I volunteered for two weeks in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on a child development programme. I loved my time in Rio. This was my first time volunteering and actually my first time travelling alone so it was very daunting to begin with. Luis Felipe Murray who runs the Iko Poran charity in Rio made me feel so welcome and supported me thought my time there. I worked with a group of children between roughly 4 and 16 years of age, I've never met a more intelligent, considerate and warm-hearted bunch of children in my life! They made this trip for me and I will never forget them. I was told a tousand horror stories about Rio before I left about how dangerous it was and I found the complete opposite on arrival, everyone is so friendly. It is dangerous but as long as you are careful and watch what you are doing you will be fine. The poverty in the country is hard to observe, especially if you come from a country like mine where we take everything for granted. It's heart-breaking to see but just hold onto the fact that if you choose to visit these countries you are there to make a difference no matter how big or small that is. What an incredible journey I've been on already and I can't explain in words how humbling it is and how granteful I am to Iko Poran and all the other volunteers from all around the world who contributed to how fantastic my time there was.
I will most definitely be volunteering again and I'll for sure be back in Rio.
WorkingAbroad
I was really nervous before arriving in Rio as it was my first time volunteering and also my first time travelling alone. I remember sitting in the car with Felipe, the Coordinator General of Iko Poran, and I was telling him how nervous I was, to which he told me "There is nothing to worry about, you're going to have the time of your life."
He couldn't have been more right! Everything about Rio was amazing. The volunteering program itself was really fun and eye-opening. The other volunteers I met were amazing! Rio really is a cidade maravilhosa. Most of all, Felipe and Iko Poran were amazing. The organisation and care they took for us volunteers were good, and I would recommend Iko Poran to anyone!!
I volunteered in Rio de Janeiro as a football trainer and English teacher. Through WorkingAbroad I was placed at the local organization Iko Poran. Iko Poran placed me in a project called Jocum in the favela Borel. Jocum is a very organized Christian charity with a hospital, music school, women project, football project and they organize a lot of different activities for the community. Safety in the favela was no problem; in fact, the people were very welcoming to me when they knew that I volunteered for Jocum and they were very eager to participate in the program. The participants of the football project are around 18 years old, so playing football with them is a great experience in itself if you like football! Staying there for a longer period gives you the chance to really make a difference and help the people, although a short stay will be great too. Next to the football trainings I also taught the participants of the football project English classes.
As I stayed for almost 3 months with another volunteer, we became good friends with the boys in the favela and they treated us like we were one of them. Still months after volunteering, I'm in touch with many of the boys from the football program and I promised them to come back!
What I liked the best are the relationships we could build with the football players and help them in making their life decisions, eg. about going to school, having work, how to treat the girls in the favela, how to stay away from criminality, etc.
More information about the project on www.goal4rio.com
Iko Poran has two houses where you will live with the other volunteers. Living with the other volunteers is a lot of fun and you will enjoy every day/night. At Iko Poran, Zac and Vivi help you with everything you need, they also offer you Portugese language course, which helps you a lot to get around.
Improvements for the program:
Pricing of the program could be improved. Just to volunteer we paid a lot for accommodation and breakfast. However, the quality of these were pretty bad. The mattresses were bad, kitchen equipment was very old and the wifi barely worked if everybody was back in the hostel.
For breakfast, there were only white slices of bread, cheese, ham, most of the time a piece of fruit, 1 type of cereals, milk and coffee. For none of us this was enough to start a full day of volunteering.
To sum up, nothing too bad, but Iko Poran can easily improve these to improve the experience of the volunteers.
My entire experience volunteering with working abroad and Ocean spirits was great! My 9 weeks volunteering on a Leatherback conservation project in Grenada truly was an unforgettable experience and really worthwhile. The project is based in a great location with friendly staff and locals in an amazing country, with a good balance of hard work and free time to relax. It was really good fun working with volunteers from all around the world and with the local and international staff. With the whole experience being made easier with help from Working abroad and their friendly customer service and useful advice.
The project is split between working on the beach at night collecting data on the nesting turtles (which is incredible, critically endangered turtles laying their eggs directly into your hands!) and the community projects with the local schools which is also really rewarding. Then, apart from the other tasks like cooking and cleaning etc, you get plenty of free time to explore the beautiful island of Grenada with loads to do like; snorkeling, diving, visiting the waterfalls and national park, or you can just relax on the nearby beach with an Ice cold beer!
Taking part in the project was especially important for me as I hope to pursue a career in marine conservation, and this allowed me to gain invaluable work experience. Adding the Ocean spirits project to my C.V definitely made it stand out and I attended a number of interviews and have now got a job working at sea turtle conservation project in the Cook Islands.
So whether you’re looking for a holiday a bit different to the usual, or to add something to your C.V head out to Grenada and volunteer with Ocean Spirits!
