Program Reviews

The volunteer group was fantastic, and the tiny village whose municipal buildings we were helping to renovate was full of welcoming hosts. The level of community engagement was quite high, because of the small population of the town, so we spent several days working closely with the mayor, and other community officials, on manual/construction-type projects. We were also able to engage the local childrens' summer camp in some games. Most of all, though, the group leader made every effort to facilitate visits to surrounding cultural, historic, and natural sites, as well as almost nightly trips to swim in the Saint-Laurent. I was thoroughly impressed by his patience and sustained optimistic attitude throughout the entire project.

I had an excellent experience with the VFP office - they were helpful, responsive, and friendly. My service project in India ended up being with a for-profit organization instead of a community non-profit, as I had initially thought. The director of the organization was imperious (for example, expecting 10-12hr work days, 6-7 days a week) and was more interested in using my status as a foreigner for PR than for my actual ability to contribute ideas and assistance to his projects.

This was the first time this Indian organization offered volunteer positions through VFP, and from what I understand, my experience helped lead to improvements for interns who came after me.

I recently changed jobs and negotiated a two week gap before my start date. I began looking for volunteer projects with less than two weeks to go before the start date, so I was pleasantly surprised when VFP staff were able to place me in my second choice project.

VFP works with NICE, a Japanese organization which coordinates work camp programs throughout the country. There were a few rough patches in communication between the two organizations (especially around transportation to the camp), but it all worked out in the end.

The NICE work camp was in Kirikiri town, a small fishing village on the northeast coast which was ravaged by the 2011 tsunami. The project involved going into the forest each day to haul cut timber back to the camp and then chop it up for firewood. It sounds like hard work, and it absolutely was. That being said, I had the opportunity to learn about industrial forestry hands on in a way that I never could have experienced in the US. We used a combination of high-tech tools (chainsaws, high-tension cable winches, tractors) and traditional hand tools to move the logs.

Here's a sample of a day at the workcamp:
7am - Wake up, get dressed, cook breakfast, and eat.
8am - Get in the truck and drive to the forest.
8:30-12:30 - Haul wood out of the forest.
12:30-1:00p - Cook and eat lunch (this was a problem, not enough time!)
1:00p-5:30p - Either chop up the wood, or back to the forest for more hauling
5:30p-9:00 - Various chores including cooking, cleaning, tending the bath (wood water heater!), maintaining gear.
9:00p-midnight - Eat dinner and drink with staff and volunteers (this was always a blast).

As you can see, a lot of work, and a lot of cooking actually. Cooking was rather stressful because although the NICE volunteers brought the food, it was mostly traditional Japanese ingredients. Combined with the short amount of time available for preparing breakfast and lunch, it made meal times very stressful for me.

The best part of the experience was getting to work so closely with the Japanese staff and volunteers. There were about 12 volunteers at the camp, and only two of us were foreigners. Working hard together allowed us to form bonds very quickly, which has always been impossible for me to do on previous trips. The one criticism I would give here was that the language requirements listed on the VFP site did not match the reality at the camp. The site said that both English and Japanese were spoken at the work site. In reality, the staff and volunteers spoke barely any English. This was fine for me (I speak conversation Japanese), but it was a real problem for the other foreign volunteer who I ended up translating for most of the time. The language barrier actually posed a safety problem since the instructions were mostly given in Japanese. You wouldn't want someone to misunderstand instructions on how to use a chainsaw!

Another criticism would be that the equipment recommended on the site didn't match the requirements when I arrived at the work camp. For example, the website said that I should bring steel-toed work boots, but when I got there the Japanese staff actually bought me a pair of what looked like rain boots with a sticky sole (much more effective when leaping from log to log). The good news was that the staff and other volunteers were incredibly generous in getting me the stuff I needed, but I would have preferred to be better prepared.

We had a 6 day workweek. Actually this was 2 person (me and the coordinator from NICE) camp for most of the 2 weeks I spent at Kirikiri. On certain days we had other volunteers (from Japan) sleeping in out hut. During the day bus loads of Japanese volunteers from different organizations would arrive to help.
After having breakfast we would prepare the work area for the volunteers who would arrive at about 9 am. Work would vary from gathering wood from tsunami devastated buildings, chopping and packaging the wood for sale as "Revival Firewood", and end at 2:30 pm (this is to give the volunteers not connected with the work camp enough time to return to their home bases). Work for the work campers (all 2 of us) did not end at 2:30 pm. We still had to do stuff like secure the work area, stoke the wood furnace to heat the bath water, and scrub down the bath houses (I did the male bathhouse and the female coordinator did the female bath house) every other day.
On our day off we went fly fishing or gathered edible mushrooms (a professor from the prefectural university was there to insure that no poisonous mushrooms were taken).
I would encourage any VFPer to join this work camp, although he or she may be the only person in attendance from outside Japan.

