Sri Lanka 2017 July

I went to Sri Lanka open minded about the experience. When I arrived I was met by a local coordinator that brought us to a bus that would be taking us to the volunteer house. This all went very smoothly. Once at the volunteer house we were greeted by one of the English coordinators that showed us to our rooms. Throughout my month in Sri Lanka I was given support when needed but also freedom to travel alone during the weekends. The In-country support was great and they arranged everything they could from transport to ideas for weekend trips. I felt very welcomed and safe while I was there. River House where I stayed was very clean and the rooms can be compared with hostel rooms, comfortable and fit their purpose. Every room had its own AC unit which was nice. I signed up for two separate programs, the orphanage program and the elephant experience. With the orphanage program you gave an English lesson for an hour before playing with the kids for an hour and a half. I felt that at the orphanage program you bonded with the children and it helped me grow as a person. During the two weeks that I was doing the orphanage project I also signed up for monk teaching an optional program that was very interesting and fun to do. The elephant experience was truly amazing and had a good balance between different tasks with the elephants. Some advice to future volunteers keep your mind open about the programs and you will be amazed.