Not coming back

I must confess that overall my experience here was disappointing and far away for what has been presented in the borchures.The experience had both good and bad parts, of course, but the latter proved to be stronger. Among the good things I can think of the contact with the lovely, curious children, the breathtaking landscapes and the care of the staff for our safety. The programme however cost way too much for what it has offered. I later found out that the site facilitating contact between the organization and volunteers takes away no less than 40%, which is a hug amount that basically goes to the profit of some third party. Then I was very dissatisfied with the room. I myself am highly allergic to mold and humidity and unfortunately the place I stayed in was full of it. I understand it was monsoon season but the room had a broken fan, cracked walls full of mold, a dirty rusty bathroom and everything was soaked. The bedsheets were disgusting and looked like they hadn't been washed in a very long time. The matresses were also in a very bad state. Basically everything was deteriorated and dirty. My request to swap the room at least with one with a working fan went ungranted so in just a few days I found myself troubled by my sinusitis which has prevented me from focusing on other important things. During the trips I stayed at very cheap hotels which also had numerous problems (dirt, ants, very bad neighborhood). Again, quality was not reflected in the huge amount of money I paid for the project. Now about the school. It was baffling to me to see the deplorable state of the children's space and I wonder why nothing has been invested so far in the community. I tried asking questions to the organization's manager but I was given vague answers. The children were adorable but the classes were quite disorganized. Because volunteers come and go and everyone has other ideas about what's to be taught, it can get really confusing for them. Ok, let's say that is somehow understandable and we have to adapt to the needs and resources, but the fact that the accomodation is in such poor condition has no excuse whatsoever. They could at least pay for someone to clean once a week. The kitchen also looked horribly dirty. All I would have liked was cleanliness and a decent room. As for the impact, I am not sure how much I was able to help. I am seriously questioning the utility of short-term volunteering projects as I can see both from my experience and from others' that local communities don't really benefit from them. You get there, have the chance to explore a little and talk to people, but it's not enough. The programme should have included more hours per day, 6 or 7. We had gaps when there simply was nothing to do. The kids at school should also be better monitored, maybe with diaries assessing their levels and what has been done so far. My impression overall was that the organization was not interested in such aspects. Everything seemed a huge improvisation. And to repeat, what annoyed me most was the lack of respect for the guests perfectly reflected in the VERY poor quality of the accomodation. As you can also see below. In the future I will most definitely try to find something directly, no intermediaries because otherwise it's a big scam!