Program Reviews

Ich war in der Familie von Arabella für 3 Monate. Zunächst will ich erstmal die positiven Erfahrungen teilen:
Ich hatte sehr gut das Leben der Leute vor Ort kennengelernt, da Josué der Gastbruder mich vorallem den letzten Monat fast jeden Tag fast überall mitgenommen hat und wir mit seinen Freunden am Strand, feiern oder was Essen waren. Mir hat es sehr gut gefallen Ticos kennenlernen und sehen wie sie sich im Gegensatz zu uns Deutschen verhalten und Leben. Sie kamen mir oft viel freundlicher und “normaler” vor als Deutsche. Teilweise habe ich auch gemerkt, dass ich einfach anders groß geworden bin und mich auch anders verhallte und nicht ganz so offen und “unbesorgt” bin.
Auch Lehrer und vorallem die Kinder in der Schule waren extrem Herzlich!
In der Schule war ich den allergrößten Teil nur in so genannten Campamento was wie eine Ferienbetreuung war. Ich war eigentlich sehr froh darüber, dass es so so war da ich gemerkt habe, dass es mir viel besser gefällt, mit Kindern Fußball zu spielen, als Ihnen etwas über Geschichte beizubringen. Da mich diese Dinge auch mehr interessieren als die anderen.
Die negativen Seiten waren jedoch, dass ich mir teilweise sehr einsam und gelangweilt Programm, da zum Glück für auch eher kurze Zeit ich alleine in der Familie war und ist in dem Dorf, wo ich war, auch kaum Möglichkeiten gab etwas zu unternehmen und ich auch nur mit einem teuren gemieteten Mini Moped aus dem Dorf richtig raus gekommen bin.
Ich bin sehr, sehr froh, das Projekt gemacht zu haben da ich sehr viele schöne Momente, wie zum Beispiel die Lagerfeuer nachts am Strand hatte und viele neue Freunde gemacht habe.

Angekommen mitten im Regenwald wurde ich dann auch schon von den der anderen Freiwilligen Arbeiterin (Marijeta) herzlich empfangen. Und den anderen Arbeiterinnen vorgestellt. Der Alltag sah im Normalfall (was ungefähr jeder 2. Tag war :)) wie folgt aus: Um 6 Uhr gings zum Kaffee und anschließend zur Arbeit. Um 8 gabs Frühstück und dann wieder an die Arbeit bis um 1 Uhr. Danach war dann frei wo ich oft in meinem Zimmer gechillt habe oder spatzieren war. Um 8 gab es Abendessen. Nach dem ich dann recht früh schlafen gegangen sind. Die Arbeiter waren echt alle sehr lustig drauf und meistens auch sehr nett. Es war auch recht leicht mit ihnen Kumpels zu werden.
Mein Persönliches Highlight war auf jeden der “Helikopter” - Flug mit Jürgen, wo wir über den Jungel geflogen sind. Es war meine Ehrfahrung welche ich wahrscheinlich mein Leben lang nicht vergessen werde, da es einfach ein Gefühl von Freiheit und Beieindruckung der Natur ist, da man sich im Gegensatz zu ihr so klein vorkommt. Ich bin sehr dankbar dafür das gemacht haben zu dürfen.
Ich würde das Programm Leuten empfehlen welche gerne viel in der Natur sind und auch kein Problem mit einem sehr einfachen Lebensstil kein Problem haben.
Auf der Lodge werdet ihr auf jedenfall in eine ganz “neue Welt” eintauchen und von allem was wir sonst so gewöhnt sind abstand gewinnen und eventuell danach auch von einem anderen Winkel betrachten, da viele Probleme sehr unbedeutend vorkommen, nachdem man sieht, das man echt nicht viel im Leben eigentlich braucht um Glücklich zu sein.
Jedoch muss ich ehrlicherweise sagen das ich im Nachhinein eher Freiwilligenarbeit wie “Workaway” gemacht hätte, da es dort auch ähnliche Projekte gibt und man nicht für das Arbeiten bezahlt. Nicht desto trotz hatte ich eine sehr prägende Zeit in der ich sehr viele Ehrfahrungen sammeln konnte und bin extrem froh das ganze erleben zu dürfen!

