Program Reviews

Outstanding Local Coordinators: Teva, Ranandi, Losana, GG at Green Lion:
- friendly
- helpful
- efficient
- well mannered
- thoughtful, etc.

Excellent cook Ani - great food; varied; sufficient; nutritous; well balanced.
Accommodation comfortable, well located, clean.

Persons at Rock Christian Academy were welcoming and super helpful.
Memorable experience! Thank you.

Entrance gate lock arrangement at Rose House needs attention. Some WD40 on the lock would prevent sticking. An upright metal to stabalise one side of the gate should help.

Review from Willem.. (travelled together)
The accomodation was great and really cool to stay with other volunteers. A real experience catching a bus with the locals and the orphanage mamas were friendly and great. Loved hanging with the kids.

Reveiw from Maddy...
The accomodation was great, host family kind, helpful and friendly. Food was great but the experience helping at the orphanage was incredible. Met some beautiful people an experience I won’t forget. The children were so special and the Mamas lovely.

My son had a wonderful experience. He went with a friend, being that they were not yet 18 years old they were assigned a local chaperone who showed them around Antigua and made the day to day a ton of fun. I corresponded with the local staff and they helped coordinate a surf excursion and a mountain bike excursion, which they loved. My son took two hours of Spanish a day and did service work in the coffee plant fields. He said the work was tough but he enjoyed it. Michael learned a lot in a week. Thank you and a special thank you to Rose for making sure my son found the right volunteer service and was safe.

Before arriving in country, and while there, they were extremely communicative and helpful with every aspect of my experience. My volunteer placement was a short bus ride from my home stay and the kids were wonderful! I also enjoyed talking and working with the teachers, all of whom were very welcoming and friendly. My supplemental Spanish classes were very helpful and schedules are flexible when doing two programs at once. The whole staff is friendly and accommodating. I enjoyed doing many of the free optional activities they offer such as cooking classes, hikes, and a fun fruit farm tour. My host family was incredibly friendly and I made a lot of friends in the fellow students/volunteers staying with us. Overall a great experience volunteering in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica!

This organization is very structured and welcome. We worked with children of elementary school. I fall in love with them from the first seen. They are very friendly, sweet, and smart. I was suprised by many of the kids of their talents. They are outgoing when we do outdoor activities. They are super sweet when they bring drawings and handcrafts. There are so much more to discover from these wonderful children. And the family of this organization is very nice with big heart. They appreciate life and all the books and materials I brought to them. They would do everything to help educate these children. I would suggest anyone who come here, be prepared to get your heart melted here with lovely smiles.

I was looking to do a program like this for months and I am so happy I chose to do it. You guys were so supportive in everything I wanted to do. My goal when I came here was to help children and try to make an impact on their lives the best way I could in the three weeks I had and with your guys help, I feel like I was definitely able to do that and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do so. Costa Rica is such an interesting place and I am very happy I chose to do the program here. People and staff are so friendly and my host family was so kind and generous. I met so many great people here along the way, saw so many cool and interesting things, and I can´t wait to come back and to keep traveling to help more kids through your organization!

My experience was incredibly rewarding and the time I spent there felt impactful. The dogs were very receptive to any love and attention they received, and it was made apparent that a little would go a long way.

I was able to work with individuals from all around the world and learn more about the culture in Peru. Everyone was very helpful and eager to share experiences, which made every moment worthwhile. Learning Spanish was challenging and exciting, and it was great to have the opportunity to practice the language on a daily basis.

Travelling with Carrun and just a small group of girls who were all amazing….going around the Mamanuca Islands and working in different communities each day was really cool.

Epic team and i’d love to volunteer again with the same group of amazing girls if I could! Carrun was a legend and made the trip super fun.

In the brief it stated we would be working shorter days, and some of our days ended up being 10 hours of work. If I wasn’t working this would have been fine, but I had anticipated being able to work in the evenings. For any students studying during the trip, it would be a bit difficult with the super long hours.

Highlights of the trip:

-Interacting with the kids, who are so genuinely excited to see you. It’s amazing how accepting, grateful and respectful they are!

-Meeting people from all around the world, particularly Europe! Made friends with girls from all over Europe and America, whom we met up in Bangkok for the weekend!

-The locals: everyone was so friendly and welcoming, and more than happy to help with directions.

The team, particularly the team leaders, were lovely and always tried their best to answer your questions and were very informative regarding plans, times, meeting points etc. The shared dorms were also great, and were important in getting to know to others. The food was nice most days too, and kept us going throughout the day.

I am not the same person I was when I arrived in Thailand. Just when I thought I gave enough of myself with the work that I do, I have now uncovered another level of giving that I never knew existed. My heart is filled with love for all of the children and of course this beautiful country and it’s amazing people. They have all taught ME so much!

Thailand is definitely the land of smiles. It will be extra special to me now after this experience. Everyone wasnothing but supportive and welcoming. I have made so many amazing friends who I will cherish for the rest of my life and I definitely know that this is something I will continue to do forever. I’m hooked!! I am going to encourage people to consider volunteering, it has been one of the most humbling, incredible experiences- words just can’t explain what I feel right now. I’m so sad it has come to an end, but I know I will be back for more.

Once again thank you for everything- your support before and during my trip was much appreciated. You are all amazing!! Kind regards.