I would not recommend Lattitude. I was in rural Africa, and was provided no support. There were so many issues, but some included being sent of to our rural village and not showed where to buy food (we had no access to food for the first three days and had to eat fruit we could scavenge from local trees); our in country support would not return our calls throughout the whole trip (we had to contact our home country before we could ever get on to anyone); and they did not organise our visas so we couldn't leave the country on time; they also provided no support for cultural adjustments and exposure to extreme poverty. Their approach to development is unethical and I would not endorse their version of volun-tourism. Their whole approach was negligent.

Absolutely horrible experience. The company was atrocious at dealing with any sort of negative situation or emergency. I was there when a cyclone hit Fiji and the way they dealt with it was so poor and negligent. I would never recommend this program to anyone. Also, a few of the people I dealt with in the program were very fake and it seemed to me that the only thing they cared about was the money and not the wellbeing of the young adults they were taking care of. Because of this program I have suffered in the long run from being treated so poorly. I was not the only one either who had a bad experience during my time there. A few other participants I also talked with during my time in Fiji also spoke of how poorly it was run, how bad they dealt with the cyclone and how fake, unapproachable and unhelpful some of the people who worked in the company were. Do not go on this program it was an absolute waste of money and has affected me more negatively in the long run. The only good part was the Fijian people - they were so lovely and honestly the most beautiful people ever. But even considering this I would not consider this program worth the money, the time or the negative effects it has had on me personally.

I had a placement in Australia for six months. It was an regrettable experience that you only tend to experience once in a lifetime. I made a lot of friends who I will be going back to visit in the future or will be visiting me. The only drawback is when you become inseparable with someone who lives on the other side of the world, you inevitably have to leave at some point. Lattitude were highly organised before and after departure. I would definitely recommend the experience of Lattitude to a friend or family acquaintance.

I was placed in cape coast,where I had the most wonderful life time experience. During this period,we helped children with reading and writing,I was able to understand the role of young people in development,how to address development issues and some personal skills which has helped my new confidence define me better. It was an incredible experience that wouldn't have been possible without Lattitude. The placement,completely exposed me to my culture and that of others and to make great friendships. It can be challenging but,with support and advice,I always felt safe. I would really recommend Lattitude because,it was great for the first time I left my home and even after the placement,I will always have a home in cape coast. With Lattitude,they define you better and I loved it all.

I had an incredible volunteering at my placement. I was placed in the UK, and I had a wonderful time. The staff at Lattitude, and at my placement were fantastic. They were warm, kind, welcoming, and fun. I have travelled to many different countries in Europe, and I would not have had that great of an opportunity to travel to more countries if I didn't have that base in the UK. I definitely recommend Lattitude to anyone who is interested in volunteer work, and travel.

It was a pleasure doing my work experience with Lattitude Global Volunteering. My work experience placement was in the Reading offices and I can honestly say that the staff there are some of the nicest people I've ever worked with. It's not the biggest office in the world- quite small actually-, but I think that this is the reason why the Lattitude crew are such a tight-knit group of people, and you really get to know everyone. I even got to do a presentation infront of everyone, including the CEO. Where else will you be able to do that in a 1 week placement? The tasks they have you do are actually meaningful- none of the "go buy me this morning's paper!" or "wash the dishes!" business. They had me helping with the design of their new website and publishing things (like a quiz) on their social media etc. Lastly, Lattitude is a charity. Their intention is to help people around the world. Spending time with them will open your eyes to some of the cool things people are doing around the world. It will also really encourage you to go out there and start making a difference. This is why I would definitely say that you should do your work experience here! Peace :D

Needless to say I am glad that I did not pursue a trip to Ghana this month with Lattitude. They have misled me greatly and refused to tell me the truth about volunteers who have gone out previously and had horrifying experiences and were not looked after! It is a hefty fee to pay for a few emails, phone calls and a visit to see how you are getting on, do some paperwork then leave again. They do not follow policies or procedures correctly. They now refuse to issue me with a refund despite the fact that they refused to issue me with relevant and potentially life saving info! Yes I did trust Lattitude from the start and was happy/satisfied with them until I realised that they were misleading me and trying to sell me off rather than be concerned for my health and welfare whilst out in Ghana. It is clear that the only thing they wish to protect is their brand/name. They do not look after their volunteers! Stay well away. They only want your money.

DO NOT GO ABROAD WITH THESE PEOPLE!! My best friend and her friend died during the trip!! Poorly managed, lack of due care and attention! My friend died as a result of this!!!!!!!