This has been the best trip of my life. This experience was incredible on all levels. First of all the family that hosted me were very kind, very welcoming and very present when I needed help. Secondly, in regards to the school that I helped out in, everyone there was extremely nice to me and made me feel comfortable right away. I was able to meet some very nice people in this school and make some very nice friendships. As far as the children in this school are concerned, they allowed me to grow, to learn about life, and I was happy to realize that I was able to make a small impact on them. I also made incredible connections with them and the goodbyes were very emotional, they even gave me a gift for my departure.
And finally, in my free time all the people I met there were very dedicated to giving me an incredible time doing lots of activities and discovering Costa Rica and their culture with them. Therefore this experience was incredible and exceeded all my expectations, I highly recommend and thank the First Hand Costa Rica organization and all the people I met there for what they made me live.

For three weeks I worked as a volunteer at the Eco-Lodge. The work was starting early in the morning and was physically demanding, for example cutting weeds around small trees.
I really liked the hike in the rainforest where we slept one night in an hammock. The other days I lived in a simple room of the staff.
You should expect that you are far from civilization where you can not get to a supermarket and you do not have internet. To get a mobile phone reception you have to do a small walk to the river.
If you like nature, time for your own and animals like horses, I can recommend you this project. It is an unhurried life there, but because of that you have to wait sometimes a while for someone.

Thanks to firsthand, with their organization and information it was much easier to travel the first time alone in a foreign country.

I would say it was the best time in my life because of the diverse activities and works. For example accompany tourist for a hike, helping in the kitchen, planting a tree, ridding plants of weeds or accompany students which explores the rainforest during the excursion. I had so much fun and it was so interesting to talk with staffs. They taught me a lot of their lifestyle and their culture.
You’re living there such a different life compare to your „normal“ life. It´s a big step to finding yourself in the natural environment. You have a strict agenda every day and you are doing a good job against rainforest deforestation, well it worth it. And you’re seeing it with your own eyes how hard is the reality. I will never forget this time. After I left I realized a lot, go there and you will see :) The accommodation was really nice and comfortable.

The 10 weeks were an exciting and great time. Although there is no internet (almost 😊, at the river with luck you might have up to 2 bars with Kolbi) I enjoyed my stay very much. It was nice to work together with the local team. Even though my Spanish was not very good, we understood each other somehow. With 4 volunteers it was a great time, especially since we became very good friends. We made two trips during our stay to Cahuita using our free days. But staying alone in the lodge is also an incredible experience. There´s a lot of time for inner reflection and the rainforest with it`s never dying sound is a great environment. Like me you will make the experience to see a lot of animals. Sometimes it´s hard to take a photo, but your mind will always remember what you saw. It´s an incredible nature. You will become familiar with a lot of animals even in your room. Geckos, Spiders, Frogs, Snakes and Scorpions are always around and of course many birds, totally different in color and behavior. Furthermore, with a little luck you`ll see, Night Monkeys (Kinkajous), Agutis, Racoons, Howler Monkeys, tbc….
The work at the lodge is not too hard, but you should be fit. Some works were really challenging for me and the other. I would recommend bringing working gloves and be aware that you must work in rain boots. They have many sizes at the lodge, but if you have big or very small feet you should bring your own. A flashlight is a must. There are no lights in the lodge and to avoid snake attacks in the night (at 6 p.m. it`s dark) you need to have one.
The food is pretty good. Although you will have rice and beans almost three times a day it is added with other food like noodles, eggs, cheese, salad, other vegetables and more. Everything is very tasty and you will like it.
Thank you to the team, you were great. I´ll remember this time as one of the best in my life.

I worked as a volunteer in a private school. It was a small elementary school where every teacher has his own class with about seven pupils of two different grades for example four pupils of grade 4 and three of grade 5. There was also a kinder garden and a pre-school. In the beginning I helped the teacher in the pre-school by repeating easy English vocabulary with the children like the colors and assist the kids for example with tying their shoelaces and so on. Later I was in the class of grade 4 and 5 where I looked after the children while they were working on their own with their workbooks and tried to answer their questions about their exercises. I also practiced a poem with them. One day they did a spelling competition where I was one of the judges. It always depends on the teacher what work you will do, but you should not expect a good organization in advance. It is more an organization day by day.

While I worked in the school, I lived in a host family. The host family was living next to the beach. I needed to take the bus to get to the school. The bus was really cheap, but I needed to get up early, because the bus drove there at 6 in the morning. Some other teachers also arrived that early in the school, so that we sat there together before the children arrived and ate our breakfast. In the afternoon I took some Spanish classes offered by my host mum, I would recommend you to do it, too. It was perfect to improve my Spanish skills and it is better to have some knowledge of Spanish, because not every teacher there spoke English. The children there have taken me to heart, so it was hard to leave the project in the end.

Thanks to firsthand, with their organization and information it was much easier to travel the first time alone in a foreign country.