the seamen's homes work together with the Church of Greenland and the Danish People's Church, we expect you as an employee to subscribe to the confession of the Church of Denmark.

Employees at a seamen's home are representatives of the Seamen's Mission.

You must be willing to learn and to enter and build on what others have started in a servant-like manner.

"The Greenlandic staff were very warm-hearted - they took an interest in us and invited us into their lives, even if we were only there for a short time."

LIV RASMUSSEN

Volunteer

Former manager couple

"Volunteers are a crucial part of the cogs at the Seamen's Home. They spread smiles and cheer and fulfil an important responsibility."

GYDA SØRENSEN

Former manager at Aasiaat Seamen's Home

Do you have any questions?

Write to us

Volunteer

  • 30 hour working week
  • Volunteer salary - part-time volunteering
  • You get the journey paid from Copenhagen
  • Both hotel work and diaconal work

As a volunteer, about half of your working hours will be spent on diaconal work. The remaining time is spent on tasks at the hotel and in the cafeteria.

Here are EXAMPLES of work tasks. Tasks will vary from location to location.

Diaconal work (15 hours per week)

You will have the opportunity to get involved in diaconal areas where you will receive ongoing sparring to develop the activities you are interested in. At the seafarers' homes, we divide our diaconal activities into primary and secondary activities. The primary diaconal activities vary very little from seafarers' home to seafarers' home, and all have in common that they are targeted at seafarers and fishermen. Harbour visits and ship visits are regular activities. Secondary diakonia is more widespread and varies from seafarers' home to seafarers' home. Examples of secondary diakonia are children's clubs, homeless breakfasts, village visits, prison visits, etc... You are expected to be able to plan and work independently, and a high degree of self-discipline is required in diaconal work. The work can be challenging at times, where you see and hear a lot. We have set procedures for debriefing, but we prefer that you as a volunteer also know yourself and are a robust person.

Cafeteria and hotel (15 hours per week)

You will receive thorough training in hotel and cafeteria operations, where you will initially be included and trained in all existing positions and tasks. After a thorough introduction to these shifts, you will work 15 hours a week in the cafeteria and grill, where you will handle the cash register, take orders, cook barbecue food, wash dishes, do cleaning and keep the cafeteria clean and tidy. We expect a high degree of flexibility and are happy to use volunteers to cover sudden gaps in the rota.

Professional qualifications

  • Good Danish and English language skills, driving licence, a vocational or upper secondary education, knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite and preferably work experience from the service industry.

Personal qualifications

  • You are a personal Christian with the desire and courage to share your Christian life, open and honest, a good listener, want to meet other people and get to know them, good at collaborating, courage to take the lead and be a role model for others, you can set yourself in motion and stay focused on a task, are open to unforeseen and sudden tasks and opportunities, you are good at getting ideas and can plan and perform activities for others.

Frames:

  • Working hours will vary with alternating day and evening work, we schedule at least 14 days ahead. There will be work on weekends and public holidays. Average working hours are expected to be 40 hours per week, but a high degree of flexibility is expected.

The volunteer position is for you if you want a different volunteer position in Greenland. You are a Christian and therefore want to be something for others. You understand that we take our diaconal work seriously and treat your position and working hours accordingly. You can thrive in an uneven workday where leisure, work and everyday life are mixed together. You are ready to put your own needs before the needs of others and are naturally curious to spend time with people you don't know. You're also prepared to be a role model and culture creator.

If you haven't had enough of Greenland after volunteering and would like to take on more responsibility, you can apply to become a junior manager at a seamen's home by contacting your manager.

The volunteers in Nuuk (2021) made a short film about what it's like to volunteer in Nuuk. However, there are many similarities with volunteering at the other Seamen's Homes. You can watch the film here.

Hotel assistant - a job abroad

  • 40 hour working week
  • Hourly wage and bonus after 9 months.
  • You pay for the journey yourself
  • Hotel work with the responsibility you want, for example as a team leader

As a hotel assistant at a seamen's home, your work at the seamen's home will primarily consist of tasks at the hotel and in the cafeteria. You will receive thorough training in hotel and cafeteria operations, where you will initially be included and trained in all existing positions and tasks. After a thorough introduction to these shifts, your work will consist of a mix of assisting in the actual operation, but also eventually, if you want, working as a team leader on selected shifts. At the same time, it is expected that you will sometimes be used as a practical employee who can solve practical tasks.

Here are EXAMPLES of work tasks. Tasks will vary from location to location.

Cafeteria

  • Cafeteria shifts where you'll be in charge of the cash register, taking orders, washing dishes and keeping the cafeteria neat and clean. Grill shifts, where you prepare and cook barbecue food for our guests, followed by cleaning and self-inspection. In the long term, you will have the opportunity to act as a team leader with responsibility for the cafeteria and grill, including special responsibility for quality assurance of the food that is sent out to the customer, control and follow-up on self-inspection, marketing on Facebook and physical signage. You will also have influence on shift planning in collaboration with your immediate manager.

Administration

  • For example, responsible for internal activities, reception work, soda and cigarette ordering and pick-up, Facebook and Instagram updates, answering emails and administrative work such as counting, follow-up etc...

