Program Reviews

Iceland was never on my travel radar, until I volunteered to help at the Reykjavik International Film Festival in 2008. I had done 2 other volunteer programs through Volunteers for Peace and was looking for a different type of program and experience. I'm a movie buff and thought it'd be fun to be part of the film festival.

The program was different that most others in several ways. Our project consisted mostly of selling tickets at the different venues, and being ushers/cleaning up during and after shows. For this reason, we didn’t work together as a large group. Nor did we cook our meals or eat together—as is common in most other work camps. Accommodation was at the local hostel.

I thought Iceland was one of the most beautiful and geographically interesting places I've ever seen. Reykjavik is a very modern city with a small town feel. The people are very stylish and insane partiers. If you like music and the bar scene, plan on staying up all night.

For this workcamp, we got off work around midnight and I preferred to have a beer and go to bed, but I was one of the older volunteers!

While I truly enjoyed this volunteer program and the workcamp leaders, and would do another one in Iceland again given the chance, this wasn’t my favorite workcamp with Volunteers for Peace. I prefer camps where everyone works together.. In this case I didn’t get to know a lot of the other volunteers because we rarely saw each other. I also wasn’t a fan of the food provided as we had to eat at Subway and a quickie-mart 'salad bar' pretty much every day. After a few days, I started buying my own food.

The Dreams Academy (DA)is an new, innovative arts/sports program in Istanbul, Turkey. The DA's target population is both the disabled and disadvantaged youth from the city.

The Dreams Academy works in tandem with the United Nations Development Program in Istanbul (UNDP) and with Vodafone (a sponsor).

The focus of this project is social inclusion realized with very creative projects, i.e., their Social Inclusion Band which performs monthly at a nightclub and at music festivals.

I have volunteered in Italy through Volunteers for Peace three times - twice in the south and once just outside of Venice. Each project was a unique experience, but all of them included opportunities to learn about little corners of Italy that I would never have found as a regular tourist. Perhaps most amazing of all were the opportunities volunteers got to meet and work with local people - at one project we were taught the traditional regional dance and went on holiday outings with groups of local people, and at another we volunteered every day with retired Italian men and women. The sense of connection was so strong I felt like I had found a home away from home!

VFP and their partner organizations in Italy were just wonderful to work with. I honestly can't say enough good things about my volunteer experiences with them.

Working with Sprout (New York, NY) was a wonderful experience. The work included accompanying groups of adults with disabilities in their trips from NYC to various destinations. The work was not difficult but required much responsibility. It included driving, dispensing medication, enhancing fun, supervising our participants. In between trips I stayed in the International Youth Hostel and had plenty of time to explore NYC. I would not exaggerate if I told that it was a time of my life. I cannot recall any difficulties or troubles whatsoever. I would highly recommend my friends to participate in this project and hope to do it again myself.

Rebuilding houses in New Orleans was just great ! We had different kind of works like painting (inside or outside the houses), gardening (to sell some food to the neighbourhood) or rebuilding houses. One of our most impressive work was on the roof of one of the most damaged house. The owner was there and it was really moving.
I only had some remarks to do about the safety. If you choose to come, you should not be afraid of using machines, tools or... walking on a roof !!
New Orleans is a great city to have fun. You can enjoy the jazz clubs every evening... I really had a great time there and advise everyone to try it !!

