Program Reviews

The experience was very good, because I felt that there was a lot of freedom. Each experience depended on how the volunteer wanted to live it. It was possible to discover and help the unprivileged, but also the dynamics of a latin amercian city. I found that the mixture of both, the volunteering and the living with a family in costa rica, made me mature and learn a lot about myself. Also, the staff were helpful (Julian aswell as the staff in San José), I felt like we could not have been better taken care of.

As in everything in life, a lot depends of yourself. That is especially the case when it comes to volunteering in Cameroon, out of my own and my friends experiences. You can be creative and realize yourself in many ways if you take initiative and really make clear what you want and intend to do. Biggest difficultie related to volunteering for me and many others her has defenetly been poor communication and for this reason it is extremely important to be active in order to get the maximum out of it. I also believe that the longer you stay, bigger the chances are to really have a positive impact on the environment. Overall, by doing more, you get more.

The West Bank is no place to be afraid of. As with everywhere there are considerations to be aware of. For example, falling in love with the Palestinian people. It is considerably dangerous business, the warmth, hospitality, patience and consideration is lethal.

The program itself is involved heavily in the local community, and well regarded. Time spent outside program activities can be spent on activities ranging from visiting historical and religious sites, braving tear gas, rubber bullets and arrest at protests, hiking the Judean Desert or Golan foothills, studying colloquial Arabic or agricultural permaculture methods. Planned wisely, visiting the West Bank and Israel will give you an unbiased, first hand insight into a conflict that has had a global impact for the past 60 years.

The food is fantastic, the dancing is manic, the hospitality and concern for every visitor's wellbeing is aggressive.

I can only advise going soon and for remaining as long as you can.

I worked helping in the school for young kids (kindergarten) while parents were at work. I helped to teach basic english to the kids, and with games also, which was fun. The kids are really keen to learn and are great energy but don't have a lot of opportunities to learn, with many not going to school as they grow older.
I lived onsite, the staff were inspiring, making do with what they have got, I have travelled a lot but I had to adjust to living in a poor country.
I think the program is making a good step toward helping the Romani people, as they don't have opportunities, low education, and have been discriminated agianst.. they have a long road ahead, and seems like a lot of work to do which is why education is important!
I chose Love Volunteers after looking at their Facebook pages and contacting people from there who had used them before - which I would recommend anyone with any project. They were easy to contact when I had questions as well as when I was away.
Overall it was really rewarding, be prepared for an emotional roller coaster.

Hospitality

Africans are known of their hospitality and Ghanaians make no exception to this. Hospitality is the first thing you notice, when you arrive to Ghana. It can be noticed everywhere, especially when you are visiting somebody's home.

Food

Talking about hospitality easily turns to a discussion about food. I think that Ghanaian food is very good, although sometimes it might be a bit spicy. Be also prepared to eat with your hands, (it's very simple, when you learn the technique) but usually you can get a spoon or fork if you ask for that. When you have been a couple of weeks in Ghana you notice, that most of the foods are even easier to eat with your hand, for example Fufu, a traditional Ghanaian food, which looks and even tastes pretty much like a smashed potato, although it's far from it.

Accommodation

During my visit to Ghana I was staying in a family in the city of Kumasi near the place I was working in. The family was very nice and they helped me in everything that I needed help for. The Ghanaians are very friendly and you can expect of getting enough food no matter where your accommodation place is.

Placement

I was working at an orphanage, which was located in the village called Apire, at the outskirts of the city of Kumasi. There were about 25 children at the orphanage, aged between 1 and 17. Even since the car carrying me arrived there, I could feel that I'm welcomed. My work included playing with the children, helping with some construction work they were doing there and assisting with everything I could do. For everybody coming to volunteer I can say one advice: forget the things you thought you cannot do, you can learn them there! Just be open-minded and everything goes fine.

The organization staff

Love Volunteers' partner in Ghana doesn't have much personnel, but they are professionals in the work they are doing. They concentrate to the work and you can feel free to ask them about the things you don't know, or about the problems you might meet. You can trust that the organization helps you no matter what happens during your trip.

Teaching English in Ho Chi Minh City was amazing. We were involved in a variety of projects with students of all ages. We got to put together and run our own lessons, which was scary at first but was ultimately incredibly rewarding. We taught two/three lessons a day and the staff were really flexible e.g. if you wanted to go away for a long weekend. There was loads of support and all the other international volunteers I met were friendly and helpful and just lovely!

I have recommended Love Volunteers to all of my friends. The mission of the organization and founder (who I was able to meet personally while volunteering) are impeccable and trustworthy). My experience in volunteering in Senegal was far from perfect; in fact, it turned out to be a disaster both mentally and financially. However, I do not consider the problems I had in Senegal to be a reflection of Love Volunteers as an organization. LV is very organized and reliable, and was quick to help me work through the issues I experienced during my time in Senegal. I highly recommend the use of this organization, as I feel they are the best volunteer/program liaison in the business (I have volunteered with others before)

I spent a wonderful month in Jaipur volounteering in a school that has been set up for children who live on the street. The children are great, full of energy and happiness and you would never know from their attitudes that they have so little. The school runs from 10am til 1pm, 5 days per week. Volunteers are distributed among the three classrooms and are responsible for planning and conducting lessons to teach english and maths. Volunteer numbers fluctuate from week to week and there are times when I was the only teacher in the classroom. The teaching is very challenging as language is a big barrier, and the learning moves slowly. But the kids are very bright and on the whole well behaved. There is plenty of time to explore the many sights of Jaipur in the afternoons and go further afield in the weekends. The volunteer accommodation is adequate, and considering you are in India it is very nice. It is clean and safe and a fun, social place.

It was a lovely experience, but I would recommend that you inform a bit more about the local organization. And maybe review, look into the places you locate people more thorough seeing as a few of the volunteers had very little work to do.

And I would have liked to know more about my work beforehand -

My whole trip to Uganda brightly opened up my eyes seeing to life and things especially toward myself life. I gained lots of positive thoughts back home. I worked in a small school with an Ugandan teacher in a kindergarten class in a rural village. I usually draw pictures with sentences to describe the meaning of the pictures and ask them to rewrite the sentences or filling the missing word and sometime we draw a picture in their exercise book and ask them to shape the picture and give them score. Sometime I were asked to visit other classes in primary school because they rarely see the people from outside so I told them about my country and myself. But nobody know about Cambodia and they thought that I'm from China or other counties. Everywhere I go on the way they always call me "Chines...Chines!" or "Jackie Chan", the famous Chinese's funny actor. The children like me a lot and they always come near and ask me. The people in Uganda are so friendly they always saying “how are you?” instead of saying "hello" at the first meet. My time here was so great I like Uganda a lot and hopefully I will be back sometime.