A real deception

Ratings
Overall
1
Impact: 3
Support: 1
Fun: 2
Value: 1
Safety: 3
Review

I planned to volunteer at Voluntario Global and live in the Volunteer's house during my trip to Argentina on october 2014.
Even if I tried to collect as much info as I could about the organization before leaving, I felt deceived when I arrived there.
I arrived on a friday morning and nobody was there: I tried to contact my referees by phone and they didn't answer then finally a girl came to open me the door and took me to my room. The conditions at the Volunteer House were not good: a few people were disinfecting one room because of a bedbugs infection. Nobody showed off for the whole morning, until a girl from the association came in in the afternoon and told me that if I had questions I could write an email...even if she was right there in front of me! They gave me an appointment 3 days later to talk about the project I was assigned to, the kinder garden. Since nobody from the association was talking or even writing to me, I made questions to the other volunteers in the house: they were all really young girls in their early 20, in a gap-year mood. They explained me that the kinder garden project was nice but they felt like left alone from the association, and the neighbourhood they had to go every morning was kind of dangerous. Same thing confirmed me the taxi man I asked to when I arrived to Buenos Aires. Their life at the Volunteers House was more similar to the life in a common backpackers hostel.
I realized that I had in mind a whole different idea of Voluntario Global and I was not willing to participate to their project: what they explain in their web site does not reflect reality and they are not going to accompany the volunteers during their projects. I cannot say anything about the reality of the project in itself because I preferred to leave before starting: I don't like make people loose their time, and I thought I was not the right person to volunteer with them.
Better option for really young people looking for travelling and thinking to do something good while paying an association that doesn't really care about them.

Would you recommend this program?
No, I would not
Year Completed
2014