Program Reviews

I had a great time at OpenMind Projects. Assigned to a small village in Laos, I had the privilege to take on a lot of responsibility from day one. I was able to form my own classes with the students and always felt that I had great support from the OMP staff.

Everything with travelling, accommodation, expenses and security went fine, despite the fact that this village was one of the newest projects. The professionalism at OMP was the supporting reason for this.

I would not hesitate to recommend OMP to anyone, regardless of age.

I spent about 6 months working in the Openmind Projects Office in Nong Khai.

I found the staff here were very friendly welcoming, and I soon felt at home and able to contribute to the development of the organisation. Working alongside local staff and trainees was a great way to experience the very different culture of Thailand, and learning to adapt to a new and strange workplace was also valuable.

As a small organisation, you truly feel that you are joining the team - whatever type of program you are on. You can see for yourself how highly valued your contributions are. OMP's local expertise and grassroots set up means that you know that volunteers are being sent to projects where they are needed and can help.

I highly recommend the Volunteer & Cross Cultural Training. I learnt a lot through it, and have seen many volunteers come and go who found it equally beneficial. OMP continues to provide a high level of support to volunteers beyond the training, too.

An amazing experience! I can’t believe how much I learnt within one month volunteering with the Marine Conservation program in Phuket. I would ride a bike from my house located in a small village amongst the forest and by the Andaman Sea to the office. Every day brought upon a new adventure! One day I assisted the Marine National Park with collecting seaweed for experiments, the next few days I was on a seven hour car and boat ride to the island Koh Thalu to help conduct reef and fish checks, and the next day I was in the office helping make a presentation document for the ‘Strengthening Andaman Marine Projected Areas Network Program’ team. It really was so diverse and fun. Overall, this experience was life changing. Living amongst the Thai community away from the tourist region just helped me learn so much more about the culture and got me out of my comfort zone. I left Thailand feeling I had made a positive contribution to the preservation of Marine life in the Andaman Sea.

I would definitely recommend the Thai Culture course in Nong Khai. The team there really prepared and helped me understand Thai living, working, food and social cultural differences. And they were always only an email or call away when I had any enquiry whilst volunteering. Thanks Openmind Project team for this rewarding experience!

I volunteered with Openmind Projects for four months in 2013. I lived in Nong Khai and taught english to trainees at the volunteer organisation, novice monks and school students. I also helped with making videos and presentations.

I found the experience immensely worthwhile. Openmind Projects provided a great base for my time in Thailand. I made lots of new friends through my involvement with the organisation and got to experience Thai culture and cuisine.

Openminds is an organisation helping a lot of younger people become educated in english language and computer skills. I learnt a great deal about working with people from different backgrounds and would highly recommend the experience to anyone wanting to contribute to a worthwhile cause whilst experiencing a new culture.

I have done a number of volunteer placements on a number of subjects and each have run smoothly and worked as advertised. Until now.
I enrolled in two projects, both with months of notice and planned a three month holiday around the dates of the projects. For both quite a bit of travel off my beaten path was involved.

For the first "teaching" project I was advised three days before the start of the project that I was unable to go to the school and teach as the school had something else on. I did get my fees refunded. But by the time I was advised I had already spent money especially to get to the area where the teaching was happening so then had to return to where I came from.

The second placement was in another country from where I was in Asia and I travelled there and went to the school, only to find that they didn't know I was coming and had some obligations that meant that I could not teach there either.

Right from when I registered for the first project the communication was terrible with me having to send two or three emails before I got a response. Then to be told three days before the start of one project that it was not going to happen is really poor.

Open Mind advertise as a low cost Voluntourism option. In comparison to other projects I have done, they are not. Most projects are all inclusive costs, where the two I enrolled in did not include anything other than the administration of the project. By the time I added in my accommodation, meals, travel to the school etc it was no longer a low cost option and actually cost more than many others. and in my case they didn't happen either.

If I add in the lost airfares and accommodation deposits that I paid for projects that didn't happen then this project was very expensive.

The time spent teaching with OMP strongly impacted my thinking and plans. It was what made me decide that I wanted to be a teacher, and it really helped me to find a lot of confidence in communicating with members of other nations and cultures. The one major drawback: it didn't last long enough.

Before I go any further, I'll explain the last comment. We came on the program over our winter break, so we were trapped in a time that actually was rather inconvenient. Between touring and the school being closed for the kids' winter break, we only got to spend a few days teaching. Poor timing on our part was what cut our experience short.

That being said, I wish we'd had more time. The kids at Klong Yang Elementary were wonderful, full of energy and eager to learn. The teachers all gave us support and were able to help us when we started to feel overwhelmed. The entire community was very welcoming and made every effort to accommodate us.

The OMP personnel were also very helpful. Our coordinator gave us lots of help in the form of transportation, instruction and serving as a local guide at times. We were able to see the best of Krabi thanks to her knowledge of the area, including places we most likely would have overlooked on our own. She taught us some basic, practical Thai, such as how to greet locals, how to bargain in the language, and how to avoid making fools of ourselves (we did anyway). We were introduced to their circle of friends, including fellow volunteers and an amusing radio personality named Dtaa, who made us laugh ourselves silly several times.

The biggest difficulties we encountered were ones which we'd all expected: attempting to communicate and trying to teach English. Both of these were solved with trial and error; some lessons we taught were wonderfully received, while others elicited puzzled looks. We also had our share of miscommunications, some of them leading to very amusing results. These are things which any volunteer teacher should expect no matter where he or she goes, and rather than be embarrassed, embrace the experience and learn from it.

My verdict? Go. You won't regret it.

I have now volunteered on 2 separate occasions for OpenMind Projects and loved it both times! I was looking for a volunteer organization that did more than just find a volunteer placement for me and then I would spend my evenings in a nice hotel. I wanted an organization that offered support if I needed it, training in the culture and an honest experience that might take me a bit out of my comfort zone. OMP is all of those things.

They have the ability to match each volunteer with a placement, based on their needs and wants...and in some cases the volunteer didn't realize how the placement was so perfect for them until it was over and they realized how they had grown. OMP seems to tap into each volunteers unique gifts and match that with the needs of the villages... I have kept in touch with several of my volunteer friends and we all still beem with excitement when we speak about our experiences in Thailand with OMP.

I enjoyed it so much the first time that I returned with several students from my College and we all volunteered near Koh Lanta.

OMP is almost entirely Thai operated. They follow their mission statement and give back to the communities in many ways.

I can't wait to come back for a third time!