Involvement Volunteers International

It's an incredible experience that you have to do at least once in your life. It is a great pleasure to help these clerks. They are welcoming and caring people....Read more

It's an incredible experience that you have to do at least once in your life. It is a great pleasure to help these clerks. They are welcoming and caring people. All our coordinators are there with us and take care of us so that everything goes as well as possible and that we enjoy our humanitarian mission. The local team is superb! The food is very good too. It allows you to taste local food and it's incredible. As for the room, it is a dormitory for 6 people but it is possible to request a private room. What's great is that it's still time to volunteer we have free time to visit.

The trip was incredible!! I learned so much about myself and was able to do so much more than I anticipated I could. I enjoyed meeting people from other countries...Read more

The trip was incredible!! I learned so much about myself and was able to do so much more than I anticipated I could. I enjoyed meeting people from other countries and forming friendships. I honestly could have stayed longer !!! The local team were fabulous, so welcoming and inclusive. The food was amazing, I really enjoyed the food, the meal times for lunch and dinner were a bit too early but otherwise exceptional. Accommodation was fine, I didn't expect anything great, so it was exactly as expected. I would have liked more communication about what the program actually included, what exactly I would be teaching, who I would be teaching. For example, I was placed to teach by myself in classroom and had no idea about the syllabus I was meant to be teaching until I arrived.

Personally, I really enjoyed the volunteer work. The coordinators at the camp were all friendly. I was able to learn a lot about turtles during this time and I also...Read more

Personally, I really enjoyed the volunteer work. The coordinators at the camp were all friendly. I was able to learn a lot about turtles during this time and I also had a lot of fun working with them. It was also nice to go beyond my own limits (for me it was snorkeling with the manta rays at Manta Point). I was very scared as it was the second time I had snorkeled in my life (the first time was a week earlier at the Gili Islands). In hindsight, however, I am very glad I did it and would love to do it again. I got to know people from all over the world, even though most of them also came from Germany. I would have liked a little more information regarding the organization of leisure activities. Through conversations with other older volunteers, I found out by chance how to go about it and what to bear in mind. I spent the weekends on Gili Island and in Ubud and was able to take a lot with me. Culturally, I learned a lot of new things, but I was also able to develop a lot personally on this trip. The coordinators were all very friendly and helpful at all times. The food was very varied and diverse. There was something for everyone (including vegetarian and vegan). There is also a small, reasonably priced kiosk directly between the old and new houses which is always open until 9 in the evening. I was in the new house. We had a small pool, which was great for cooling off, as well as some seating and an area for sunbathing. In the six-person room I was in, there were 3 of us for the first 2 weeks and just the two of us for the last week. So it was very relaxed. The rooms were also cleaned daily, which I found very positive. As it is still quite new, there were unfortunately no storage facilities or cupboards to lock up important things when you left the room. As there is only one key, it is unfortunately not possible to lock the rooms.

What an incredible experience to be able to live in amongst the island community, fully immersed in village life. I really really enjoyed my stay and it was so amazing...Read more

What an incredible experience to be able to live in amongst the island community, fully immersed in village life. I really really enjoyed my stay and it was so amazing to explore the island in my free time. In the classroom, it was mostly helping kids one on one with the work assigned by the teacher, but for about 4-5 days I was in charge of my own class (because the teacher was away) so I organised and implemented different activities and work for the kids to improve their English. Not only did we help out with teaching in the classrooms, we also got to do lots of other community projects like beach cleanups, tree planting, preparing for the sports carnival, and cassava farming. Great for a really authentic experience of Fiji, but important to know that the living conditions can be quite challenging (no running water (so no flushing toilets, taps to wash hands, showers, etc), limited power/electricity, very limited access to fruit/veggies, and lots of different customs to adhere to). Overall a really positive experience that Im very grateful for :) The host family was so awesome and made sure we were doing well, keeping us very well fed, caring for me when I saw sick, and constantly checking in on us. The food was SO DELICIOUS but I did struggle with the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, especially at the start because my body just was not used to eating so much rice and noodles for every meal. The accomodation was good… it would have been nice to have a little reading light in my room because once the sun was down, i was no longer able to read or journal, but that’s a minor issue. On the mainland, Masi and Mere were so so awesome, super friendly, often checking in on us and so quick to resolve any problems that came up.