Program Reviews

My Fiji volunteering trip was the most incredible experience of my life. It sounds overdramatic to describe it like this but the combination of the people and the program was amazing. I met beautiful people and shared the best experiences - we've already planned trips to see each other after the program!

About the team and volunteer house...The local team in Fiiji were beautiful people. They made sure we were comfortable and well fed. The accommodation was kept clean and tidy. A plumbing issue was dealt with quickly.

I can’t express enough how much Meki, Tima and Paulina took care of me. They would even fan me when I was eating and if I was lying on the front deck (anywhere I was actually if they thought it was needed😆) I’ve never been fanned before😆

Sitting up the head of the table being fanned and continually fed was definitely a new experience! I felt like Queen Joey😆
They also prepared me the most beautiful bedroom.

I have arranged to visit Meki and his beautiful family again in October. Also a lovely lady Karalaini from the one of the hotels I stayed in has asked me to her parents village while I’m there. I’m very excited to be seeing everyone! I’ll also get to see the ladies at the women’s commune as Karalaini’s Grandma lives there.

This is Karalaini I met at a hotel I stayed in. She is the lady taking me to her village. There’s always a positive if I hadn’t stayed in hotels at times I wouldn’t of met her:) I truly had the best time thank you.

I just absolutely love volunteering☀️ Thank you also for always getting back to me Lauren explaining everything to me and helping me every step of the way,

x Jo

I made it through games and exercises. The children were very friendly and respectful. They immediately considered me as their teacher. They knew very little English but all I had to do was smile and use gestures. For any help I could asked to the teacher who knew English.
One week the school was closed for a celebration so I cleaned a beach and I started a new activity to renovate a school.
I also participated at a celebration and it was very interesting!
It was a really good experience that I suggest for everyone!

Review of the Nutrition & Health Education, Ubud. It was a very beautiful experience, short but intense! I had the opportunity to get involved first hand, I prepare lessons for the children and explain the topics to them in a simple and playful way. At the end of the week they were very happy and happy that they had learned new things! It was very stimulating and I was sorry I only did it for a week.

The facility I stayed in was quite comfortable and welcoming, the food was good and the local staff was quite present.

My time volunteering on the remote island teaching program in Fiji with Involvement Volunteers International....

It was such a beautiful experience. everybody on the island is so accommodating and welcomes you with open arms, it is difficult however to adjust to the different routines but so worth it!

Comments on local team, food and accommodation: Again, so accomodating, felt so supported the entire trip, always providing what was needed.

The Madagascar trip was brilliant. At the school the children were really engaged learners. I found the most important thing on this trip was taking many more picture books. I hadn't done that enough on the other trips, so I made a bigger effort to this time, and it worked out well.

So after English spelling and sight words etc, we read a picture book each day. I read the page in English, then Gabriel, one of the workers, would explain the page in Malagasy/French. It was excellent being able to expose the students to the artwork (the pictures) in the books. They mostly do chalk board exercises for their lessons. In all the schools I have taught at now I have noticed the difficulty with imaginative tasks (creativity), and drawing. There is a really high number of students unsure/shocked when I say 'good sentence, now draw a picture to go with it'. So my idea with the picture books was to expose them to the art.

The main activities in this project was to feed and clean the turtles and their tanks. I was very happy that we could work with the turtles every day! But that was not all, other activities included beach cleaning and, my favourite, crab catching, which was very fun.
Yet, we had a lot of free time tour, where we could explore the island. The coordinators were very friendly and helpful, they helped us to get taxis or snorkelling tours on the island. They were also very fun people, with which we played football and enjoyed music at the bonfire.
Also all the other staff was very friendly, the food was good aswell, with a mix of western and local dishes.