MY DAUGHTER AND HER FRIEND DIED WHILST UNDER LATTITUDE'S 'CARE'FOLLOWING A SERIES OF MISMANAGED DISASTERS THAT SHOULD HAVE LED TO IMMEDIATE, EARLY TERMINATION OF THE PROGRAMME. THEY ARE INCOMPETENT AND INCAPABLE OF PROVIDING THE SUPPORT THEY OFFER. THIS HAS BEEN CORROBORATED HERE IN THE UK THROUGH THE INQUEST PROCESS AND THROUGH INDEPENDENT REPORTS IN TO LATTITUDE'S HEALTH AND SAFETY, RISK AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES. THEIR CONTRACT HAS BEEN TERMINATED WITH VSO THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT BACKED INTERNATIONAL CITIZEN SERVICE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE FURTHER DETAILS. WE MUST SPEAK OUT IN ORDER TO PREVENT FURTHER DEATHS.

Lattitude allowed me to have the most incredible experience. Going to Malawi genuinely was petrifying! I received brilliant pre-departure information which kept me at ease! The best part of that process was definitely the returned volunteers speaking at the briefing as they could give us updated information and told us how it really was going to be. I met the most incredible people on my trip and they will be friends for a lifetime especially after going through some things very out of our comfort zones! My country coordinator was always there to respond to emails very quickly pre departure to answer any questions I had. Although I have given Lattitude 5 stars there were some things that could be improved. First of all the price. I realise that trips like this cost more with other organisations but my fellow volunteers and i were just baffled as to where our large payment was used? Along with this, our country manager only came to visit once, 2 weeks after going to placement and not again in the following 6 months. Once again we wondered why we were paying such a price for only a 20 minute visit over 6 months. I understand that the placement is supposed to increase independence which we respect very much and enjoyed such an experience but why have we paid so much for support that we didn't receive? At orientation we were told we had to text our country manager assistant to let them know if we were leaving placement for a weekend for example or if we were very ill, which was understandable, however when I fell very ill with 2 nights in hospital, I didn't hear back from him until the second or third day. i think there were many blurred lines when it came to when to contact and when not to contact our country manager. After i was ill, my fellow volunteer fell ill, but felt what was the point in contacting him when the concern for me was very little? Looking back over the 6 months these issues are very small when outweighed by some unforgettable experiences and traveling around the country. My placement has a very special place in my heart and it will be very difficult to beat the experience I had! i would recommend the Lattitude experience to anyone!!!!

It was good life experience and a good chance to increase my english skills. Traveling was really good ether.The only bad thing was my placement which was really bad.

I think it's important to start this review by saying that my placement was fantastic, I couldn't have asked for anything better and I had the most incredible year in New Zealand. The school, boarding house and all of the people I worked with were amazing. I was incredibly sad to leave at the end of my placement. If this review was based solely on the placement I wold have given it 5 Stars, however as a company I do have some issues with Lattitude. Firstly, as soon as my placement was confirmed I immediately looked at flights to New Zealand knowing that the earlier I booked the cheaper it would be. I was finding fights for around £800-£900 which I was happy to pay. However knowing that Lattitude offered a group flight option I held off booking anything until that information was sent through as I wanted to fly with the other volunteers from the UK. By the time this information was sent through, around a month after receiving confirmation of my placement, flight prices had increased and Lattitude were quoting a group flight price of around £1450. I was shocked and a little angry because they could have told us weeks before and saved us a significant amount of money. I was not prepared to pay that much money for flights I knew could be found cheaper, so I did some research myself and found the exact same flights at around £1200. I still got to fly with the other UK volunteers but for much less money. My second issue was with applying for the visa. Lattitude repeatedly told us how important it was that we sent off all the paperwork for our visa by the deadline so that we weren't worrying about not being granted a visa in time. As I was gathering all the paperwork ready to post off my visa application I saw that my official letter from Lattitude for the visa application was addressed to the German Visa Application Centre rather than the British one. I immediately emailed my Lattitude contact only to be met with an out of office message telling me she would be away until after this so called important deadline had passed. I found this extremely unhelpful as I then had to email another Lattitude staff member "who might be able to help" all the while worrying that I wouldn't be able to send my visa application off in time. My final issue with Lattitude is that they gave me an incorrect date for my final payment. A month before what I though was my final payment date I received an email from their finance department stating that I had missed the deadline for my final payment and that if I didn't pay I wouldn't be able to go to NZ. I replied questioning this and attached the email with the payments dates on it only to be told that "sorry, it was probably a typo". Luckily I was in a position where I could borrow £400 from family, and make up the extra money I had been planning to earn to reach my final payment total. I hate to think what would happen to someone who couldn't do that. I found this highly unprofessional as surely you would expect something as important as payment dates to be double checked before being sent out to volunteers so that "typos" don't happen with key information. Despite my issues leading up to flying out to NZ, once I got there I had the time of my life and wouldn't change a thing. My pre departure issues were completely forgotten and I enjoyed my time out there some much I would go back in a heartbeat if I had the chance. I would recommend to anyone to take a gap year, but my recommendation of Lattitude comes with a warning of make sure you keep on top of all pre departure paperwork and bare in mind that they can be a disorganised company.

