CCS was my first international volunteer program. We were more or less 25 in my group, ranging from age 18 to 66, I was in the older range. I found the price a bargain. We lived in a villa in a lovely, upscale, residential area in Rabat. CCS provided us with 3 excellent meals plus tea and pasteries daily. The CCS van took us to our placement in several groups depending on the time our work began. The house was beautiful, well staffed with CCS reps, cooks, maid service, drivers. The location was excellent and near downtown, bus stops, train stations, etc. Volunteers shared rooms with bunk beds and adequate closet/storage space. CCS provided us with discussion groups, language and cooking classes, field trips, cultural activities during the afternoons after lunch. They also provided us with access to laundry services near the house. There were excellent shopping areas, cyber cafes, spa, etc. We worked hard and most volunteers esp those who worked in hospitals or orphanages really had some emotional experiences. I taught English to professional adults and university students and loved every second of it. From what I learned from other CCS volunteers and my own experience, CCS has to be at the top of any international volunteer group. I have recommended many of my friends and colleagues to give it a try. It's truly a positive life changing and enhancing experience. I am 100% grateful for this excellent experience.
Cross-Cultural Solutions
As an international volunteer with Cross-Cultural Solutions, you're making a meaningful contribution, working side-by-side with local people and sharing in the goals of a community that warmly welcomes you. You're experiencing another culture like never before and really getting to know its people. You'll gain new perspectives and insight into the culture and yourself. It's an exciting and personally inspiring experience, and you'll develop memories that will be with you forever.
My experience with CCS in New Delhi was wonderful . The CCS staff, living arrangements, and activities provided, were beyond satisfactory. The staff was very helpful with any questions and willing to go out of their way to make all volunteers feel comfortable during the duration of their stay. As far as my experience as a volunteer, I was fortunate enough to receive my ideal placement and as a result,I had the most wonderful experience with my students. Transportation to and from placement sites are provided by CCS staff as well as transportation to any places in Delhi. I had a glorious experience with CCS and would highly recommend this program to any international volunteers.
Volunteering with CCS was very mediocre. Yes, they give you food and a place to sleep, but the staff seemed very over protective and more concerned with rules than with preparing their volunteers to do useful, sustainable work. The best part of my trip was when I left the home base and spent 2 weeks traveling in Tanzania on my own. While with CCS, I worked with a local public health organization and found out during my time there that the program staff really had no idea what the organization does and could offer no advice on how to help them in a sustainable way. Also, the program is extremely expensive and I always got nebulous responses when I asked what the money was used for. Additionally, the program staff didn’t seem to understand that after having paid the tremendous program fee, I was now travelling on a very tight budget. All of their suggestions for post-program travel were for the fancy “mzungu” (white person) hotels and busses and beaches which is not at all what I was looking for. While at the program base, there are so many required activities that I didn’t feel that I got much of a chance to explore the town where we were working or get to know local people – I spent most of my time getting carted around from one activity to the next with upper-middle class white Americans. The program staff even found it strange when I would refuse a ride to my placement which was a mere 5-minute walk from the homebase. I did learn a fair amount of basic Swahili there, but I can’t say that was thanks to the lessons that we had. Our teacher was less than spectacular and mostly gave us long lists of vocabulary words that she would read out loud to us. If you’re really looking for an easy and comfortable first trip out to another country CCS will give you that, but if you’re looking for a deeper experience with a lower price tag I would recommend looking elsewhere.
Comments
I cannot recommend Cross Cultural Solutions enough. I have volunteered with them three times -- twice in Russia, and once in Guatemala. The program IS expensive; there is no denying that. But when you get to the country and start volunteering, you start to wonder why the program doesn't cost 10 times more.
For example, when I volunteered in Russia, here is what my placement fee paid for: several translators (Russian law requires them for foreigners who are volunteering there), three meals a day, lodging, two drivers, a van to chauffeur us around, a secretary and a director. Not to mention the gas and all the supplies we needed/brought to the placements. In other words, even though CCS is expensive, the money goes to a lot of good people who are not exactly making it rich by working for CCS.
In both countries, I saw real differences being made in the lives of the people we volunteered with. I can honestly say that the times I spent in Guatemala and Russia with CCS are among the best times in my whole life. This organization makes sure that there is no fraud; makes sure that volunteers do not mess up the local structures/cultures, and will go above and beyond in helping their volunteers. The directors are always on 24-hour emergency call for the volunteers, and often live mere seconds or minutes away from where the volunteers stay.
All in all, it's a wonderful program and I hope to be able to volunteer through them again soon.
I volunteered with CCS for 8 weeks in the summer of 2007. I loved my experience. I read a lot of negative reviews so I had to add my experience. The “Home Base†all the volunteers stayed in was in a nicer neighborhood. I volunteered with my wife and we lucked out and go our own room with our own attached bathroom. Other volunteers had to stay in larger rooms with bunk beds. The house had wireless internet, lockers, hot water (in the mornings), 2 housekeepers to clean the common areas, a cook, 24 hour security, etc. We had no curfew and the staff was very flexible and accommodating.
We volunteered in the mornings and came home in the afternoon for lunch and then had optional language classes, culture classes, trips and free time. I know Portuguese so I skipped the language classes. The food was local. So some volunteers weren’t always crazy about it but I liked it and thought it added to the cultural experience. I did however teach the cook to make American style pancakes.
We also had weekends free so we got to go on weekend trips to tropical islands and amazing waterfalls. I went rock climbing, cave exploring, hiking, swimming, to lots of beaches, and even a cigar factory during my weekends free.
My placement was teaching English at a community school for underprivileged children called CEIFAR (There is a Wikipedia page about it that I wrote). I taught classes twice a week, helped in their regular classes twice a week and it was closed on Fridays. On Fridays, I visited other placements like a center for kids with HIV/AIDS, other English schools, some daycares etc. Since I spoke Portuguese, the staff liked to have me visit lots of different placements on Fridays where I could help.
I thought the mornings we not enough so I got permission to volunteer in the afternoons at an orphanage. It was down the street from CEIFAR. There I just mostly played with kids and talked to them. The got little attention from adults as they were very short staffed. The kids loved it and I had fun too.
My wife (a med student at the time) volunteered at the center for kids with HIV/AIDS. Upon her request, the staff worked out a once a week placement with a local community doctor so she could observe and do some things to help out.
We thought the staff in Brazil was fantastic. I still keep in contact with the house manager through Facebook. He went above and beyond by helping me fix our crashed laptop, and helping us change our plane tickets so we could stay a little longer.
I checked me receipt and I paid $4119 for 8 weeks. That includes food, transportation, the house to stay in, language and culture classes, day trip outings, the staff, insurance and I’m sure maybe even more than that. I talked to the house manager and he said the most expensive part of the whole thing was the insurance.
The other volunteers were wonderful and I made so many lasting friendships as a result. So many of the volunteers tried to extend their stays because the loved it so much. One volunteer I met had already volunteered with CCS in Brazil for 3 consecutive years.
I loved my experience so much that I looked at jobs at CCS when I got back. After seeing what they pay, I quickly changed my mind. The position I was looking at paid $30K a year to work in NYC. I make twice that on the west coast.
I highly recommend CCS.
