Program Reviews

If you are looking to make a global impact and creating a culture of literacy in a remote part of the world, this trip is for you! You will be immersed in the culture, surrounded by humble and generous hosts and you will leave having learned much more than you hoped to instill. It was a wonderful organization to partner with and they truly do have a servant mindset as they seek to bring a reading culture through building libraries. One of the other parts of the trip I loved was meeting people from all over the USA that made up the team. We had a chance to do some tourism activities that were so much fun such as river rafting and visiting temples. I hope to go back again and see the progress made and continue the relationships which have become lifelong friends! Don’t miss out on a trip of a lifetime!

When I first signed up to come to Malawi I thought I was going to be bringing a library to a random village. What I didn't realize was that I was bringing much more than that. I was bringing these people hope and opportunity.
Instead of teaching them Success Skills and Music like I had planned, I threw out my lesson and taught based on their needs. In the end, I learned a lot more from them than they learned from me. There is no amount of planning you can do that will prepare you for an experience like this. This trip is what I call an LC, a life changer.

One question that I was asked upon my return was, "do you feel like the people in Kadzakalowa are happier than the people in America?" I wasn't able to answer in the moment, but after a lot of thought I have come to the conclusion that they have something we don't. They don't have WiFi, they don't have air conditioning, and they don't have indoor plumbing. What they do have is a wonderful sense of community and showing people they care. I have never felt more welcomed into someone's home than I did when I was in Malawi. These people are from the most humble of means. This really is the warm heart of Africa. If I could go back tomorrow, I would.

Traveling to another country takes planning and organization, but if you travel with village book builders, all of that work is done for you. If I wanted to go to Nepal, I wouldn't know where to begin to figure out how to set that up. Village Book sets up the housing, the travel, and even does the research on the best places to visit for fun. And you get to be involved in a great service project and potentially gain some leadership experience depending on what you want to do.

I would recommend this for students. I would recommend this for someone who has traveled overseas before, for someone who enjoys interacting with people from other cultures, for someone who is ok with accommodations that are different from what you are used to, and for someone who likes service projects.

The country of Malawi is known as the Warm Heart of Africa because it is located in the center of Africa and it has a huge body of water that runs it border that supplies life giving water to much of Africa. Just like this body of water brings the necessary life to the surrounding area, the group at Village Book Builders are a body of caring people who are bringing life to the areas they touch. I had the blessing to be part of the service expedition to Malawi, Africa in the District of Ntcheu in a small rural African village of Katzakalowa. This village has no electricity and no running water. We were able to take part in the building of a library for them. I was an amazing experience and was a huge success. We had nearly 1000 people from the village and the countryside come out for the grand celebration of the opening of the library. We also fitted the library with Solar Panels so in many ways this library brought light to this village community. Light through knowledge and access to education and light through electricity and rechargeable lamps that the kids can check out with their books to take home to be able to read and study at night. The expressions of the kids and getting to read books with them was one of the highlights. To feel like at a very core level that you are making a generational difference in their life and in the lives of many to come really made the trip special. Great purpose, great people. All in all a wonderful experience and I plan to go again with this same organization, the Village Book Builders!!!

This was one of the best experiences I have ever been apart of! We really made a difference in these childrens lives and it was incredible to be apart of that! I made so many connections with people I never would have known without this program! And we got to stay with the families of the village which was fun but definitely an experience! But without doing that I wouldnt have found my second family! The people were so kind and genuine and the children were so caring towards the books! And of course the excursion days were awesome! I'm glad they took time out of the building and things to do something fun and immersive. Definitely be prepared for some culture shock as the lifestyle and things are completely different! I cant wait to go on another trip with village books when I get the chance!

I love humanitarian trips abroad because they help me to be grateful for what I have (both skills and possessions). And this trip was no different.
My favorite part of the trip was going and sharing our plans for our own future and what they could do with theirs. But I also loved helping them begin the tradition of reading and learning as a family.
I was surprised and grateful that they could help us travel half way around the world and visit so many historical does for such a low cost. The culture is so different since the majority of people aren't Christian. But their values are very high in many ways.
We took a ton of books and laptops and were able to help the children there learn how to read in English more.
Traveling there and back was a long journey. But it was worth it for the price. And we experienced and bonded so much more.

I have not yet gone to Belize yet, but I will be this December. I have always loved service and spent two years in Ghana serving the people there. I will be with my wife and a number of friends and family as we build the library. Working with our local leader and hearing about the many locations they want to take us, just gets me more excited about everything we will experience. Service has brought me the greatest amount of joy in my life and I am excited to be serving 100% of my time again, while still enjoying one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Did I mention we are going cave tubing to some ancient Mayan ruins! Yes we are doing that, from everything I have heard from past volunteers I know this is going to be an amazing experience!

Beautiful Country, Beautiful People! It was a life changing experience and more than I could of ever hoped for. I just wanted something where I could be with friends doing some good, I had no idea that I would be changed in the process. I loved being part of the Mayan community they invited us into their homes even allowing us to celebrate New Years with them, we eat with them, danced with them and then did an amazing firework show!! They even let us break apart our own Pinata! By far though my favorite experience was the celebration at the end of the week where we introduced the entire community to the new library, and seeing those kids open those books for the first time was amazing!! I would go again in a heart beat and would love to go with my family!

I loved my time with Village Book Builders, it was life changing in so many ways. I am so glad I made the decision to go outside of my comfort zone and go to the foreign country to serve. Being able to work alongside the people there and crying together as we all left was the best and hardest experience of my life. The excursions we went on were amazing from river rafting down an ancient canyon to seeing ancient ruins, it was amazing! The leaders were a huge support and were always giving encouragement and direction when needed. If you knew what you were doing though they let you go at it! Which is how I like it, as I am very independent and like to do things myself after given direction. I would go again with Village Book Builders any time!

I loved travelling with Village Book Builders. It's a smaller organization, which I loved because it's more personal. You really get to know the coordinators and people you're travelling with. Each volunteer is assigned responsibilities according to their personal interests and talents.

We didn't just visit the village to work on the library, we lived there with the people for the duration of the trip. They welcomed us into their community with love. We got to live how they live, in small humble homes sleeping in hammocks. They invited us to their new years celebration at their local church and to eat and celebrate with them in their homes.

This was one of the happiest times of my life because each day was spent working to give to these people. I spent hours with the kids in the village, playing with them and helping them prepare for the library. It was so meaningful to me because I knew that we would be leaving something behind that would continue to give back.