India is truly an incredible country. And there is no better way to get to know the culture, people and environment than volunteering in such a project. I met unbelievable people and had time to both make an impact at a local school and explore the nearby towns. This was truly a life changing experience.

Participating in the Lajee Center 2011 International work camp was a life-changing experience. Having participated in previous international work camps, I anticipated working hard and meeting some amazing people while in the West Bank. While both of those certainly were true of my time at Lajee, this experience was rich in many other ways. Working at the Aida refugee camp gave me insight into what life is like living under occupation and into the complexity of the conflict in Israel and Palestine.

The accommodations in a local school were comfortable and delicious home cooked food was plentiful! The founders of the work camp have been running it for many years and have excellent contacts among religious, political and local community leaders so we heard a wide range of perspectives. During the camp we also planted trees, played with children, studied Arabic, and traveled to different parts of Palestine. We even spent one night camping in the desert at 5th century monastery.

I don’t think the warmth and hospitality of the Palestinian people can be matched anywhere else in the world. It is difficult even to walk down the street without being invited in for coffee or tea. I hope many others will be able to travel to Palestine and see the wonderful contribution the Lajee Center makes for the lives of children at Aida camp.

There were very few moments where there wasn't something to do during the day. The days began with getting up early in the morning to make and drink chai as a group. Some of us would rise earlier to practice some yoga on our own. This moment of solitude combined with a communal activity (making chai) was the perfect way to start the day with a sense of balance.
Then we began our trek to the restaurant to have some breakfast. Because I was there during monsoon season, the weather was a bit difficult to adjust to, particularly in the first week. After having an amazing meal, followed by another glass of chai, we walked over to the school. At the school, the teachers debriefed us on what classes needed to be taught what subjects and we made lesson plans according to the needs. We mostly focused on hygiene practices. We found some struggles when teaching because the younger children struggled with speaking English. There was great joy with interacting with the students, but I felt ambiguous as to whether we were accomplishing what needed to be done due to a lack of continuity with each class. We typically jumped from one class to another.
After school sessions, we went back to the restaurant to have lunch. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and another savory cup(s) of chai. I found the meal times to be the times that I bonded most with my fellow group members. Food broke through the language barriers and cultural differences between the group members. It was something that we all knew we were experiencing for the first time.
After a leisurely lunch, we walked back to the school to have a yoga session with the local university professor. These yoga sessions were incredibly humbling. I learned an incredible amount of valuable lifestyle changes that I still use to this day. It helped with an extreme amount of self-reflection and induced a sense of serenity through a rather chaotic and unfamiliar time in my life.
After yoga, we would embark on a cultural experience that differed from day to day. These experiences were rather exciting and ones that I will not forget.
We would then wind down the day by returning to the house and having food brought to us (women were not allowed out after sundown). I decided to go out with the project leader after dark to retrieve the food and this was an experience I will never forget as I truly felt like a complete outsider as I was starred down as the only woman and the only foreigner.
We would sit down as a group and have dinner. Afterwards, we would do a group activity that was always a time to laugh. Then we would take turns showering or doing laundry (with a bucket and a rock) and then go to sleep. Usually, I would call my family, listen to music, or write in my journal before turning in. It was helpful to have something familiar for a sliver of my day. Although as time continued, the things that were normally familiar felt more new with everyday.

For the first time in my life I didn't spend Thanksgiving with my family. Instead, this year I chose to spend the week in La Valle de Jacmel, Haiti with Volunteers for Peace (VFP).

Our group consisted of eleven volunteers who originated from several different states, as well as two volunteers from China. We ranged in ages from 15 to 57. Our group stayed at CODEHA, which is VFP's local partner organization. During the daylight hours we spent our time in the CODEHA garden fixing and building its perimeter fence, planting plantain and coffee plants, sprucing up the grounds of CODEHA through litter pick up and debris removal, providing cultural exchanges in several local schools, meeting and doing activities regarding litter, clean water and hygiene with a youth club, and helping to prepare meals in the CODEHA kitchen. Evenings generally began with a group dinner, after which we spent time visiting, sharing, and playing games with each other and many of the locals who came to meet us throughout the week.