In addition to the international volunteers, there were a lot of Russian volunteers. There were a women’s and a men’s Russian dorm, as well as our 11-bed women’s room and the 10-bed men’s room. So we had Russian as well as international volunteers. For showers, we had a 10:30 pm reservation for Monday and Thursday, as well as a 2-hour slot on Saturday after work for either a shower or the banya. When we arrived at the island, the women wore a skirt long enough to be below our knees and a scarf for the entire three weeks.
Our schedule was to work Monday through Saturday noon, then free time Saturday afternoon and Sunday, for three weeks. The men had the hardest work, baling hay, stacking hay bales, chopping wood, splitting wood, cleaning out forestations, demolishing shacks, stacking firewood. The women picked berries, whitewashed the cow stalls at the farm, pulled weeds from the gardens and walkways at different sketes, sliced apples, cleaned the chicken coop, and helped clean up the overgrown garden outside the monastery. One day I was sitting on one of the benches in front of the monastery, separating tulip bulbs from dirt (you have to lift bulbs in climates of snow and freezes), when some of the tourists walking by took my picture (long skirt, bandana), thinking they were getting a real Russian babushka. When I told the Russians, they thought that was terrifically funny! Most of the Russians were astounded that an American would travel so far to volunteer to help them. It also was a fact that I was more than twice as old as all but two women and one man. On one of our days off, we were invited to go by boat to visit two sketes. On the archipelago, there are ten sketes, housing from 2 to 15 monks. During one workday, it rained, so we took refuge in the newest skete--Vladimersky Skete. Inside, it’s highly decorated with icons,and I got some beautiful pictures.
I truly didn’t know what kind of people would be around me when I registered to volunteer. I didn’t know what they would think of me—an American female who was 64. But I’ve never been around so many kind, helpful, generous people, both on site and in transit from St. Petersberg.

Sprout is a non profit organisation located in Manhatten NYC. A few dedicated people and a lot of volunteers from all over the world organize and lead vacation and day trips for people with disability.
After a two day training volunteers are sent out on the road with two coleaders and up to eleven clients with special needs.

The trips are demanding as you're on duty 24 hours a day. You and your coleaders have to plan and take care of activities, meals, transportation, medication, the budget and allways make sure that everyone has an awesome time. Even though all this is a lot of work it also is very rewarding: 1.the trips are a lot of fun and great if you're interested in seeing different citys of the USA. and 2. well the clients are endearing and totally hilarious. They get attached to you easily and so do you!

Definitely an amazing experience I wouldn't want to miss. The coleaders are awesome, new york is awesome the trips are awesome.

It was a great experience. We felt very welcome by the comunity and it felt as if they were helping us and not the other way round.

The project with the Audobon Center was the most fullfiling since we got to work with he kids, the animals and the surroundings.

But that was not the only highlight of the project. During our stay we discovered some nice spots like lakes, rivers and nice hiking paths.

The community was extremely open to us and that made our stay very comfortable.

The social and evening program was very interesting and mixed.

I've worked 3 weeks for Sprout, an NGO located in Manhattan, New York City who organizes vacations and one-day-trips for people with disabilities. After a two-day training we were off on trips with the participants. normally you are three leaders with a group of 11 clients and a vacation-trip normally takes four to six days. Working with these people is demanding and tiring, as you are on 24h duty, but it is also lots of fun and very rewarding!
On the first day of the trip you meet the participants, get to know them (try to remember all the names..), sort out their luggage, pack the van and then off you go. The several hours ride is a good opportunity to talk to clients, get to know them better and feel the group's vibe. Once you arrived at your destination it's late afternoon and you're probably tired (and so are the clients) so you have a rest in the previously booked hotel and find a restaurant to have dinner at. And that's it for the first day. The next days you plan some activities, like going to the cinema, riding a boat, going to a fun-park, whatever the place has to offer and whatever the participants like and are able to do. Of course you also have to help them with their ADLs (daily activities we perform for self-care such as feeding ourselves, bathing, dressing, grooming) and that's about it. If it is the first time you're volunteering for Sprout you won't be bothered with medication because that's the more experienced leader's job.
So, if you're an easy-going and open-minded person, go for it! I had the time of my life, it was really so much fun! The people who work there are super nice and caring and they would never force you to do anything you don't feel comfortable with.
Also when you're off work you stay in one of the best hostels I've ever seen situated in the upper-west-side of Manhattan!
Only one thing: Be prepared to eat lots of heavy food, cause that's what clients love! ;)

First experience in my life! I was in Philadelphia (PA), a great city with a great community. We had been treated as members of the society!! we were 9 people, divided in 3 smaller groups depending of the work we did (maintainance, costructing and painting team). we got up at 9, ready to work with our team. We had a took turns in cooking lunch, clenaning the volunteers house and cooking dinner. every night we cooked a different country dinner and then we spent the nights playing together, chatting and so on!

From this experience I obtained new skills in maintainance (using the screwgun and other machines...), cultural exchange (life experiences, language, cooking). I also improved my english and now I have these quite new but very strong friendship!!!!!!!