I can't imagine a more admirable, satisfying rewarding and difficult goal in life than working as a volunteer to help save the orangutans and their home; the rainforest.
Member "Broom" is correct that you can't work at Lones' Nyrau Menteng (Orangutan Island) orangutan rescue and rehabilitation center. I'm also 99.9% sure that you can't do volunteer work directly "IN" Nyrau Menteng either and there are good reasons for that. On the surface it would seem insane for any non-profit organization NOT to accept volunteers: who passes up FREE labor? The reason no "outsiders" (that is non-native people) can work (for pay) at Nyrau Menteng is that employing the native people over using free volunteers has several benefits for the orangutans, the native people and Nyrau Menteng. Employing (for pay) the native population gives them access to good paying jobs that are very hard to find as most people in Borneo are very poor. That not only gives the native population work and pay, it also gives them the chance to work with the orangutans and learn first-hand how wonderful this apes are, how human-like they are and that they feel the same emotions, illnesses and etc, that we humans do. They learn the importance of saving the orangutans and the reasons why they should care about what happens to both the orangutans and the rainforests of Borneo. Borneo and therefore the orangutans and rainforests do belong to the people of Borneo and are ultimately "their national treasure!" You need to keep in mind that for much of the past (and in some cases even to this day) Orangutans were just another meal, a source of meat to a people who still struggle daily just to survive. If you don't have a paying job (and Nyrau Menteng provides many jobs) and no money to buy food for your family, then an orangutan to eat, and possibly a baby to sell into the illegal pet trade, would look pretty good to you. Jobs save orangutans and make the orangutans worth saving! Using volunteers in the center would certainly save money, initially, but in the long run make saving orangutans much more difficult. Another reason for not using volunteers is that people can't volunteer for the rest of their life as they would have no income to live on. So volunteers would come and go over short periods of time. That greatly endangers orangutans as they are so close to humans in their DNA that they get all of the same illnesses and diseases that humans do; and that volunteers coming and going would carry with them into the center with catostrophic results to the orangutans, especially the very small infant orangutans who are usually physically weak and could easily die from a minor illness or disease passed on by a human volunteer. Paid, native employees at Nyrau Menteng must go through an extensive physical exam, blood tests and etc. as well as a quarrantine period before being allowed to even enter the rescue center and be near orangutans. Having said all of that; there are still many other volunteer opportunities available that are just as important to saving orangutans including two opportunities in Borneo, that I know of at this time.
You can check out the website: www.sambojalodge.com and the volunteer opportunities they offer there on behalf of orangutans. You could also check out the OFI website at: www.orangutan.org. This last organization is run by a female Dr. (whose name escapes me at this moment) and it is also an orangutan rescue and rehabilitation center. From what I've read this rescue and rehabilitation center is rather unique and controversial in that they do frequently allow actual contact with the orangutans, even from tourists merely visiting the center. Most would argue (myself included) that
this is definitely NOT GOOD for the orangutans, puts them at unnecessary risk of death through transmitted diseases and illnesses and makes this "rescue/rehab" center more of a commercial venture for profit, then a real rescue/rehab center.
Like everything in life, people have different opinions and you simply have to study all you can about orangutans and make up your own decision. I should also add that in addition to the risk to orangutans from their human contact, their is a risk to humans as well both from a health standpoint as well as safety. Since orangutans can catch diseases from humans, it works in reverse the same way. We can catch diseases from orangutans! While baby orangutans are cute and cuddly they are still and always will be "wild animals!" By the time an orangutan is 5-6 years old it is 5-7 times stronger than a human male, and with very large and sharp canine teeth even though they are still technically a baby and still with their mother, if the mother hasn't been killed! The recent attack by a "tame chimp" that lived with it's owner like a child, nearly took the life of a woman and ended with the chimp having to be shot to death! It could have just as easily been a "tame orangutan" instead of a chimp! Fact is: there is no such thing as a "tame orangutan, chimp, gorilla or any other wild animal! There are wild animals who have been raised around humans, but they are still WILD and that makes them exceedingly unpredictable and dangerous to humans! If you watch some of the DVD's about orangutans that are available you will see that the people who handle orangutans are very careful around them and they need to be. In one DVD you will see 4 grown men struggling to restrain one small orangutan that I would guess to be no more than 4-5 years old!
Other possibilities for doing volunteer work on behald of the orangutans can be found on most of the BOS websites including the U.S.A. BOS chapter's website at: www.redapes.org. There are many ways to help save orangutans and all of them are important. Even sending emails and letters to politicians asking them to save the great apes, save the rain forest, and not to promote the use of palm oil in the U.S.A. helps a great deal. You can also email/write to companies here in the U.S.A. and around the world who use palm oil in their products or wood from the rainforests of Borneo. Every little bit helps!
You should read books and websites, watch DVD's about orangutans and the rainforest and learn all that you can about both. The more informed you are, the more you can help the cause and the better a volunteer you will make.
In closing I will recommend just one more website to you and that is: www.naturealert.com then go to Nature Alerts blogsite.
The Nature Alert blogsite has tons of current information on what is happening in the world of orangutan preservation as well as links you can use to send emails to people and companies about saving the orangutans and the rainforest. There is one other very good website, but I can't think of their address right now, but will post it as soon as I find it!
Alleybarnes....I wish you the very best in your efforts to help save the orangutans and volunteering in that area. Your help is needed and would certainly be appreciated! If I can be of any further assistance to you don't hesitate to ask!
Dave