One of the most valuable experiences to humankind :-)

I want to start by saying that this review is coming from 100% my heart and the experience that I had, which I am deeply grateful for. To begin, I would like to talk about my experience prior to the trip. My IVHQ coordinator was incredibly helpful and answered all of the questions that I had as well as communicated diligently to the local team on my behalf to provide me more answers to any questions that arose. This made me feel very valued as a guest signing up for this experience and set the stage for an amazing experience.

it all started at the airport. The local team were very quick for communication which I was grateful for in which showed reliability. They were also very punctual in the time they said the meet-up would be once we arrived at the airport. Originally, the local coordinator wanted us to take a public bus that they would pay for (since airport pick-up was included), but because one of the three members in our group was severely ill with a stomach bug, they arranged a private taxi to take us to the accommodation. This was very thoughtful of them as I know a bus would've been incredibly uncomfortable for her.

The meat and potatoes of this whole experience was the volunteer work. I signed up for Intro week activities in the morning and the Sports Education project in the afternoon. This kept my day busy as in the morning, me and a lot of the first week volunteers would go out with the staff to some pretty insane local spots. The waterfall and sand dunes were a highlight as it really showcased Fiji's natural beauty and power. In the afternoon during sports, it was rewarding to see the kids smiling after playing sports with them. To be honest, I wish the minimum time to volunteer would be two weeks. In my opinion, one week went by too quick and we only participated in four days of the volunteer work. You could obviously tell that the volunteers that had been there three weeks and over had such a strong relationship with the kids, almost as if they were their own. You really need to immerse yourself for 3+ weeks to get the whole experience of volunteering and living life there, cause I know if I would have done that, I would have benefitted greatly. Even though the cost of the program for just that one week was expensive, it was comforting to know that the local team received a good portion of the program fees!

Another big part of the experience that I did not even think about was the amazing social connections I made. I have lived a very basic life with not a ton of social interactions back home (I tend to be very socially isolated for various reasons), but having participated in this volunteer program along many like minded and good hearted young individuals my age, it gave me a sense of purpose and motivation knowing that there are other people like me out there, and there are so many amazing connections to be made out in this world that we don't even know about, but these incredible organizations help to provide an outlet and facilitate these connections with people all over the world.

The food in the program was SOOOOO much better than I had thought. So much that the chef of this program should win an award. Along with Fiji, I went to Bali and Thailand as part of my gap year experiences, and by far the food in this program was the best. I am so so grateful I got to experience it. You can taste the love that the chef puts into the food. Some of my favorite dishes that she has made that I haven’t forgotten about is her Fijian pasta and eggplant! So good!

To conclude this review, I am just going to briefly explain a couple things that I would classify as areas of growth for my experience. First and foremost, I would change the minimum length of time of this program to be two weeks at least. Recommended, it should be three weeks. I don't feel at all satisfied with the amount of volunteer work I did and my overall experience regardless of how amazing it was. Secondly, my friend was very sick, and even though the kitchen staff were pretty good at accommodating the meals for her sick stomach and also accompanied her to the local urgent care clinic for a check up, they could've checked on her a lot more back at the accommodation and provided her with much more support.
These were my areas of growth, however they are not deal breakers for me.
I had such an amazing time and I would do this again in a heartbeat! The local team even told me that I am welcome back any time after singing us the sweetest farewell song (one person from my group was crying because she was so touched by it!).

Overall, the project was a whole lot more than volunteer work which I appreciated! I love the sense of community, hospitality, and love that permeated through the whole experience from both the amazing staff and from my volunteer peers. I absolutely can't wait to come back one day.