Real life volunteer experiences

hy should one do volunteering with Ecuador Volunteer Foundation? Well, first of all, let's face the facts; volunteering is probably one of the fastest, and definitively cheapest, ways to improve your Spanish skills. Second, and that's the real point that you won't really realize until returning to your home country; besides improving your human skills in a different culture, getting self confident handling surprisingly new and exciting situations and achieving unique skills for a future carreer, you'll actually get to improve the life of a handfull of children. Depending on your skills but, most importantly, your efforts, you will have the chance to really do a difference for a change in your life. Imagine... It cannot be described, you should just take a deep breath and sign up for volunteering, ok? Besides, Ecuador Volunteer rocks! The staff is highly skilled and experiences working with foreign volunteers. This means that they will accept you as you are and give you quite a freedom to choose where you can do the most but, at the same time, they will always be there for your in every sense. I can so much recommend doing volunteering!

have worked 8 weeks in Quito in the old people’s home called “plenitud ciudad de la alegria”. Now, after passing these 8 weeks, I can say, it was one of the best times in my life. I came to Ecuador without speaking any Spanish and only with a little experience as far as the care of old people is concerned. I didn’t really know, what to expect, so I just jumped into this adventure. The first 2 weeks in Quito I took Spanish lessons, just to know the basics of this language. With these basis language skills I have started to work. At the beginning I had some problems understanding what the people were saying but all the people living in the home treated me quite nice and showed understanding for my language problems – more, they started to teach me new words and how to use them correctly and so I had the best teachers, I ever could imagine. Most of the residents are lonely, their children are occupied with work or even forget them. I tried to make them forget that they are living in an old peoples home: I have talked a lot with them, they told me their life stories and taught me a lot more than the language: they taught me how real life works – things, no teacher in no school teaches. You can learn these lessons only by facing real life on your own or listening to people, who have already done this. As a volunteer I didn’t get paid money, but in reality I got paid more, than any money could do: they gave me their love, a kiss, a warm handshake, a piece of bread saved from breakfast or a bright laugh. And that is, at least in my opinion, the best and the most you can earn when doing this kind of work.

orking with the Community of Santa Ana and living in the jungle was an amazing experience. Ecuador Volunteer, arranged everything for my arrival and gave me all the neccesary information. I felt well prepared in what to bring and what to expect from my volunteer experience. I taught English to the children of the community, helped with various projects within the community, learned lots of interesting and useful things about plant and animal life in the jungle, helped to cook the traditional foods (platanos, yuca, cheecha, fish, and chicken), participated in afternoon sports (soccer and volleyball), learned some Quichwa dance, songs, and words, and most importantly was able to be a part of the daily life there. I reccommend this project to anyone who is interested in a unique experience in a jungle community.

hen I first arrived in Quito, which was six months ago now, I felt a little helpless. I was not familiar to the language, not to the culture, not to hardly anything at all that would wait for me in the next weeks. Now, that I am sitting here six months later and going back to Austria tomorrow, I feel that I have really learned a lot. I am not feeling like a stranger, like a foreigner any more. Everything that was difficult and strange and new and sometimes hard to understand and to accept has gone normal now. I have really learned a lot, and I think I have grown a lot personally. The experience you have as a volunteer cannot be compared to the one that a tourist, or even a backpacker who stays for a few weeks in the country, have. I have lived at a host family´s place, which means you have to fit into a new family; I have worked as the only English teacher for 200 children, who are all in a very hard situation educationally speaking, which was a hard challenge to take, as I have not been something like a teacher before and the situation was difficult and the organization at the school kind of bad. And especially I did not know anybody before coming here. To put it in a nutshell, you have to fit into a completely new surrounding, in fact it is really somehow like starting a new life. But no matter how difficult it would get, day by day I have been watching myself growing on the situation, getting better and better as a teacher every day and starting to accept the culture and the society. I can recommend very much volunteering in Ecuador, as it is a country with a variety that is hard to find in South America and probably all over the world. As I´ve said you grow a lot personally and I think everybody who can afford to do it and has the time should use their time to have an experience like that. Thank you Ecuador Volunteer and especially to all the people in that beautiful country for letting me have an experience like this one!

y experience in Ecuador was very positive. I received much support from Ecuador Volunteer Foundation both before my arrival and during my time here. My days were organized well and I was very happy with my decision to come to Ecuador. Unfortunately, my time here was shorter than I would have liked and it would have been great to volunteer for other projects, as well. Thank you Mary + Anita! This was unforgettable experience.