I absolutely would NOT recommend this program!

As a former IVHQ volunteer, I’m disappointed to say that IVHQ doesn't appear to properly vet their Uganda program or take volunteer concerns seriously. I was placed in an illegal, unregistered orphanage during my June 2013 placement and returned to Uganda in September of 2013 (independent of IVHQ) to continue to seek resolution for these children. The Ugandan government ordered all children removed from the home and yet IVHQ’s local partner insisted that his volunteers return to help facilitate construction so this abusive institution could reopen. I took my concerns all the way to the IVHQ director, but was disappointed at his complacency and lack of communication. In my opinion, the director of the Uganda program (a staff member of International Volunteer Network/ IVN) is corrupt and doesn’t have sufficient regard for the wellbeing of his volunteers. I’m certainly not alone in that opinion. A lengthy recounting of recent events is posted on my blog. Please, please, please demand to know your placements before you get on foreign soil. Research IVHQ’s incountry partners and your actual placement before turning over your money.

I blogged the events in a series of 5 blog posts on my blog, Lucky Break Blog.

After waiting 2 full weeks for any sort of acknowledgement of my concerns from the IVHQ director, he managed to delete my post at the IVHQ Facebook within 90 minutes and reply, in part:

“…while we have said we will treat any allegations she makes seriously, providing she has proof, all we have received so far are very dramatic allegations with no base which makes it difficult for us to look into things further.”

The IVHQ director hasn’t asked me for a thing. Would he like the police reports? Eyewitness accounts of the director of the International Volunteer Network trying to muscle his way into my hotel after the IVHQ director told him not to meet with me? I’d be happy to engage IVHQ in a conversation and answer any questions they may have and provide any proof they seek. The problem is: they’re not concerned with critical opinions of the program. They dismiss and move onto the next group of potential volunteers. Shameful.