Hello everyone,
I participated in the six-month climate activist program, but only stayed there for two months. The decision to leave the program was very difficult for me, because it costs a lot of money and you only get a small part of it back if you leave within the first two months. Apart from the financial aspect, I met a lot of great people there who I now consider my friends. It was hard to leave them.
But the reasons for leaving were much more compelling. The following refers only to the volunteer program and not to the country SVG, because the country and the culture are fantastic.
It is important to note that the focus is on the "living in a community" aspect and not on the "doing something about climate change" aspect. This means that we keep the school running around the clock. We clean, cook, wash up, cut trees, dig ditches, build flower beds, ...
It's also good to know that the academy often runs out of water and sometimes electricity too. It's actually nice that 100% of the electricity comes from our own solar pellets. However, it becomes difficult when machines such as the fridge don't run for two days. So it's not surprising that the food goes bad. In general, hygiene in the kitchen was not the best. I know that hygiene standards are different all over the world, but I think everyone can agree that it's not nice to have lots of insects in the kitchen and in the flour bin or that we have to clean our dishes with bleach, because we run out of dishwashing liquid.
It wouldn't be a problem if the daily life in RVA and the fact that the focus is on the "living in a community" aspect would have been communicated BEFORE the project started. Every volunteer came with the hope of making a difference and having a positive impact. Unfortunately, this was not the case. That's also the main reason why I left. I felt like I was wasting my time there doing work that only helped RVA.
Another problem was the teachers. Almost none of them had much knowledge or professional background in climate change. Sometimes they used presentations they had copied from the internet without even understanding them properly. When we asked questions that went beyond the surface, they didn't know the answer or gave scientifically incorrect answers. In those two months, I learned more from the locals in my team than from all the teachers there. Also, most of the teachers are in a group called "Tvind" or "Teachers Group". Google says it's a cult known for making money with greenwashing or moneywashing projects ;). Some teachers are very problematic themselves in my opinion. Things were said like "If women drink alcohol, they shouldn't be surprised if they get raped". In addition, one of the teachers forced me to feed and pet a dog after this very dog had attacked me. I had never been afraid of dogs before, but after this attack I was terrified, and my teacher's statement "You have to get over your fear" was not helpful at all at that moment.
When we expressed criticism, they didn't take it seriously... They pretended to take it seriously, but none of the structures ever changed. It often felt more like a power play between teachers and students than a constructive discussion.
In general, the teachers there are very unprofessional and not trustworthy at all.
I applied for this program a year before it started. At the time, I was told to hurry as there were only a few places available. I found out from my teammates that almost everyone had only applied a few months before the program started. So they deliberately put pressure on me to accept quickly.
My work as a volunteer was taken for granted and not appreciated at all. It is a poor and chaotic organization that I would not recommend participating in.
If you are still considering participating in this program, I recommend you ask your contact person a lot of questions and think critically.
Response from Richmond Vale Academy
We are sorry when anybody at RVA is not getting the experience we are advertising and that you are looking for. I have read the review, and would like to address several of the issues raised.
1. “Keep the school running around the clock” by cleaning, cooking, dishwashing etc.
Richmond Vale Academy integrates team skills and community asks running the school as an essential part of keeping program costs low and preparing teams for the work to be done in the communities. We have 28 employees responsible for the bulk of the workload to create the learning environment at RVA. The student participation is about building the practical and team skills that you will use for the next phase of the program as you help to create home gardens in the community with families. The monthly kitchen duty is part of running RVA and prepares you for doing simple chores that are part of most people’s adult. Some have compared it to the “wax on, wax off” training in the well-known Karate Kid film. In the end, the training proves very useful, but you have to have the commitment and discipline to complete it.
2. It's also good to know that the academy often runs out of water and sometimes electricity too.
We are in total agreement that water and electricity are essentials, which is why we feature sustainable, innovative systems on our campus that demonstrate alternatives for a resource deprived environment, including solar panels and rain water collection tanks. Many of the systems we have demonstrated are now widely used across St Vincent and the Grenadines.
It is consistent and likely that there will be times when there is not enough sun, or the fresh water sources are depleted, which inspires us to keep improving and inventing new solutions. By adding a generator, we have a backup to the solar systems. By installing a stronger water pump we compensate for the lower water table depleted by nearby quarry operations. It is perhaps not so bad to be reminded of the global sustainability challenges that drive the mission of the school sometimes.
3. In general, hygiene in the kitchen was not the best.
Life on a tropical island has features and qualities that might not be present where you come from. We are not a cruise ship or gated resort community, and have decided to place our campus at one of the most rural areas of St. Vincent in the midst of the communities we seek to assist, and yet have not had any health incidents from food preparation. Our kitchen is inspected on a regular basis by the health authorities, and we employ one of the best cooks in the country who formerly served in the residency of the prime minister. The kitchen is thoroughly cleaned every day by staff and students, and we have recently bought new stoves and fridges to replace equipment damaged by the salty air and volcano ash.
4. It wouldn't be a problem if the daily life in RVA and the fact that the focus is on the "living in a community" aspect would have been communicated BEFORE the project started.
Our website is clear about how we implement our training, and our team philosophy. Our enrollment documentation explicitly explains how the community operates, and it is a consistent topic in our interview process, and testimonials from past students. Everybody is going through this enrollment process.
5. Another problem was the teachers. Almost none of them had much knowledge or professional background in climate change.
Our faculty are a mix of technical experts in different fields, and seasoned educators focused on the experiential learning process. We blend these different disciplines together in our program, and develop the team training with access to all of these resources on campus. We have a range of teachers who have taught for +30 years, and staff who have a range of degrees from universities in the United States, Europe and South America. Our instructors have travelled and worked in many regions of the world, with extensive project field experience across disciplines such as Literacy campaigns in Mozambique and Malawi.
6. In addition, one of the teachers forced me to feed and pet a dog after this very dog had attacked me.
It is unfortunate that you had a frightening experience with a dog. There are dogs from the surrounding community that come up, and it is rare for there to be an incident. Often a reaction from a dog can be managed by letting them get to know the people they might be barking at. Some dogs do not fit with an open campus, and we have relocated the one that frightened you.
7. "If women drink alcohol, they shouldn't be surprised if they get raped".
That comment received many critical responses and objections from staff and students, and certainly did not represent an opinion of the RVA. We have an open community where people are expected to speak freely, and engage in discussion, and agree or disagree as part of the learning process. The ability to respond and engage is a set of skills that are critical in the community mobilization work, where we encounter many statements and opinions that we don’t have to agree with.
8. My work as a volunteer was taken for granted and not appreciated at all. It is a poor and chaotic organization that I would not recommend participating in.
If a student does not engage and immerse fully into the RVA team life and living it might seem chaotic as they fall behind and out of step with the teams. We don’t run the school top down but rather from the bottom up. The teams learn to plan and implement together, rather than taking direction from above. Consensus about how to move forward takes a bit more time, and negotiation between team members. That is an essential part of the learning.
We have had more than 1000 students from all over the world in the Climate Activism program since it started in 2012. RVA prides itself of having students from more than 55 countries. They have used the experience they gained to study environmental science, work in international organizations and other studies and occupations.