A lot of potential, little delivery

This program had a lot of potential and had many great recommendations, but unfortunately the trip did not deliver. The staff contact from VFP that was on our trip was very uninterested in the volunteers, and spent most of her time with her Hatian boyfriend and friends. We went down to build bio-sand water filters, but didn't even get to see one, let alone build one. We wound up working on random community projects that seemed to be thrown together last minute.

Being someone that has brought volunteer groups to numerous places, and also having worked for a nonprofit that received new volunteer groups weekly, I was really disappointed by the lack of service learning and cultural immersion opportunities. Many were planned but almost all of them were cancelled.

I enjoyed getting to know our Haitian leaders and the other volunteers. I also thought Haiti was a beautiful country. I would have liked to meet more people in the community and learn more about the work we were doing and why.

I wound up taking the experience for what it was - pretty much a hostel-style vacation. I was happy that I met everyone and had exposure to the country and people of Haiti. I plan on returning to Haiti to volunteer again, but unfortunately will not go with VFP. I hope that the organization learned from this experience and will create a better service learning trip for volunteers in the future.