Volunteers For Peace

I paid $500 to this organization for registration on a Water Research Project in Nepal, which was supposed to include: "the placement process, accommodation, food, leadership and work materials for...Read more

I paid $500 to this organization for registration on a Water Research Project in Nepal, which was supposed to include: "the placement process, accommodation, food, leadership and work materials for the duration of the project" (I copied this from their original email). Upon my arrival to Nepal, the local organization ended up charging me for the same things that were supposed to be included with the VFP registration fee. I contacted VFP to clarify and I was provided with different information regarding the $500 registration fee different to what was originally provided to me. Both VFP and the local organization did nothing to resolve this issue and I was forced to cut my trip short because I wasn't able to afford the rest of my stay.

- VFP illegally mislead information on what was included with the $500 registration fee.
- Housing and food were not provided by VFP, although it was clearly stated in the emails when the registration fee was paid.

-VFP needs to clearly state in their emails and website what is included with the registration fee and make sure their partner organizations are involved in the disclosure of this information to prevent any confusions. Some of the volunteers that apply for these organizations do not have a few hundred dollars to spare when mistakes like this happen!

I have given VFP the opportunity to clarify this issue and refund me my money, since I believed maybe my experience was an isolated case but unfortunately they have not reached out to me and own up to their fraud. It really is a shame that organizations like this take advantage of people that really want to help marginalized communities!

VFP Gives people the awesome opportunity to go abroad and really experience the culture of other countries across the world from Taiwan to GermanyRead more

VFP Gives people the awesome opportunity to go abroad and really experience the culture of other countries across the world from Taiwan to Germany

My only (so far) volunteer project was this past Nov. 2013, in Nicaragua/Finca Esperanza Verde. This was such an amazing experience. We stayed a week long in one of the...Read more

My only (so far) volunteer project was this past Nov. 2013, in Nicaragua/Finca Esperanza Verde. This was such an amazing experience. We stayed a week long in one of the most elevated mountains reaching 4,000 feet high. From the initial beautiful welcoming by Vivann and staff, followed by a candlelight dinner for all. Our three times a day meals consisted of mostly organic foods from the Finca. We even learned about the different plants/tress and picked out our fresh vegetables to be consumed. Including mint leaves for fresh mojitos!
Our missionary tasks consisted of putting up a fence, digging holes, reforestation of coffee, oaks, and cedar plants. We became educated on the entire coffee process from picking out the coffee beans up to the required standards of the organic farm guidelines.
One of my most highlighted experiences was having the opportunity to interact and play with the kids of a school of six different grades located in the Finca. The kids were so well disciplined, receptive, and full of life. Even with such a high demand of need from clothing to essential nutrition they posses a strong drive and determination in both academics and even sports. I wish I had more time dedicated to the children.
Although our stay in the finca was pretty booked all day with a full itinerary of things to do, we also had our breaks to enjoy learning about one another and soak all the beauty of this amazing paradise. There are five awesome trails that we explored along with the wild birds/animals.
I’m very grateful for this humbling experience and described in one word for me would be purity of simple life;-)

Just the other day, I stepped out of my little hut, walked through the recently drenched rice patties, and found myself falling through space. The sky above was immensely dark...Read more

Just the other day, I stepped out of my little hut, walked through the recently drenched rice patties, and found myself falling through space. The sky above was immensely dark and thick with stars, denser in some regions, almost making parts seem wholly lit, while others seemed more scattered. Behind them all was the great river of light we find our home in—the Milky Way. Yet, all of this, Milky Way included, was beneath me as well. The rice patties around me, in their 10’ by 10’ squares, acted as a seamless mirror when crouched down just so, letting the horizon disappear. The surface of the pools, in the day, reflected the blue sky, a reflection quilted by thin, bright green tips of newly budding rice. But by night stars filled the patties’ surface, allowing that river of light to flow underfoot as well as above; ground ceased to exist, only the star-strewn space stretched onto forever.
I was no longer just beneath this night sky, but also above it—there was a sensation of floating. There could have been potential for reorientation, to regain gravity and stability, were it not for that something which totally confounded my senses: between the constellations above and below floated countless paper lanterns, their lights pulsing just like the stars’. Some moved up to join clusters above, others seemingly moving down when seen through the patties’ reflection. At times I found myself thinking if this is what vertigo feels like, and others I thought I’d found some magical realm—both held me in a trance. Even an hour after I’d found my way back to the hut, I couldn’t entirely convince myself this room wasn’t floating detached from earth…ah, Thailand.