Projects Abroad

This was my second experience with Project Abroad (the first with two amazing projects in Cambodia in September 2023) and now I can confirm that after an experience with this organization, you’ll never travel looking to a new place with the same eyes.

I’m a 56-year-old Italian woman and I travel a lot but I love to visit new countries doing Project Abroad volunteering projects.

Why? Because with them you’ll have the opportunity to know real life and local people, to live with them and to know how they are wonderful, smiling and really kind even though they live much more simply than us (or probably because of this).

This time my husband came with me and I realised that he appreciated every minute of our shared experience despite the hot and wet weather, the shared bathroom (when we travel alone usually we search for rooms with a private bathroom every time) with only cold water showers and the hard work during the project.

Together we decided to go to Sri Lanka and work for the Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Galbokka.

We’re bank employees so we haven’t any experience to offer… only our hands and of course our hearts. But the center staff is so kind and supportive that after only one day we felt like we knew each one of them like they were our kids.

We’ll never forget any of them: Nimna and his smile, nicknamed Joker because he loves to joke with everyone; Kaveesha, the singer and artist, with his wonderful voice and his passion for Spiderman (his nickname); Kaveen alias Jerry, big and sweet eyes, who helped us to release our small baby turtles. And finally, of course, Charith, the Turtles center ‘boss’ is always busy but a really good friend to everyone in the center.

A typical work day in the center includes cleaning the turtle's tank, feeding them after cleaning fish to give them, digging holes in the sand in order to hide turtles' eggs from predators, washing turtles, and a lot of other work. Each day is different and exciting so you’ll forget the hard work.

Turtles are wonderful and baby turtles are so nice and cute… I loved them so much. We released them two times, one at sunset and one at midnight after patrolling the beach to search for eggs. This has been a wonderful experience because we went to the hatchery and we discovered that babies were born… what a great emotion. During the project, we lived in a local family home and we enjoyed every moment with them. Our hostess Senanee is really kind and helpful in every moment and she is surely one of the best cooks in Sri Lanka! We felt like family with her, her daughter Nuhansa, her husband Ramidu, and her mother-in-law, and always safe.

After our two-week project, we decided to make a week's trip around this wonderful country and we enjoyed every moment.

So, I wrote a lot about my experience, and if you want you can read my 2023 review about Project Abroad. I think you could understand how well-organized, safe, and serious is this organization. They are really careful about volunteers' safety and I think it’s great to become a Project Abroad volunteer, no matter what age you are...so go ahead, sign up, and start packing!

For everything else, there's Project Abroad 🥰

Fabulous opportunity to explore these amazing islands while helping to preserve and restore their diversity.

The project is based on San Cristóbal whose sea lions didn’t disappoint! We swam with them and did sea lion surveys at sunrise which was beautiful and they are true beach bums, iguanas, and blue-footed boobies at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Cutting otoy for the tortoises was hard work as was clearing invasive species with machetes remember to bring lots of water and electrolyte replacements.

Enjoy

This is one of the best experiences I have ever had. I have learned so much about Tanzanian culture and more specifically Maasai culture. It was a perfect balance of teaching the children as well as exploring all of what Tanzania has to offer. It is one of the most beautiful countries in the world filled with wildlife, waterfalls, and burning sunsets. At no point in the trip was I unsupported. The staff was welcoming and I felt very comfortable with them. I am so grateful to have had this experience! Thank you!!!!!

I went to Kenya for 2 weeks on the medical project. I have never done anything like this before and didn’t really know what to expect but it was even better than I could’ve imagined. The staff were so helpful and friendly and put me at ease right away and any quieries I had while I was there, they were only a message away. The hospital experience was very eye opening as it was so different to the UK but I gained a lot from it. Finally the outreach projects was one of the main reasons I chose this company and it was so worth it. I managed to participate in 3 while I was in Kenya and it was amazing. I actual felt like I was making a difference and all the patients were so grateful. I’m so glad to took part in this project.

We had a wonderful time on the Galapagos doing a great variety of jobs, from checking on sea lions to clearing a beach for them, feeding and monitoring tortoises, teaching local children English and I even discovered a hidden talent when we were asked to paint murals. We had plenty of spare time and with so many hikes and beaches to choose from we were never bored. We also had a funfilled weekend in Santa Cruz. We loved taking pictures of the sunsets which were beautiful but quite different every evening.