Good experience, but critical lack of field support
Ratings
Review
Overall, I found my year in the Marshall Islands to be meaningful, and full of rewarding experiences. The people in my town were welcoming and supportive, and it was a great experience to become completely immersed in another culture.
Having said that, the support system in place for volunteers in-country was lacking, and the field directors proved unable to cope with sudden or unexpected problems that arose over the course of the year. Whether it was the plane that delivered mail and supplies breaking down, or the ships that were supposed to deliver our luggage never leaving port, things don't always go as planned, especially in a country like the RMI, but our field directors often told us that they didn't have time to find another option, or were incredibly slow in going to plan B. The big issue my year was that about 2 months into our program, Dengue Fever arrived in the Marshall Islands and began spreading to all the islands. While our two field directors were passionate about their job and very nice, their lack of experience (it was the first year as field director for both of them) meant that they were quickly overwhelmed, and their communication with both parents and volunteers about Dengue Fever, and the steps they were taking to address it, completely broke down. As a volunteer on an island with no way of getting any kind of news, having my field director have nothing to tell me on our weekly radio check-in about how they were handling the situation beyond repeating the short memo that the embassy put out shook my faith in the ability of the directors to give us effective support.
In addition, we were told that the purpose of the program was to provide English teachers to remote schools while that school's English teacher went to the capital to get additional teacher training. However, as far as I know, almost none of the schools that had volunteers actually sent a teacher in for more training. I know mine didn't.
I would really like to recommend this program, because for me it was a rewarding experience and I formed lasting friendships with the other volunteers, who were all awesome and amazing. But given the inability of our field directors to provide effective support when serious problems arose, and the fact that Worldteach placed two field directors with no experience in charge of the program where volunteers are the most isolated and need the most support, I don't feel like I could recommend it to my friends.