Program Reviews

united planet helped me to feel very supported and safe in my experience. i always had a go-to person there that helped me to feel comfortable and welcomed and the preparation prior to my departure was fantastic. i would have liked a bit more direction in my day to day work as i feel like i could have been doing more, but the program i was involved with was a bit less structured than others so it was to be expected.

Overall, the experience was enjoyable. I absolutely loved Cusco, and the local people were friendly and welcoming. I enjoyed getting to know the city and seeing all the cultural gems like Macchu Picchu. The city itself was beautiful.

I was not terribly impressed with United Planet's support staff in Cusco, however. The gentleman in charge was almost impossible to catch in the office, and when I raised a question about a safety concern (walking to the bus stop and riding the bus alone at night for half an hour), I was basically brushed off. I thought they could've done a better job of communicating in general.

For the first five weeks, I worked in an abused women's shelter, caring for the children and teaching some English on the side. For the next five weeks, I worked in a town called Cai Cay a bit outside of Cusco, running an after-school program for the kids. Both of these experiences were fun, and I did feel like I was contributing. The women's shelter was definitely more well-run. There was a lot more free time than I was expecting, though, so I wished that they had done a better job of explaining that beforehand (especially in regards to the Cai Cay portion of the trip). I was also responsible for buying my own meals over the weekends that I was in Cai Cay, which I had been assured would be paid for by United Planet.

Overall, I thought the experience was pretty good, but I don't think it was made particularly better by anything that United Planet did specifically. If you were comfortable with it, you probably could save some money and have more control over your experience by going independently.

Living with a host family was the greatest experience I could ever ask for. I taught math at two different schools while in Nepal for 3 months and got an opportunity to live with two different families. Each was supportive, loving and thoughtful in helping me learn my way around Nepali culture and lifestyle. The students were eager to learn from me once they knew who I was and recognized me as a teacher. Teaching math was a wonderfully diverse experience because I got to teach counting to the nursery students all the way up to advanced algebra to 8th graders. I have been planning my return ever since I left - it was the best three months I ever spent. This is an opportunity that is not to be missed!

I had an amazing experience volunteering through United Planet. What I loved most about the program is that I was able to live very independently in the country but I also had the support that I needed while I was there. I worked teaching English in a local orphanage of Siem Reap, Cambodia. I was able to come up with fun and creative lesson plans for the children that I knew they would enjoy and learn from. I grew extremely attached to the children, who were beyond grateful for the time that I had spent there with them. Although they had very little, they were some of the happiest bunch of children and they probably taught more to me than I was able to teach to them. Without a doubt, this was a life changing experience for me.