My 15 years old son went to Bordeaux for a 3-week Teen Volunteer Program. I contacted Allie via telephone; we live abroad, and had very specific questions. She was very courteous, efficient, organized, and very professional.
Their French counterpart, Soladiariete Jeunesses, was just as professional. Their staff of volunteers were outstanding, especially the person in charge.
I had four objectives in mind:
1. My son had to improve his French;
2. He needed a good dose of humility, being a obnoxious teen;
3. He had to see what working, volunteering, rules and chores, outside the home meant.
4. Learn some independence, and how to travel alone.
My goals were met. He returned home, not an angel, but definitively improved.
He had to change planes, catch a shuttle, and find the right train and buy a ticket. All this was accomplished on a Sunday, where everything in Europe is notoriously shut down! He arrived and left a day after they specified dates, and the staff had no problem accommodating the altered schedule.
My only suggestion for this experience is that for teens (usually on their first travel alone experience) they could have a meeting point closer than the camp village, a render-vouz of a few hours at the airport, or the main train station.
Apart from the actual project (restoring an old mansion), there was kitchen duty (cooking and cleaning), bathroom cleaning (that’s a tough one), and he never complained. He actually volunteered for extra work.
The experience for him was very rewarding; he made new friends from other countries (only 2 teens per country are accepted - thus having a very international pool of people), and worked hard.
Thank you VFP, thank you Allie. We will definitively do it again.
