Location
  • Dominican Republic
    • Santo Domingo
Length
2 to 50 weeks

Program Details

Language
Spanish
Age Min.
17
Age Max
99
Timeframe
Year Round
Housing
Apartment Guesthouse Host Family
Groups
Small Group (1-15) Medium Group (16-30) Large Group (31+)
Travel Type
Budget Family Older Travelers Solo Women

Pricing

Starting Price
1350
Price Details
At Aldeas de Paz, we are committed to affordability and financial transparency with our open book policy. Our minimum contribution starts at just €155 per week (after the second week). This inclusive package covers Spanish language classes, comfortable accommodation in fully equipped guesthouse apartments, a dedicated program donation, personal welcome service, airport pick-up, bus transfer, bus fare, and a free transfer to your placement location.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Airport Transfers Wifi
What's Not Included
Some Accommodation Some Activities Airfare Domestic Airfare Meals Some Meals SIM cards Travel Insurance Visa
Apr 18, 2024
Mar 23, 2018
0 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Volunteers at a Samana daycare center create a meaningful impact on children's lives, even with basic Spanish skills! This rewarding role involves interacting with children and guiding their growth. Duties include assisting a supervisor and promoting early childhood development (ECD) through play-based learning. ECD focuses on emotional, social, language, cognitive, physical, and motor skill development. It helps close the achievement gap between low and high-income students before formal schooling begins. (Children of low socioeconomic status (SES) often start school behind their higher SES peers.)
Holidays - Summer Holidays are from June 14 until August 30, 2024 as well as Christmas Holidays from December 16 until January 06, 2025.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Take care of children and assisting the local staff in everyday activities
  • Research, plan and prepare educational, development and care-related activities
  • Assist with age-appropriate activities like arts and crafts, reading, writing, dancing, singing, playing games
  • Help monitoring children to ensure they remain safe as they go about their activities

Program Impact

Our program offers flexible commitment options for volunteers, ranging from a minimum of 4 hours daily up to to 40 hours per week - you decide! Expect to play a vital role in providing love, care, and attention to children as a volunteer. Mentor them, offer affection, and organize activities to support local staff. Your dedication at the daycare center will profoundly impact the children's lives. While the role demands commitment, it's fulfilling if you enjoy interacting with children and guiding their growth. We adapt programs to community needs and volunteer capacity. Specialization is possible, but you may engage in a combination of activities. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their ideas and initiative. This is an excellent opportunity to develop and learn new skills.

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Program Reviews

5.00 Rating
based on 4 reviews
  • 5 rating 100%
  • 4 rating 0%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Impact 5
  • Support 5
  • Fun 5
  • Value 5
  • Safety 5
Showing 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Default avatar
Sun
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Dental Care

My experience in Samana with Aldeas de Paz has definitely exceeded my expectation in a couple of different aspects. First, by working as a dental assistant through the dental care program, I was able to work with a dentist side by side, directly interact with patients, and closely observe the reality of dental care in a developing country. Staffs at the hospital including my dentist were very nice to me which made it easy to adapt and become part of the team. It had been a valuable experience that I wouldn’t be able to experience elsewhere. Next, I got to meet amazing people here – other volunteers. Open-minded people with great hearts come here to volunteer and it was great to spend time with them by working and traveling together, sharing stories and lives. I am blessed to have these friendships. Overall, it was a tremendously enriching experience!

101 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Saskia
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Dental Care

My experience in Samana with Aldeas de Paz has definitely exceeded my expectation in a couple of different aspects. First, by working as a dental assistant through the dental care program, I was able to work with a dentist side by side, directly interact with patients, and closely observe the reality of dental care in a developing country. Staffs at the hospital including my dentist were very nice to me which made it easy to adapt and become part of the team. It had been a valuable experience that I wouldn’t be able to experience elsewhere. Next, I got to meet amazing people here – other volunteers. Open-minded people with great hearts come here to volunteer and it was great to spend time with them by working and traveling together, sharing stories and lives. I am blessed to have these friendships. Overall, it was a tremendously enriching experience!

101 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Thomas
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

An absolute blast!

A few weeks from when I wrote this, I stepped on to a small budget airliner and made my way across the Caribbean to the Dominican Republic. Before this experience I had never left the United States, and I was unsure what my time in Samana would be like. Needless to say, it was an absolute blast.
I volunteered in a small dental clinic in Las Pascualas, a small, sleepy city on the outskirts of Samana. Volunteering in the clinic opened my eyes to some of the difficulties associated with public health care in a developing country, and it allowed me to look at public service through a different perspective. The dentist I was under was very nice, and incredibly accomidating; an absolute joy to volunteer under.

This trip also allowed me to meet people from around the globe, and develop friendships with people who I would have never come across in daily life. The other volunteers really helped make this trip worthwhile, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with each one of them.

Overall, Aldeas de Paz is a great organization to be apart of. The volunteers work hard to help the people of Samana, and the program director, Manfred, is very enabling. He will go out of his way to make sure you are getting the most out of your experience. I stayed in Samana for 28 days, and the time has honestly gone by very quickly. I have learned more than I had hoped to on this adventure, and I definitely recommend it to others.

107 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Brandi
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

An eye opening journey

I chose Aldeas de Paz as my first trip out of my home country the United States and I am so glad that I did. It was an eye opening journey that taught me a lot about the experiences of those living in a third world setting and a lot about myself as well.  I worked in the dental clinic of the hospital in Samana. I was given the amazing opportunity to work as a dental assistant there within the first three days of my arrival which was more than I was expecting! Everything here is learned in a very hands on manner, so that even in just a month of being here I feel that I have learned and done so much! The staff of the hospital, and all the local people of Samana for that matter, were very patient with me and accepting as I don't speak very much Spanish. Having to adapt to the language and cultural differences only made the experience richer. The rest of the volunteers were also an enormous help in getting me comfortable in the new
environment and seeing that leaving my comfort zone was the most valuable part of this journey. I will never forget the people I met here. I made friends from around the globe, and I will carry these friendships with me the same as my experiences in the Dominican Republic. Overall it was an amazing adventure and has only fueled my fire to experience more of the
world! I would definitely recommend Aldeas de Paz to anyone looking for the same.

89 people found this review helpful.

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