Volunteer Projects in Japan with Concordia

Concordia is a great organisation, which provides a variety of different projects all around the world for affordable price. I really wanted to volunteer in Japan and this organisation gave me what I wanted. The programme I chose was environmental project in Japan for two months. Before I got there, I received a lot of information from Concordia and had a meeting to discuss different issues and concerns that may arise while I am on the project. This was very helpful as it gave me confidence and overview of what can happen and how to deal with different situations.
When I arrived in Japan to the meeting point there was someone to meet us and guide us to the accommodation. Our team leader was very funny and friendly, we could talk to her about everything. The programme itself included work in forest and near the lake, and during the period of two months we have done many different things. The work wasn’t the same each day and we experienced different camps and activities as well. During summer there are a lot of festivals in Japan and we as volunteers could participate and help them organise everything. The other activities included international camps where we met a lot of new people and learned new skills.
During the stay we could get support from our team leader and the person in charge of this project, which was very helpful. They could answer all our questions and they made sure that we are safe and have enough food all the time. Our long term team included six people and we could become like a family with each other. We had a lot of fun and we enjoyed every day we spent there.
In the end I would say this project was very valuable to meet new people and get to know the country and culture from within, as well as, the local people, who were very generous to us. I would like to return to Concordia again for a different project in the future.