Overall one of the best experiences of my life. I was immersed in the Nepali culture. Interacting with the locals, learning what daily life is like in Nepal. Volunteering was great! Hard work, but rewarding at the same time. Best part was spending time with the other volunteers. All like minded people, there for the experience and trying to help make a difference. The volunteers were from all over the world, so I was able to learn about their cultures and differences as well.
The team was fantastic! Clean and comfortable lodging. Very friendly staff, all willing to help make the most out of your stay. Whether is was teaching about this very unique culture or getting around to historical sites. Food was also fantastic! A mix of local and western cuisine. Always plenty to eat. The chef was top notch:)

I spent two weeks travelling around Fiji where I stayed in Lautoka, Suva, a village, and a resort - so lots of different accomodation styles. I was very lucky to have had such an amazing team to work with - they went from being a team of strangers, to becoming like a second family to me. We received training on how to perform blood pressure and blood sugar checks, and how to take height, weight, and waist measurements correctly. The first week of the project was spent living in a village. It was a huge culture shock at first, just a completely different way of living to what we have back home. But it was one of the highlights of my trip because never have I felt so welcomed, accepted, and taken care of by such lovely and friendly people.

Our host family were wonderful, making us feel so at home and giving us the opportunity to really immerse ourselves in the culture. I learnt so much from them - Fijian phrases, what they typically eat, how to tie a sulu correctly, their history, what a typical day in a village is like, the etiquette, etc. By the end of the stay I really did feel like a local. This was a truly eye opening and rewarding experience, being able to put a smile on each individual's face when we performed the health checks and knowing how much it meant to them was such an amazing experience to be apart of.

The second week of the project was spent at Nanuku resort. This was a completelty different contrast to what we had experienced the previous week. But again, just like the first week, we were warmly welcomed and just our presence was so highly regarded by the Fijian people. A highlight for me in this week was hearing how some of the ladies had consciously made the effort to increase their exercise and watch their sugar consumption, leading to lower weight and waist measurements which came primarily down to the fact that they had listened to our education talks the last time we had visited them. So hearing this only reinforced why this project is so worth becoming involved in, knowing that you truly are making small differences in peoples lives.

Kindy teaching project in the coral coast:

This project was so much fun. It gave me the opportunity to meet so many like minded people from different areas around the world. There was a lot more down time on this project which gave me more of a chance to do sightseeing and activities which I really enjoyed. I decided to do the cultural introduction week on my first week of this project, and it is safe to say I'm really glad I did! This would be the highlight of this project and I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering taking part in this - we got to visit a waterfall and swim in it, we hiked up Sigatoka sand dunes, we went to Maui bay, we did a cooking lesson on how to make some of the popular Fijian food, we did a Fijian language class, and we also learnt how to weave bracelets. I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching in the preschool and absolutely fell in love with the Fijian kids! It was so great to be able to help teach them to write and read, count their numbers, and learn the alphabet.

Mere and Masi were so lovely and welcoming. I was greeted at the airport by them and from day one they made me feel so at home and well looked after. They felt like my second set of parents and really took great care of all of us. I have a few dietary requirements and was worried that I wouldn't be able to eat much of the food - however, Mere made sure I was well catered for and there was always something for me to eat. The food on this project was amazing!! It was so fresh and very well cooked - you could tell a lot of time and effort had gone into preparing every lunch and dinner. I really enjoyed trying all the different Fijian food and actually feel in love with rourou (taro leaves stewed in coconut milk).

Carrun was an awesome coordinator - she always provided reassurance, support, and encouragement every step of the way, and never pushed you into doing something you didn't want to do (e.g. my downfall was taking blood pressure!) She made us feel really comfortable to communicate anything we were unsure of or if any issues arised we knew we could openly communicate to her about them. It was great to see her in her element, and seeing how passionate she was about the work she was doing reinforced why we were doing these health checks, and actually inspired me to want to do something similiar in years to come. It was really fun to work with her and I liked the balance between engaging in intense work, but also being able to share a laugh and debrief with her at the end of the days.

I taught English to people in a rehab center. My lessons were every morning from monday to thursday. I was able to choose the content of the lessons myself. They especially liked when I taught them songs with english lyrics. The people there were incredibly nice and grateful. I actually cried when saying goodbye. I had so much fun teaching English.

My host family became an actual family, I’ll never forget them. Food was delicious, I had lots of “Gallo Pinto”. My accommodation was nice as well, I even had a fan close to my bed.