I stumbled across GVI quite by accident; a poster in my department's computer lab advertised another conservation charity that undergoes similar work for a higher price. Inspired by this, I had a look around for similar schemes, and GVI stood out for its range of projects and locations. Although they operate globally, Greece is the only location within my budget for flights of theirs - and to work with sea turtles? A dream I never considered could come true!
Alumni Spotlight: Alyn McKenzie
Why did you choose this program?
What did your program provider (or university) assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?
GVI is rather good for assistance - immediately upon signing up, you are assigned an email contact who helps you through the set-up and documentation on their side of things. Whilst you must acquire funding on your own and make your own way to Greece, you are met at the airport and everything you need is provided for in camp - even if you've dietary requirements or other such considerations.
What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?
Know what kind of living standards you can stand. If you hate sleeping in tents and eating home-cooked food, then this will not be a brilliant excursion for you. If you do not like bugs, can't stand the heat or have no tolerance for early mornings, then beware. If you suffer any of these but want to overcome them, on the other hand, this is a brilliant way to do so!
What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?
Whilst it does catch odd hours, the overall pace is gentle - several days in a week will see you on the morning or night shifts, which are a patrol of the beach either ~5-10 am or ~11 pm-5 am. Here, you see the turtles and protect/collect data from any new nests; this can be an awesome experience, especially during hatchling season!
After this, you get a long rest until afternoon activities, which vary day by day; sometimes you'll do upcycling for the camp, or turtle resource management, or front a kiosk in the next village along where you educate tourists on the importance of the work.
About once a fortnight, you'll be on base duty, which is to cook and clean for the entire camp! In the evenings, activities such as nest checks (beach patrol again) and putting out shading to protect upcoming hatchlings are common and only a few hours long.
Weekends are entirely free time; you can explore the country or kick back and relax as you please.
Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?
I was very afraid of not fitting in, and not being good enough - I'm not very sociable by nature and often do struggle with tasks for a variety of reasons. However, at the camp, I found that the welcoming and kind nature of every staff member encouraged me to be more engaged and talkative, which helped me get to know my fellow volunteers and make some good friends.
What meaningful impact does this work have?
As GVI work in partnerships with local groups - in this case, Archelon, an Athens-based conservation group - they are able to make an honest attempt to hand projects to locals rather than necessitate a cycle requiring international volunteers forever. They identify problems with clear (albeit not easy), realistic endpoints and provide helping hands to tackle them. In Greece, this is evident from the highest recorded number of turtle nests for some time being laid on the beaches GVI helps protect; in other bases, similar targets are worked toward. Real change is implemented.