DON'T GO

IVHQ only cares about the money and not the health and safety of its volunteers. I could probably write ten pages worth of major mistakes they made. If you're considering choosing the program in Quito I would strongly suggest you choose either a different location or a different company altogether. Before I arrived they had changed the curfew hours due to the younger volunteers breaking the rules and did not inform us. During my time there some of the younger volunteers had broke curfew again and had alcohol in their room and were never kicked out. Riots in Ecuador had broken out and our programs had been shut down temporarily. They never informed any of the new incoming volunteers before arriving. I decided to leave a week early while I was still able to reach the airport before the riots closed down the streets and since I was type one diabetic I did not want to be stuck for an unknown amount of time. The day after I left my fellow volunteer found out she had Covid and strep throat. She was taken to the hospital by one of the program directors and she left her there alone for hours. For days my friend had to rely on other volunteers to bring her food in water until she contacted Sammy and complained. The food itself was not enough either, if you got to the table last you would not have dinner or breakfast and the meals were very small, not even enough for a child. Since this is part of what we pay for I think it is ridiculous because we are told to only bring extra money for lunch. In the end, most volunteers had to leave early because of the riots and did not receive refunds. When I contacted Sammy about several issues she tried to blame it on my lack of knowledge about the country and that since I am from America I am very fortunate and do not realize how well I have it in my country. I am an international studies major and I am very well informed about developing countries which is why I chose to do NGO support in a South American country. Overall I am very disgusted with this company.