Program Reviews

Just as Global Volunteers did in Vietnam 15 years ago, they provided a meaningful, intellectually stimulating, and enjoyable experience. Learning about Cuba directly from the Cubans is the right way to do it. Being in a congenial small group with a team leader and a Cuban guide who understand what GV is all about made the trip a life-changing experience for both my grandson and me. I give the experience an A+

This was the trip of a lifetime...to see Cuba with all of its beauty, culture and rustic appeal still intact before tourism really takes over.
The scenery in Ciego de Avila, Santa Clara and Moron was fabulously untouched, like stepping back in time.

Havana gets into your blood and I could have spend weeks there!
We did not visit tourist areas or beaches, it was the real bird's eye view of Cuba among the streets, cars, people and scenery of real life.

I was disappointed by the fact we had so little time to do things on our own. Perhaps that was because the US govt required that we be scheduled for 12 hours each day. Everything was too structured.

My one week trip to Cuba with Global Volunteers was well planned with excellent guides, comfortable accommodations, and inspiring people to people interactions, such as visits to community art projects, a theater company with performance, music venues, and interactions with Cuban students. The leader and guides were helpful, knowledgeable, and authentic which made for a great people to people experience in Cuba.

I've done this program 3 times now, I'm from Australia. I absolutely love it. The impact of what we do can be seen straight away, with kids responding positively very quickly. I've seen children sit up, smile, become interested in their surroundings and so on within two weeks. One highlight this trip was a child learning my name. Our hosts are local people with huge hearts who work tirelessly and consistently - and they're fun, too! All fun times are what you make them, and can be found in attempting the language or in the antics of the kids. We were perfectly safe at all times. Equally as important, the coffee is great! ;)

Be aware that no matter how fit or young you are, you will be extraordinarily tired by the end of your very worthwhile trip. This is normal. Plan some recovery days!

I'm an 18-year-old girl who is currently taking a "Service Gap Year," volunteering in impoverished countries around the world between high school and college. My first experience was six weeks in Tanzania with Global Volunteers (I combined two three-week sessions). It was beyond incredible. I taught English and chemistry classes at the Secondary School, helped to repair the secondary school library, tutored chemistry, English, geography, math, and history. All the classes at the secondary school are taught in English, so many of the students want to practice their conversational English with the volunteers!

I also worked at the village clinic, attended mass, went on a short hike to the stream and waterfall in the village, and much much more! It's a great community to be a part of, and I always felt safe.

I would definitely recommend this service experience to anyone looking to experience the "real" Africa and to make a difference. It's not a luxurious experience, but the volunteer accommodations are incredible and Mama Toni's food is fantastic. Edward, Mohammed, and Mama Toni take wonderful care of all of the volunteers, and provide a great connection between the volunteers and community members.

I was so inspired by my experience in Pommern that I launched a project to send solar lights to the students at Pommern Secondary School. If you are interested in the project, you can visit my page at igg.me/at/lightsforlearning

I highly recommend this program, and am already looking at planning the next time I will volunteer!

Our family visited the Blackfeet Reservation with GV in 2010. The beauty and wisdom of that culture has remained with us ever since. I have often still referred to things I learned and experienced there.

Our appreciation for creation grew from witnessing the respect and honor demonstrated by the BF People. It was an honor to be permitted to experience their world first hand.

This experience also shattered many stereotypes that we have been exposed to living in a white dominated society.
We are so grateful to have participated in this volunteer experience and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to gain an appreciation for another culture. The direct participation in and with BF People's daily lives and practices was a unique opportunity.

This volunteering experience was of significant mutual benefit for the Liati community and the 8 final year secondary school students from St Louis Collège, Belgium. David Atieku, ARUDMO, in consultation with us, organised all the logistics to ensure that our time in Liati passed smoothly; transfers (Accra-Liati-Accra), meals and accomodation, local transportation, weekend and evening entertainment and last but not least, all our introductions to the community leaders, school director and the local authorities.

We spent our weekday mornings teaching English, French, Social Stuies, Maths and Science in partnership with the teachers from the Liati Junior High School. The teachers prepared their classes well and gave our students clear tasks to do and a framework in which to do it. The Liati students clearly enjoyed these lessons and were very participative in a constructive manner. Amongst the St Louis students we discovered a natural teacher who is now planning on tertiary studies with the aim of a career in teaching. Super.

We spent our afternoons either planting mango trees (partly funded by our students activities in Belgium), playing football with the local kids as well as talking with people of all ages and backgrounds in the community. We felt welcome and safe at all times.

