Kenya

I am really surprised to read volunteers' criticism about global crossroad kenya program. I just returned to canada after spending 10 weeks in Kenya. GC homebase is wonderful, safe, and comfortable. I love Ian and Iditi as both of them are very nice to volunteers.
I know Ian is Pastor so it does not make sense
to complaints about Ian for not letting us to bring alcohol in homebase. If you want to drink alcohol, you can do it anywhere in Kenya, why do you need it in home base? I also learn that GC is making a good donatin to orphanage. I found safari also excellent so I am not agreed with the comments about homebase and coordinators. you can go directly to orphanage but we will never know whether it is safe or not. so lets fair guys

I was so glad to find reviews of GC that were not all positive. On their website it only has positive reviews and I asked them if that was why my evaluation was not posted and they avoided the question...go figure! So I am happy to post my review here! I went to Kenya in Oct. 08 and stayed with the host family which is the coordinator for Kenya. It is a very nice house with other volunteers which I found to be helpful to have other people around. The house itself was very nice but there were some things that bothered me. One, that we did not have a key and so we had to wait if nobody was home. Two, that the food was served in "bulk" fashion meaning that we ate pretty much the same food every morning and evening with one different ingredient added each time. Until I went to the grocery store I thought that was the only food available and then I realized that it was not. There was no food during the day so if you were at the house you had nothing to eat; so we all wondered, where is the freakin food. It was locked up somewhere. I don't appreciate paying $1400usd and having food rationed out to me! Also, toilet paper was locked up too so if you ran out in the middle of the night you were s.o.l. Luckily, I brought my own stash! We were told what time we needed to be home and told we could not drink alcohol in the house. The family had a little girl so I could understand not having a beer in front of her and they were very religious but not being able to drink in the privacy of my own room....not cool! I feel the money I paid went to the upkeep of the very nice (in Kenyan standards) house and salaries. The positive part of my experience was the orphanage and safari. I was placed at the House of Mercy orphanage and my time there was truely amazing. Rose, the director, is the most amazing woman I have ever met. Her orphanage is a true testiment to what one person can do to change lives. It is run on donations and when I realized that none of my money went to the orphanage I was furious, the coordinator gave me 100ksh (which is nothing) to give to her and I assume that was to feed me lunch for the 2 weeks I was there. Ridiculous!!!! My daily routine involved helping in the classroom with daily assignments, playing games with the children and assisting the teachers with anything they needed. Learning a bit of Swahili would have been helpful since the younger ones don't speak much English. I am starting a foundation to educate the older children since high school education is not free and there is not enough money to send them to school. Basic education means everything to these children and it will keep them out of the streets. If you are interested in volunteering there please let me know and I can set it up for you, it is much cheaper to stay in a local hotel in Nairobi and that way some company's pockets are not lined with your hard earned money! I will be returning in May to check on the orphanage and to set up some things with the foundation. The safari was amazing. I did find out that I overpaid tremendously by having it included in my fee. You can bargain with the many safari companies for a better price. Just do some research before you go to see which companies are reputable and then go see them when you get there. The price on the website for a 4day/3night booked through GC is $700.00. You can get it for less that $100 a day if you negotiate it when you get to Kenya. Duh....I know now! So anyway, in conclusion, if you want to volunteer and visit Kenya it is an amazing experience. If you want to do it cheaper and put a little effort into planning you can do it yourself, I will give you some pointers. If you want everything planned for you and to line someones pockets then use Global Crossroad! Please, please contact me with any questions. Sommertym@aol.com and put Kenya or GC in the subject line! Thanks!

Can't fault the program - was amazing and well worth the money.

