Program Reviews

First of all, people in Thailand are amazing. Friendly, kind, lovely. Second thing, the staff was very nice too.
But the kids... they we're perfect. I wish I could adopt them. They were in vacation, what was kind of bad, because I couldn't actually teach something, but I tried to compensate in playing with them. And I think I managed to do that. And I think I had more fun that them haha.
The teachers there didn't seen to take much care of the kids, so the volunteers were a welcome and necessary "oasis" for them.
The moment to say goodbye was very tough. Very. Specially because the day before there was kind of a celebration, and all the kids and teachers were together at the entrance. So I was there as usual, doing goofy stuff for the children, and one of the teachers invite me to seat at the teacher bench! They were recognizing me as one of them! That moment was very very special for me, it was when I recognized my work.
Well, lets tell the not so fun part. I had my mobile stolen by a taxi driver. The days were so hot! The kind of days you don't want to move. So the afternoons weren't very useful besides to sleeping (just avoid March/April if you could). And I mist more immersion in Thai culture, because the staff were from India mostly, plus the hot days, so I left feeling that I haven't enjoyed my free time how I should.
To end this review up, I must tell about Nittyia. THE BEST PERSON EVER. She was the woman that cleaned and cooked for us. "I take care of you" "I go to Bazil" "Nittyia love you". She is worth the trip to Chiang Mai.

I volunteered in Vietnam in the Mai Tam Orphanage for children with HIV, and absolutely loved it! The people that work here are very nice and helpful, and all they want is to make you feel at home. I spend my time here taking care of children from only two days old up until six years old.The children are really sweet as well. We played with them, thought English classes, organised learning activities, you help feed and wash the children and helped with the laundry as well. I wish I could have stayed longer at the Mai Tam Orphanage! I will miss these kids so much and will definitely come back to see them again!

I spent one month in India. During this time I experienced the amazing diversity of India's culture, religions and traditions. I saw the dynamic Delhi, Agra's beautiful Taj Mahal, Jaipur's colors and temples and Pushkar's desert. In the end I spent two weeks in Himachal-Pradesh, waking up every morning seeing the snow-capped Himalayas. The time here changed my world view, experiencing those heartwarming people, the relaxed atmosphere in the volunteer house in Palampur and the work at a day care center, which was always a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the time and can only recommend everyone to come to India and see the beauty of this country.

through out the last month in india. i expirienced all sorts of emotions. but the feeling of peace was short lived due to the many big citys we were in. when we arrived to himachal everything changed. the colder weather green scenery many rivers and streams. and of course not nearly as many car horns. by far my favorite place in india up to now!! the education programs will not be what one expects but i know that just the panorama and the children will change ones prespective for life.

I made the volunteer project in Himachal, and I have to say that it was a breathtaking experience. I learned much of a new, completely different culture. In the projects you get so much love and gratitude from the kids back. It was a really important experience for me to work with them and see how they live in other countries.
In the Idex house you feel like in a family, with the wonderful people, who are everyday around, who care for you and become friends.
Of course the nature is also incredible beautiful, you have the himalaya direct in front of your window, it's so beautiful to see this giant mountain at first when you get up. Next to the Idex house is a beautiful river with so much nature around, where many monkeys live. and if you want to go to take a walk to the market, you will walk all the time along the wonderful tea gardens.
Also the projects you can do in the Himachal camp are great, you have the opportunity to visit other city's with great attractions. For example you make many trips to old temples or do paragliding from the himalaya.
I will never forget this great time of my life.

My name is Adam and I’m from Sweden. I’m 19 years old and graduated from school last summer. After I graduated I decided to take a gap year before University so I could get more experience and explore more than I otherwise wouldn’t have done. One part of my gap year was to volunteer work in Sri Lanka for six weeks. And to make a choice what to work with, it wasn’t so difficult. When I read about that you can teach monk I decided quite quickly to do that.

Now when I have worked with them for six weeks, I really enjoy it. The best thing is when you learn about the Monks lives and about their religion. In Sweden we live in quite a different way so I learn very much from spending time with the Monks. The Monks are pretty old as well so they can share some life experience.

In the house where all of us volunteers stay, is really nice. Clean, good food and very good IDEX staff that takes care of us. They also help us when we, for example, plans our trips on the weekends with hotels, transport etc.

In the weekend we have experience a lot of Sri Lanka. Often we go on Saturday morning to some place and stay one night and doing different thing. Like going on Jeep safari, climbing Adam’s Peak, visited Kandy and visited the beautiful beach in Unawantura. So I really enjoyed my stay in Sri Lanka.

I'm in my third wonderful week of the project. It really is a good experience. Idex gives you the opportunity to really be a part of the center here. The Mai Tam center is lovely. The children are so sweet and open to us. Everyday we have the chance to organise an activity for them and we really see them enjoy it. In the weekends you get the chance to explore the wonderful Vietnam. Idex also organised activities to learn more about the Vietnamese culture We had dinner at a host family, got a Vietnamese lesson, a cooking class, dinner with local sisters, ... Our accommodation is lovely, we really feel like home. The staff is very friendly and they'll do everything to make our stay as good as possible. We don't want to leave here yet!

The weeks went by so fast! 35 degrees warm Sri Lanka has been my home for the past ten weeks! Everything is incredibly green here! The accomodation was really good! We had a central leighn house whitch still had a big garden with eg. monkeys and lizards and all the rooms had their own bathroom. Furthermore, it was very quiet which was awesome when you needed a rest from the crowded and loud city of Colombo. The food was local and absolutely delicious! I already miss it now! The staff in the house was really warm hearted, the husband of the cook also cleaned the house and their 8 year old daughter brought some lovely small chaos into the house sometimes :) our location manager was always very interested in helping us to have a good stay and always asked if there were problem or anything! I worked in a public primary school for boys. I taught english. Things are handled a bit different here by the teachers than they do in the western world, but once you accepted that, it can be really really joyful to teach something to a crowd of loud 7yearolds! The city of Colombo is a big and colourful and very loud mixture of cultures. Its kind of how you imagine a big city in the indian asian region. Best way to experience the city is just to go around by tuk tuk! The other volunteers are from a lot of different cuntries and have all been super nice and openminded! Ive made a lot of new friends and experiences! On the weekend, getaway trips to cultural sites or just to a beachtown can either be organized by yourself or the organisation. Theres a lot to see in Sri Lanka and our location manager is always willing to help you finding the right spots!
So i can just say that if you want to experience sri lanka how it really is, take the chance and volunteer!

The volunteering was great- if you can be organised and plan everything by yourself.

Organisation very poor from idex team. Head of jaipur house - not hugely helpful despite being friendly.

Lack of information when arrived lead to a pretty bad first impression and wasn't a nice experience.

Jaipur house very nice and staff were great, delhi house- people were clueless and couldn't speak english- 3 men picked a lone girl up from airport, did not speak a word to her and left her in her room for over 6 hours without any info. This experience happened with 3 other girls.

When arriving in jaipur had a very welcoming time, despite the long drives from delhi and agra without much information of what was going on.

Would recommend volunteering to others but not idex.

It was a great trip and I could have stayed longer. 1 month is just not enough exploring India. Traveling from red hot desert to icy Himachal was great fun. Goa has been one of my favorite place during the trip where I met lot of people from various countries in the camp. Overall, the program was wonderful and I would remember this for long long time.