I had a very bad experience with this company. The place they put us with had no heat, mold, outside doors didn't lock, etc. People where getting sick and asked them to get heaters or wood for the fireplace and they refused. We were also 8 people crammed into a small room. There were numerous other problems and the in-county coordinator essentially did not care about the volunteers. The worst part was the fact that most of the money you pay does not go to the local programs. There was even an article in the local newspaper after a volunteer complained about the large amounts of money not going to the programs. I suggest you look for a non-profit organization or go directly through the local program you are interested in. The local people are so happy to have you there and I had a good experience with the people at the local program. A group of volunteers tried to find out how much of our money went to the local program and we never got a straight answer from i-to-i. It is so sad that the thousands of dollars I paid, I suspect that less than $100 went to the program. Further, they do not provide food, transportation to the local program, etc. Basically, the money you pay to i-to-i is for housing (which could be easily found on your own) and to make money for the company. I also volunteered with a non-profit at Dago Village in Kenya, Village Volunteers, and the experience was so much better and most of the money I paid went directly to the local program. Further, they provided food and transportation while I was in country. I highly recommend volunteering abroad as it is a life-changing experience, but I suggest you go through a non-profit program so your volunteer money can make a difference.
i-to-i TEFL
I have one piece of advice for anyone thinking of volunteering with i-to-i: do NOT do it. Here is an honest account of my experience with them in 2008.
I booked 4 weeks' volunteering on a women's empowerment project in Chitwan, Nepal for a total cost of 800 pounds (not including flights). The support before I went to Nepal and when I arrived in Kathmandu was reasonable, but when I got to Chitwan everything disintegrated. It turned out that there was NO project. I had been promised several times that there would be 7 different women's groups that I could meet and decide which one to work with, but it turned out that there was just 1 which only met one afternoon a month (and I had just missed it). No alternative activities were provided by i-to-i and I only managed to arrange anything at all through my own initiative. I had also been promised that there would be many other volunteers in the area but there were only none, leaving me completely on my own as an 18-year-old female. The staff at the hotel i-to-i placed me at were thoroughly unpleasant, trying to rip me off, ply me with alcohol and put me into dangerous situations. My host family, whom I stayed with for a little while, were not much better. I eventually left the project 2 weeks early because I just couldn't stand it, despite the fact that I had been eager to help people through volunteering.
The problems continued when I got home. I tried to claim some money back because i-to-i had taken a lot of my cash (which I had carefully fundraised over 6 months) and had broken all their promises to me in return. They flat-out refused to give any money back or even apologise. Instead, they viciously attacked me and my character in their reply letters and made up many things which I was unable to disprove.
This company was absolutely shocking in almost every way. They just want your money and are not interested in providing any meaningful volunteering. You only have to Google 'i-to-i complaints' on Google to find many other people with similar experiences to mine. I wish I had found that out before I booked with them. Do yourself a favour and book with a project through http://vaops.com (which I can personally vouch for, having had a great volunteering experience through them for only 10 dollars a day) and AVOID greedy companies like i-to-i.
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I think I-to-I is the worst compnany. they charge alot of money nearly 90% of fee goes to owner thats why she goes to vacation every month. we need to be carefuly guy
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I have recently joined volunteer program in Tanzania, where I found several organizations placed volunteer in Koranga hospital, which is about 25 KM from Arusha. these organization includes Cross Cultural Solutions, Global Crossroad, I-to-I and so on. I found all they charge money but pay little to the hospital where they need most help. I found Cross Cultural pays USD 250 per month, Global Crossroad USD 400.00. i-to-i USD 300.00 a month. I don't know where the rest of the amount goes.
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