I recently undertook a career break year, part of which was spent doing a work placement at an orphanage in Costa Rica. I had a fantastic and very valuable time there. The placement was incredible, my host family were lovely and provided good food and accommodation, and I experienced no problems during the placement at all I-to-I provided loads of information before the placement, and make you take a TEFL course. This is useful in a broad sense, but it is a bit annoying to have to pay for a course which for many volunteers is not helpful at all. Realistically, no one is going to be teaching Costa Rican babies and toddlers English grammar!
My personal experience was generally very good. My only slight quibble was with the fact that I was on my placement alone, when I had requested to be with someone else. Another girl had dropped out due to a broken leg, but there were still 5 girls in a neighbouring town also working in a children's home and only me in my town. I thought that maybe one of the girls could have been moved.
However, other people did not have such a good experience. Unfortunately, about 10 volunteers had all their money and passports stolen when they were on a weekend trip. The I-to-I incountry helpers were not very helpful and were going to charge the poor volunteers over the odds for transport to San Jose to the relevant embassies. Most volunteers could not have afforded to pay this even if they hadn't just been robbed. Those of us who had not been involved in the robbery ended up having to lend our friends a lot of money, as otherwise they would not have been able to get back/pay for food/accommodation. I-to-I were pretty poor on this front.
Also, some volunteers had paid to go and work on projects that were in fact run by Habitat for Humanity. You can volunteer to work for Habitat for Humanity directly, and avoid all the fees charged by I-to-I. The I-to-I website did not make it clear that volunteers would be given to Habitat, but it now appears to have changed. This was a bit sneaky though and very annoying for volunteers who had paid loads of money to find themselves working alongsie other volunteers who had come for free (or in one case was actually on a paid internship).
All in all, I can't complain. But check things out carefully in case there are hidden catches. Also, be prepared to have to stand on your own two feet should you run into problems. The in-country coordinators may not be as helpful as the booking agents back in the UK.
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We are pleased that you enjoyed your meaningful travel experience in Costa Rica. We would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that the problems experienced by the other volunteers you met represent a very small minority of customer experiences. We have a very strong support network in place in order to ensure that any difficulties faced by customers are minimal. In general the quality of our service is reflected in our extremely low complaint rate and high customer satisfaction, as evidenced in the testimonials on our website. In an attempt to further enhance our customer satisfaction, we have recently begun a new research initiative that will allow us to communicate more effectively with our customers and help improve our service still further.
If you have any further comments, please feel free to contact us via our website: www.i-to-i.com.
i-to-i
Lucie_S1984 02.01.2005 13:13
Some friends of mine went abroad on a gap year and really enjoyed it - not sure if this was the company they went with though. Never really appealed to me I have to say, Lucie xxx
s_jones_2003 21.11.2004 00:49
I considered doing this when I was thinking about taking a gap year but never quite got round to it. The prices were a little high I thought! Sarah x
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Advantages: Friendly agency with a personal touch, good links with placement countries and wide variety of programmes Disadvantages: some communication problems over what was included in my prize (a minor quibble)
blinderben 14.02.2001 ·
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Advantages: glossy brochure with nice, inspiring pictures, beautiful countries Disadvantages: not interested in you after you book and hand over the cash
SamFord 13.11.2006 (13.11.2006)
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Nov 18th, 2004
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