intern/volunteer

So does 'intern' mean the same as 'volunteer'?

Sorry to be ignorant about the terminology but the two terms seem to be interchangeable on this forum - I always thought that an internship was something that you did over a long period of time with a professional organisation like the UN for example.  I have lots of volunteers who come for two weeks or 10 weeks - are they interns or volunteers?

Kathy

I take the two differently. I only bring interns on for an agreement exchange- 3 months of an interns time (15 hrs/week) earns a PDC. Thats what I mean when I talk about interns at my site. I also have volunteers, but they come and go. With interns I expect a commitment. I have an apprentice as well. beyond commitment, he assumes responsibility. So I see difference. Im not everyone, and I just apply those notions to what im doing at Abundance.

thanks - thats interesting - whats PDC?
kathy

PDC is the acronym for a Permaculture Design Course, a 72 hour cirricullum concieved by Bill Mollison and developed over the last 30 years by thousands of teachers worldwide, pretty much the core of a shared system design basis that keeps all of us cats in something resembling a herd. or flock. Permies. Permaculturists. for the general cirricullum, see:

http://www.permaculture.org/nm/images/uploads/PDC_cert_book_.pdf

while its not universally standardiszed, the content of the above link is pretty much accepted as the core information for permaculture systems design.