Program Reviews

I joined project abroads conservation project in Thailand for 2 month. It was amazing to be a part of the team. To learn how to dive and make a different while diving was awesome. The instructors were very professional, and we learned about the different fish and coral, and also about coral diseases.

The Beach clean ups were tough in the heat, but it was definitely worth it, seeing all the plastic and cigarets we collected from the Beach.

The staff members were allways very helpfull. During my stay i Got a infection, the staff helped me getting to the doctor and stayed with me till i was feeling better.

After Work there was plenty of time to relax and have fun with the other volunteers. Or to Explorer more of the beautiful Thailand and the amazing culture.

In my time helping out at a local school I got to know the students, the staff and the people of the country.

From decorating the school, helping out in the nursery to teaching business class to older students everything I did felt like it had a purpose.

Doing this all with the support of the friendly staff made me feel welcome and love every moment, always being able to ask questions and find out more about the country while there.

This experience taught me so much, allowed me to open my eyes wider and most importantly leave with life long friends. To this day I still keep in touch with teachers from the school and many
other volunteers from around the world.

This is why it was one of the biggest impacts on my life. Even now I look back on it as a trip that experienced my entire outlook.

I spent less than 2 months in Cordoba, Argentina, volunteering in the children's hospital Niño Jesus (in the medical program) and in the girls' jail and foster home (human rights program). A part from the practical sides of my experience, it's been certainly life-changing for me, I was blocked in that moment of life, couldn't get ahead with my studies or figure out what else I'd want to do. This cultural exchange (for me it's mostly this aspect I value after 4 years) allowed me to shift perspectives on the world and on my life, and helped me to move on. Besides blessing me with incomparable longterm friendships: I'm regularly in contact with my host-mother who has become like an overseas aunt to me and I have to dear friends that I still meet up with once in a while. But of course the human aspect is also a question of good luck, as always.

As far as the volunteering work is concerned I have mixed feelings: the medical "internship" was not so exciting for me, coming from medical school most things weren't new to me and the aspect I loved most was the interaction with patients, observing the social and cultural habits of the families. I wasn't able to do anything practical, but that is normal in hospitals where nobody knows you.
Therefore I'd recommend the medical program mostly for whom has just graduated high school and is curious about the environment. Just know that you'll only get to watch.

That's also the reason for which I especially loved the work with the girls, both in the foster home and in juvie: we organized games to play, dance sessions, we taught the older ones how to write a CV and we always brought Coke and snacks. I loved spending time with them , learning about their stories and struggles and thinking that I had made their afternoon a bit brighter.

Regarding the ProjectsAbroad team I must say that they were all welcoming and helpful in explaining public transportation, how to get around from our home to our "workplace" and they were available at any hour of the day if we were having problems or doubts.
(I spent my first night at the airport because my tutor got my arrival date wrong on his agenda - but as I said, you need luck and you don't always get some. I didn't get much sleep but nothing bad happened to me, he was dreadfully sorry, over a hot cup of coffee we had a laugh about it and I had my first good story to tell).
Once a week they organized a "social night" (dinner, bowling, cooking class, etc) which was great to get to know volunteers of other programs and get to know the nightlife of the city a little better.
These get-togethers were also a perfect occasion to plan our 1 or 2-day bus trips for the weekends. In those occasions I've been to Buenos Aires (tango), Mendoza (winetasting), Salta (trip to the salt desert) , horse-riding in La Cumbre, hiking in Villa General Belgrano - with the night bus you can actually get quite far.

In conclusion I'd like to urge everybody who has the possibility to travel far, be curious, work with locals, talk to all kinds of people, challenge yourself and overcome your worries about what you could or couldn't be able to do. You have to give it a chance in order to find out! Whatever may happen and whomever you encounter, you'll always go home richer, more openminded and closer to being a "citizen of the world", what we should all aspire to become these days, at least in my opinion.

Good luck and enjoy your adventure!

Easily one of the most amazing experiences of my life! It was great fun and I made friends from all over the world. The locals we friendly and there is so much to see on the islands, we all learnt alot and I don't think anyone could forget there time there.

We were never short on things to do for the project and special activities were also arranged like talks from wwf spokes people, local dancing lessons and trips into villages and schools. The staff were all enthusiastic and happy to talk to you about what was going on and the dive tean were funny and always up for a laugh while also being very Profesional and keeping all divers under their care safe and happy.

I would love to go back again and would recommend this project to anyone who wants a new adventure!

While the concrete evidence of the impact of the the teachers aid program is difficult to gauge, the personal growth I experienced in Romania was unprecedented. It has been to this day one of the most challenging and exciting things I have ever done. The host families are great and the staff are amazing and really care about your experience. I found that they were constatl yg going out of their way to make sure that you were enjoying your time as much as possible. Local trips were weekly and the cultural immersion was complete ( I even woke up one morning to a traditional Romanian wedding party in our tiny apartment). Overall, if you measure this volunteer opportunity in personal growth and not the impact of the program itself, you won't be disappointed with the results.

I was only 18 when I participated to this program. It definitely changed my point of view and my future plans. I'm know becoming a lawyer specialized in youth law because I couldn't stand the fact that such young adolescents have to live in prison as they were just victims of big injustice and left alone. I want know to help them recovering from such situations. To experience such meetings with the girl was me tally hard to bare but also so unbelievable that you want to help them. This experience helped me also to dare facing homeless people. Now I am not afraid of them anymore, I see them as people first and not as poor. Being able to help them fulfill some important document to get insurance was also satisfying because I felt really useful.