It’s hard to describe accurately in words my time at By Grace – it was an incredible experience. From the moment I was introduced to the staff & children, I felt at home and very welcome in the centre. It was quickly agreed that I teach English & Maths to Form 1 during my 2 week stay at the centre & I was given the teaching aids that were necessary for classes. The other teachers were especially helpful if I had any questions etc. and also Salome was a fantastic source of information and advice during my stay. I found the students to be very eager to learn and very receptive in class - it was just such a pity to find them with only one book to work from for the whole class. Nevertheless, the teachers manage with what little resources they have & they are a great inspiration for the children. I had a fantastic time at By Grace – I extended my stay there by a further week but that was still far too little time to be spending with such great children. I wish I was still there now but I will definitely go back as soon as I can organise for it.
The only thing to note maybe for future volunteers is that the description I received from Global Crossroad on the activities I would be performing at the orphanage was not very accurate. I did not expect to be spending my whole time teaching – had I been aware of this I could have brought out some teaching aids, books etc that would have been beneficial for the students.
Host Family
I was so lucky to be housed with Rahab & her family. I was welcomed into her home as one of the family & I really felt at home during my stay. Rahab spent so much time with me & taught me a lot about Kenyan culture and way of life. She sacrificed her own time at weekends to bring me to the Giraffe Centre & the Bomas of Kenya. She also helped me to buy provisions for the orphanage – taking another whole day of her personal time. I was also invited to join the family in Mombassa over Easter …..the list of ways in which I was welcomed, helped and guided really is endless. In terms of the livings conditions I found the house to be most comfortable and the quality of the meals I received was excellent.
Safari
The safari was absolutely fantastic. The driver, Sammy, was very competent – I felt very safe in the vehicle on such rocky roads! He was also very knowledgeable with respect to the wildlife – in terms of both identification and giving us information about specific animals. The campsite was well run – it was clean & even had hot showers on our second day! The food was also very good.

Global Crossroads is a business not an organization. They are not supportive, and could care less about you and your well being after you pay them. I'm lucky I didn't end up kidnapped and sold. The other volunteer who I later met, was an 18 year old boy who had never even been out of the USA. Upon his arrival at the airport, his ride never showed up and he ended up taking a random taxi to a motel where he stayed the night in fear. Luckily the next day he somehow found a contact and eventually made it to the local office. Global Crossroad does not provide you with any information once you arrive. I was picked up, driven to some lady's house, (to this day I have no idea who she was or how she was affiliated with GC), spent the night there, picked up again in the morning, taken to the local office, waited there 3 hours, then finally taken to the orphanage. Along the way nobody would ever tell me where I was going or what was happening and it was truly frightening.
I think my total cost to Global Crossroad was around $1500 and I learned they gave the orphanage where I stayed only $100 for me being there.
I was told I would be teaching orphans English. Instead, the orphanage had it's own school that was well established and taken very seriously. They already had teachers and all the kids knew English. For the first few days I really had no purpose, but eventually I just started helping with cooking and cleaning and playing with the kids. I also helped them with their homework. It turned out as a great experience but not what I signed up for. I am still very close with the founders of the orphanage and help raise money to put the orphans through high school. IF ANYONE WANTS TO VOLUNTEER AT THIS ORPHANAGE WITH NO COST TO YOU, i can set it up. The founders of the orphanage are willing to pick you up from the airport and make sure you are taken care of. Don't waste your money on any organizations. If you really want to make a difference, use the money you would've spent to help put these kids through high school!! Please feel free to contact me with questions or info on volunteering in Kenya. The kids will change you forever. It was the best experience of my life (no thanks to Global Crossroad)
htebbutt@hotmail.com

I couldn't find a place to begin, except to say that this program was awful.
The in-country organization was hardly supportive-- when throwing up for three days straight, they offered to drop me off at the hospital and provided no support beyond this.
Placement was terrible-- there was an extreme lack of attention to community need; rather we were merely thrown at a place. For example, where I was was actually using volunteers from the community to complete the tasks I thought I'd be doing. I was bored, frustrated and of course, GVN was impossible to contact. The 24/7 emergency line was never available, my host sister stole from me and I went home two weeks early and spent 4 days in a hospital at home.
GVN ignored largely any requests for evaluation of my experience and only upon threatened legal action did they partially refund the administrative fee.
MISERABLE experience.