review

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!