On the weekend we went to the nearby Wli Waterfall. This is a 'must see'. After a short hot walk through the forest you arrive in a natural amphitheatre. The dense forest surrounds you as you face the stunning scene of a 40m high (guesstimate) waterfall dropping into a large sandy bottomed pool where you can safely swim. To enter the pool you walk across a small grassy area covered with butterflies of all shapes and colours. Hundreds of fruitbats can be seen hanging about on the cliffs. Don't forget your swimwear!

There are many opportunities to help this community. There are the schools, the hospital ... I would recommend partnering with ARUDMO and discussing your interests and limitations. We found their assistance invaluable. We will continue to work closely with ARUDMO when we plan future volunteering experiences.

As always there were minor insignificant problems. However, a significant problem was transportation. We didn't organise our transportation well. We relied on Accra based 'companies' who have local 'representatives' but they are not under the influence or authority of either the community leaders or ARUDMO. I will never do that again. All agreements reached were broken, the drivers constantly hassled the students for money and we were always arguing. Fortunately, we have considerable travel experience and I don't think we were ripped off too badly but these situations often leave a bad taste in your mouth and can sour relations between those affected. Inrespective of the size of your group, I would recommend hiring a vehicle(s) and a driver(s) for the duration of your stay and ensuring that you have a written contract with the driver's boss or the owner of the vehicle that covers transport being available to go wherever whenever for the duration.

To finish on a happy note... The food was absolutely superb! We arrived tired and hungry, the students looked at the unfamiliar food, we heard mutterings of distress ... and then the first bite was taken. Delicious. We ate extemely well. We asked for and received fresh loaves of bread with every meal. We bought condiments with us. Cheese and fresh milk is unavailable. Tinned condensed milk makes a lovely cup of tea. We safely ate a wide variety of very well prepared seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables with every meal. Twice a day we had either fish or chicken. Bottled water was always available.

The accomodation was perfectly suited to our needs. We stayed together as a group in a house provided by ARUDMO. Individual bedrooms for the accompanying teacher and a room for the girls and one for the boys. There was electricity for the refrigerator, fans, phone and laptop rechargers... We slept in sleeping bag liners under mosquito nets. Beds were available. Toilets and baths had been placed but were without running water - work in progress. So bathing and flushing were easily achieved with buckets. Large water storage drums were provided.

We were in the middle of the community and once we had been introduced to the community by the community leaders, we had a constant flow of guests, mostly children coming to play but also curious adults.

When I think about our time in Liati, I remember laughter, beautiful views, good food, hard work, valuable work and new friends for all of us. For my students, I have seen them grow as individuals with their achievements large and small. Merci, ARUDMO.

I loved teaching in Crete! The students are enthusiastic (and very cute little kids) and their families are so grateful. The country is absolutely beautiful and you have plenty of time to see the sites. The family run hotel we stayed at was welcoming and the homemade food was delicious every day. I enjoyed this volunteer trip so much I went back again the next summer to do it again.

Each day starts with the Roosters crowing and the school bell for the students to get up and fetch water from the river...well, we sleep a little longer. Momma Tony has breakfast ready by 7am and we are ready to learn of the days projects: teaching in the class rooms and what ever the local school/village needs for construction (i.e. collecting large rocks, digging sand, carrying bricks, building door frames, painting, and so on.) The projects start about 8am...Tanzania time is not the same as Western Time. They don't wear watches, so everything starts when everyone is gathered and ready to start. One of the many reasons I love to get away from home & work for 3 weeks and disconnect from laptops, blackberry, iPad, schedules, etc.
Lunch break is mid-day and then there is a few hours to walk around the village to meet and share thoughts with students and villagers or do what you want. Work starts up late afternoon for a few hours, usually the carrying of bricks and having supplies at site for work the next day; it just all depends on the local project.
Once we're done with the project and awaiting dinner to be ready, we all gather around "the benches" to watch Students, Teachers and/or villagers play football (soccer) in the field, as well as play Draft, which is similar to checkers, and scrabble. The students LOVE to win at scrabble, which is always in English.
During dinner we talk of the accomplishments for the day and many times have guests (teachers, villagers, students) to share their life with us and for us to share with them.
I've loved each experience I've had in Ipalamwa, Tanzania (Nov 2008, Oct 2009, Sept 2010). The Global Volunteer Staff is now family to me. I look forward to returning in December 2012