From start to finish this company were very accommodating, non pushy, friendly & informative. The cost covered mostly EVERYTHING, meaning delicious food, insurance, transfers, staff, places we stayed, equipment we used.
The staff are all extremely friendly, professional & all care for there roles/positions a lot, which was refreshing to see! I went on the mexico conservation turtle camp in April 2019 & it is something i will never forget! I got to share the wonderful experience with my two best friends & my 11 year old son, which was very special to me as they could accommodate for children to go!

What did we do on the trip?
We cleaned the large turtles, baby turtles (cute!) feed the iguanas, cleaned the tanks, painted a wall, moved sand off a beach, planted mangroves, sunbathed on hammocks by the pool & our beach house (heaven!) had a bonfire & gazed at the stars, collected turtle eggs on quad bikes on night patrols & let the hatchling baby turtles into the sea! this is to mention just some of the incredible things we did! It was something i will never forget & touched my heart.

I am now a brand ambassador for projects abroad & very proud to be part of a brilliant team, hoping to go on lots of school fairs & talks & to travel more & work along side the team with some ideas to help the save the planet & environment.

I’ve already been to Kenya before I traveled with Projects Abroad, but it was still a new way of seeing the country.
The staff in Nanyuki are the best, sweetest, professional, funny and most friendly people I’ve ever met. They help you with everything and they make you feel welcome from day one.
It’s a good experience to live with a host family and you feel more like home because you’re part of a Kenyan family.
I did my volunteer program in a school where there was a feeding program. We played and made creative things with the kids, and every time I go to Kenya, I go visit the school and the kids and it’s so nice. I did my volunteering with a girl from Italy, and today we are very good friends who still meet up and we traveled back to Kenya together after the program was over. So all in all it was an amazing experience and I’ve made friends for life all over the world. I can only recommend people to go with Projects Abroad and see the world.

Two years ago I went to Belize to help with the eco-volunteering and the environment project. I keep thinking about it so I finally decided to post a review to share with others!

I discovered beautiful landscape and underwater landscape, I discovered a culture, certainly very different from mine but so rewarding, I met people with smiles so radiant that they continue to spark in my memory even Two years later. The project taught me so much: firstly, teamwork, friendship and sharing, and secondly, I learned how to care for the seabed, seaweeds, beaches and people. I would love to restart over again, in an other country with an other linguage and culture. The only negative thing I experienced was the relation I had with one guy from the staff. But overall it was amazing !

Hi everyone, my name is Luca and I am a young 19 year old who lived an unforgettable adventure last summer that has changed many of my certainties.
I left Parma to go to the other side of the world, literally, to the Fiji Islands where I spent 5 weeks with the project of environmental conservation and protection of sharks managed by Project Abroad.
The organization of the pre-departure run by the project staff, the personal online page that gave me all the answers and dedicated phone calls helped me to prepare well for this adventure, maybe even too much since my parents didn't miss a single line of the recommended material finding myself so super equipped with everything.
The start saw me ready, equipped and a little anxious about what was waiting for me but full of energy and curiosity.
On arrival I found assistance at the airport for the first necessities and I was escorted to the bus stop that would take me along the last leg of my journey to get to the Pacific Harbor project site.
The beginning, like all the beginnings I believe, found me a bit out of phase with 11 hours of time zone to dispose of, lots of people to meet between staff and other volunteers, spaces to explore rules to learn, different food to try.
The first impact was strong, the atmosphere of the place immediately infected me and the voices around me told me about all those countries of origins that seemed to me so many: China, America, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, England, Japan and others.
The first phase of the project was the achievement for me of the diving license and already here I can say that I discovered what I hope will remain a great passion for my whole life, I fell in love with the marine world, the thrill of diving, the possibility to discover incredible things and fantastic animals at each dive.
It seems to be in another world completely alien but indescribable, some have had problems with the first approach to the diving experience, but for me it was as if I had always done it, no fear or hesitation, just calm and serene wonder .
At the beginning of the journey that led me to choose this experience, I was thinking only of doing something in the scientific field that would help me to know and understand better what I wanted for my future path of university studies, I was perplexed and a little worried about the part of volunteering in the villages or schools, on the environmental part, worried about finding myself living in an area so different from the protected and comfortable one of my house.
I could not have been more mistaken, certainly I do not want to say that it was all rosy, but the knowledge that with my hard work I was helping to preserve this wonderful environment, I helped people who welcomed us with joy, always cheerful but smiling above all really grateful for everything we did, it made me feel useful and important.
Of course I also experienced unpleasant situations such as missing the initial briefing, due to the change in my arrival flight, group punishments without my real responsibilities that penalized me in the dives, rudeness of some volunteers who, although not signing up, got meals and took part in them, filling the plates and leaving the regularly marked ones without dinner, but in conclusion the positive aspects were so many exceeding by far the negative ones.
I have made friends that I hope will last over time with wonderful people from all over the world, I discovered what I can do and in some cases what my limits are, I discovered in myself an immense love for the marine world and the environment that inspired me and made me realize important things about my future university career and about who I would like to become in the working world, I lived in a world and a culture very different from mine but full of charm and interest.
In short, I changed, matured and I had a great time doing it.
My goal for this last school year that begins ... to save in order to return in the summer to live another experience like this in another part of the world!