Transformative experience

My month with Emmanuel after my freshmen year of college changed my life. Visiting community development programs, schools, clinics, and watching his parliamentary campaign ingrained lessons from international development text books and lectures that I was receiving in college. Emmanuel was like a professor. I am now completing a masters in international relations after three years of working with small NGOs abroad. I still look back on the lessons learned from my experience in Kenya and the efficiency of Village Volunteers overall. Shana, the executive director, and I exchange long emails and phone calls 3-4 times a year. Even more than 7 years later Emmanuel and I still exchange emails as well. If you want a real, raw experience to see the world as it is and not as some organization or business wants to package it with cookie cutter itineraries, GO WITH VILLAGE VOLUNTEERS. It's worth every penny. The development world and voluntourism world can learn valuable lessons from the Village Volunteer's model.