Morocco was my first time volunteering abroad and I have to say that it was the best experience of my life. Booking and preparing for the trip was really easy as the OV team were extremely helpful and responded back to any questions I had emailed to them very rapidly. The detailed information on the website was also extremely helpful and honest.
When I arrived in Marrakech airport, I was collected by a friendly taxi driver who drove me to the volunteer house and conversed with me during the car ride which made me feel at ease. I was then collected by the main coordinator from the taxi who walked us to the volunteer house. He was extremely friendly and welcoming. He showed us around the house and the area which we was staying and also introduced us to the project coordinator. Both coordinators were very kind and helpful and looked after all the volunteers so well. They were always available to help us at any time in the day and make us feel extremely safe and secure.
The volunteer house was much bigger than I expected and so clean and nicely decorated. The house had all the resources and facilities we needed so I felt at home very quickly. The bedrooms were spacious but the beds were slightly uncomfortable and it gets very cold in the bedrooms at night. You can also hear quite a lot of noise from outside but after a few days you get used to it and it doesn’t effect your sleep or ruin a good experience!
We had opportunities to visit baby orphanages, special need schools, less privileged schools and also to feed the homeless and we were always escorted by the project coordinator. We were able to play with the children for a good length of time. We had freedom to set up our own activities and use our own equipment which was lovely, but the coordinators were always on hand to help and to translate if we required this support! All the volunteers and I felt so privileged and happy to be able to spend time with the children. I thoroughly enjoyed the projects. The OV website however over emphasises that volunteers need to bring a lot of equipment for the children from home. I therefore brought a lot of equipment but didn’t even need half of it. But I donated all the left over equipment to the schools so it still went to good use!
In our spare time, we had freedom to do any activities we wanted. The coordinators were extremely helpful as they always arranged everything for us without fail and escorted us to places so we felt so safe! We were able to explore Marrakech and we were able to learn a lot about the culture!
I would recommend this experience to everyone of any age and culture! My experience with OV was so amazing that I’m already planning another trip back to Morocco!
