Pohnpei, Micronesia

Do your extensive research before signing up. I trusted the fact that it was a Harvard-run program, and was completely misled. I have volunteered and lived in Ghana, Cambodia and Thailand, and this was by far the SCARIEST and most UNPROFESSIONAL experience I have ever had abroad. I was offered no support by my field director, and I ended up resigning after being there for two months. I have some stories about an ex-pat nearly getting raped by a local guy, and a volunteer getting broken into twice, (once while she was in her bedroom at night). In my case, I was placed in a home where there was a kava bar in our front yard, owned and operated by my host family every night. Despite WT's policy PROHIBITING volunteers to be placed where there are drugs and alcohol involved, I was never offered a different placement, even after I had complained about it to our program manager in Boston. I had to deal with 10+ drunk men coming over all the time and harassing us throughout the night. I would get "night-crawled", which means there would be a stranger knocking on our window and yelling things to get our attention- and possibly letting him into our bedroom in the middle of night. Apparently, that was the "norm", but I was not physically nor mentally prepared for such thing. After witnessing and hearing stories of my fellow female volunteers getting sexually harassed, broken into and robbed, I could not go to sleep at night. I was terrified to close my eyes and pass out when it was dark out, knowing that there would be a few men drinking heavily right on my doorstep. My field director failed to change my placement and offered little support-to me, and all the other female volunteers who had similar SAFETY ISSUES. He was apathetic to my concerns because his experience as a MALE volunteer was very different from mine. On several occasions, he was caught talking to other ex-pats about how "dramatic" the female volunteers were being, when they would express their fear of being home alone. I highly recommend you go out of your way and speak with WT alumni and current volunteers on the island before you sign up. I am not the only person who has had an awful experience with WT abroad. There is a reason why they have not been able to retain a field director in Pohnpei for more than two years in a row. In fact, last year's FD only lasted about 6 months on the island, due to the rough living conditions she had to endure. If you would like to see real pictures of my placement and chat about the program, do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Thanks.