Examples of practical tasks

  • Picking up goods, snow clearing, cleaning up, picking up and dropping off food, driving guests and general maintenance of our facilities.

Conference and tourism

  • Act as a conference host and occasionally as a guide on simple tourist tours.

Tasks will vary from location to location.

Professional qualifications

  • Good Danish and English language skills, driving licence, a vocational or upper secondary education, knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite and preferably work experience from the service industry.

Personal qualifications

  • Recognising, open and honest. Good interpersonal skills and good relational qualities. Good role model and personal Christian. Good at creating an overview, delegating tasks and full of drive and enthusiasm.

Frames:

  • Working hours will vary with alternating day and evening work, we schedule at least 14 days ahead. There will be work on weekends and public holidays. Average working hours are expected to be 40 hours per week, but a high degree of flexibility is expected.

The Hotel Assistant position is for you if you want to experience a full-time position abroad and develop personally and professionally in a safe and Christian workplace. This is a job where you will have the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills that you can put on your CV.

If, after working as a hotel assistant, you haven't had enough of Greenland and would like to take on more responsibility, you can apply to become a junior manager at a seamen's home by contacting your manager.

Everyday Christian in Greenland

 

"You'll never feel better than you do right now". I'm often told this by an elderly man whose living room I regularly visit for a cup of strong coffee and a good chat. Even though it's a bit of an insult to my own future, sometimes I'm inclined to believe that he's right. As long as we're talking about life here on earth, of course. He came to Greenland from Denmark in 1961, so compared to him, I'm still pretty fresh after living in this little gem of creation for a year and a half. Still, after a year and a half of working and weekend days, midnight sun and northern lights, swimming and snowstorms and happy faces and laughter, I feel like I belong here. For a time, sure, but enough time for this place to be home, security and everyday life.

The quiet life

I work at the Seamen's Home in Aasiaat, a town on a small island in the south-west corner of Disko Bay on the west coast of Greenland. With 3500 inhabitants, it's a pretty small town from a Danish perspective, but it can still boast of being the fifth largest in Greenland. So here I am, relatively far away from family and friends in Denmark, in a town where nothing much happens and where you need either a plane ticket or a boat if you want to travel further than 15 kilometres away from your home. Before I travelled, I was often asked what it was that attracted me to Greenland. It's a question with several answers, because there were many things that interested me about the country. Among other things, nature and culture and a notion of silence, slowness, an empty calendar and good time. Time to contemplate, to read good books, to explore this magnificent part of God's nature and to become more familiar with my Bible. On top of that, I have been given the opportunity to work in a Christian workplace, and how precious it is to have daily devotions as part of my working hours, to be in a place where people pray for each other and where there is a desire to reach out to people who are struggling.

Time with God

However, prioritising contemplation and personal time with God has had its ups and downs over the past year. There are days when the workday has been so busy that all you want to do is collapse on the sofa struggling with very heavy eyelids. And days when you can't exactly complain about the workload, but the sofa still has a strange attraction. And there's another danger lurking beneath the silent, majestic icebergs: a brand new undersea cable that provides a very reasonable internet connection. Although Greenland is a long way from Denmark, and although there are differences in lifestyle and culture, it is clear that much of what we know from life in the modern western world has found its way to the cold north, including Facebook and the internet's other voracious time robbers. My experience has therefore been that despite the changed environment and framework for everyday life, it still requires a great deal of self-discipline on my part to initiate and maintain good habits. A fact that in hindsight seems obvious. After a long period of struggling to keep myself in check, I have also experienced another thing, namely that personal devotion, prayer life and Bible reading are, if possible, even more important for me to make time for in Greenland than in Denmark, because there is no opportunity to join a youth organisation, go to worship, camps or Bible camping. You certainly don't get as many exciting offers here as what I'm used to at home in Denmark. It's the good fellowship at the Seamen's Home, among other things, that comes to my rescue in this situation. In addition to the daily devotions, my fellow volunteers and I hold a Bible study on Wednesdays, and then the week ends with a Sunday celebration where everyone, both hotel guests and people in town, are welcome to sing hymns, a sermon from Denmark downloaded from the internet and then church coffee. In addition to this, I also attend a small free church in town, which has been very open and embracing, and where someone is always kind enough to translate for me during the meeting. It's a community that I'm very happy to be part of, also because it makes it visible that our brothers and sisters in Jesus are spread all over the world.

Creator work

In addition to the church community, there is another place where I get to see a special imprint from God, namely in the nature around me. I have never seen such beautiful nature as I have seen here, and it fills my heart with joy and excitement. Dazzling beauty. Deafening silence. Overwhelming magnificence. On some of my hikes, to my own surprise, I have sometimes found that I can't help but break out in some kind of hymn of praise when I let my gaze drift over the landscape. And then I feel so infinitely privileged and grateful to have been allowed to live right here in safety and everyday life and God's greatness.

This article was first published in ELM's magazine 'Liv i troen', 2019.

Miriam Lodahl
Former volunteer in Aasiaat