From the moment I stepped off of the plane in Port au Prince I felt welcomed in Haiti. Every individual I interacted with was kind, helpful, polite, friendly, and eager to share. Every place we went we were accompanied by a local who has ties to CODEHA and/or VFP. This provided an added sense of comfort and security. Our daily "guides" assisted with getting us to our destinations as well as the language difference.

As I mentioned, spending the Thanksgiving week in Haiti was the first time I would be away from my family for the holiday. Turns out, I really wasn't away from family. I was actually just with a new family. A family consisting of wonderful VFP volunteers and amazing people from the extended CODEHA community. Never once did I feel like I should be anywhere else but exactly where I was.

Simply put, this experience was incredible. I was already missing my time in Haiti before I even boarded the plane for home. I would say I hope to return to Haiti, La Valle de Jacmel, and CODEHA someday, but it's more than hope. Instead, I say: I WILL return someday!

Ever tried durian? On my trip to Indonesia I made fast friends with a guy named Aat, who one evening introduced me to this smelly fruit. 'Try it', he said. So we laid it on the patio, busted out a knife, cut it open, and gave it a whirl. The taste was great, though I had to hold my nose! Just one of the many amazing experiences I had getting to know this beautiful country.

We taught English for several weeks in central Java. The Indonesian people were some of the most engaging and welcoming anywhere (and I've traveled quite a bit). The students were easy to get attached to - we taught them everything from the 'ABCs' song to how to Red Rover.

And the Indonesian countryside...with the green rice paddies, volcanoes seeming to rise on all sides...truly incredible.

The support staff was also fantastic - very professional and thorough, and followed through right up to the very end when they went out of their way to make sure we all caught our various means of travel back home (train, bus, plane).

Overall, I would recommend this program to ANYONE!

I participated in 2 SEEDS workcamps- one in the Westfjords and the other in the Eastfjords.
I spent 2 weeks in Patreksfjordur- a town of 700 people in the southern part of the Westfjords. I was there with 8 other SEEDS volunteers who were from all parts of Europe. Our project was managed by the town’s engineer and we worked weekdays from 8-5. Our workcamp’s goal was to beautify the town and our typical tasks included cleaning up junkyards, weeding, grassing and painting. We worked hard, but we often took breaks to lie in the grass on beautiful days and admired the deep, long fjords. On our many coffee breaks we shared laughs and stories with the other locals who worked at the office. During our free time our host Michel guided us around the fjords and we went on many adventures. We went hiking, fishing, relaxed in a natural hotspring, saw whales jumping along the fjords and spotted a lone arctic fox watching over us. We drove to Selardalur to see Samuel Jonsson’s works and to Latrabjarg- the largest sea cliff in Iceland and home to millions of cliff nesting birds. We held an international evening and had the chance to try many traditional Icelandic dishes. The two weeks flew by and we had Michel and the people of Patreksfjordur to thank for making us feel at home during our stay. We were all quite sad to leave!

A week later I headed over to spend 12 days at my next workcamp in Skriduklaustur- an archaeological site in the Eastfjords. From Reykjavik we drove for 13 hours, but we got to see some of the wonders of Iceland along the way. When we got to the Eastfjords we began to see the beautifully carved fjords with many small waterfalls running down them- I began to understand why they called this the land of elves. We were working on a medieval monastic site and preparing it for its official inauguration with the Icelandic ministry of culture in August. I worked alongside 7 other SEEDS volunteers and 5 archaeologists on the site. We worked on building turf walls, creating new walking paths and helped a 70 year old Icelandic man build the stone walls of the monastery. Our work was physical demanding, but we had the honor of finishing this 10 summer archaeological excavation. When we were not working we had the chance to go on many adventures such as relaxing in a hot waterfall, looking down one of Iceland’s deepest canyon, experiencing Europe’s most powerful waterfall and horse riding along one of Iceland’s biggest lakes. Everyday we were spoiled with delicious meals at the Skriduklaustur café and on our last day we had the privilege of burning wood (it was really archaeological remains that needed to be burned) in Iceland for our farewell bonfire.

Iceland is a beautiful country well worth exploring. I had wanted to visit for a long time and VFP even helped me get there with a great scholarship. I enjoyed my time with SEEDS not only because it was a great way to connect with Icelandic life and the people, but it also gave me a chance to connect with people from all over the world. All of the friendly faces I met in Iceland made this a truly unique and an unforgettable six week journey.