I always knew that I wanna to go abroad after I finished school & as a friend told me about Lattitude I knew that now is the right time. I wrote applications for different countries, just in case, but lucky me - I got a placement in beautiful New Zealand! The 2 phone-interviews I had to do were easy. The women I talked to are very friendly and helpful. They're answering every question & helped me with applying for my visa etc. When I arrived in New Zealand I had a seminar where I met the other volunteers from different countries. We did some fun stuff, like doing the Luge in Rotorua, to get to know each other. But we also talked about how to handle difficult situations during work. Afterwards I felt very confident to travel to my placement and work there for the next 6 month. I lived in sunny, beautiful Nelson & worked at Nelson College for Girls. It was the best experience I've ever made. Work in school got a bit boring sometimes. I didn't got to teach in class.. it was more office work like copying and filing. Anyway - everyone was really kind and friendly & sometimes I got the chance to join school trips e.g. to the West Coast & to Kaikoura. Working in the Boarding House was a bit more fun. I got to know a lot of gorgeous girls! In summer we went to the school owned pool at least once every week & in winter we were able to use the gym to play fun games. My job was to look after the girls while playing games as well as to make sure that they learn to specific times and go to bed not to late. I was awesome to be surrounded by such lovely people! Kiwis are so kind and warmhearted! I don't regret anything and I will recommend taking a gap year in another country to everyone. It helped me a lot to build and develop my personality as well as my English skills. Now I'm feeling a lot more confident talking to strangers and I'm a lot more open-minded towards people from other countries! It's been sweet as! <3

I joined latitude for a one year placement in New Zealand, I had an atrocious time was not looked after which was the main reason for travelling with a company I had a very big injury resulting in hospital and was no support from the company at all. I had very bad accomadation and no separation from customers at all for bathroom facilities. I had one week holiday the whole year and was not paid for the weeks I didn't get off I also worked with a broken ankle for no pay at all. We all as staff worked worked over our contract hours and no extra time for it. Would have seen more travelling alone than paying a lot of money to travel with a company. No extra reassureance from the company had to fly with an airline that I would rather not have. Overall not a positive experience and would have done much better if I had travelled alone.

Applying for a Gap Year overseas was the best descision I have ever made. I had the most amazing year and made the most incredible experiences! My placement was in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia at the Friends School. I haden't heard much of Tasmania before I came and I didn't really know what to expect . My placement turned out to be just perfect though and so mcuh better than expected. The school I worked at was just amazing and completetly different to the school I had gone to in Germany. There was more to it than just studying. At the Friends School, students had the opportunity to experiencve education in many different ways. There is a strong focus on school community which creates a very pleasent atmosphere and a good learning environemt for the students. Rather than only being fixated on academical subjects like science, maths and english , creative subjects like music , drama and dance play an important role as well. Furthermore the school has a large and well organized Outdoor Education Department which gives the kids the opportunity to go on Camps and Trips from primary school to year 12 . As a Gappie, it is great to be part of a school like this and especially for me it was good to see that school does not necessarily have to be what I have experineced in my 12 Years. Our job at the school as a Gappie was pretty much to help, wherever help was needed. We had the choice to work at the primary or the High School but I found it best, to do a bit of everything. I helped in the High School German classes, which was a great experience , in the music department, the art department, the office, foods , textiles in Year 1 - 6 classes at the primary school , at the boarding house and a lot with the Outdoor trips and Camps or other school events or excursions. As a Gappie you are pretty much involved in everything. Even though your duties also include stuff like photocopying, cutting, laminating, cleaning or checking stunden's attendance , you get to work with the kids a lot and get to know them pretty well during the year. It is really interesting to work with som many different age groups from little 6 year olds to the Year 12 students who are pretty much your age. It can sometimes be a bit challenging , working with the older students but in teh end it was always great fun having a chat with them or even playing soccer , playstation or pool with them ( at the boarding house ) The Friends's School is a very international School so you get to know people from all over the world which is pretty unique. What was hard for me sometimes, was keeping the ''professional distance'' between me and the students, since we are consdered staff members. Finding yourself in such a role can be quite challenging in the beginning but you get used to it soon . I particularly enjoyed working for the Outdoor Ed Department where we got the opportunity to get to know the kids in a different environemnt and see so many of Tasmania's incredibly beautiful places . We had the chance to improve our own Outdoor skills and do some activities we never would have though of doing. Before I had come to Australia I was really unexperienced outdoor-wise but through all the Camps I really got an idea of it and even did some self-organized over-nigh trips (icluding a 7- night bushwalk). Tasmania is a great destination for bushwalking or ourdoorsy activities in general. The landscapes are simply amazing and not comparableto anywhere else in the world. I lived together with 5 other Gappies from the UK , USA and Germany in Robey House which is an appartment over the School Uniform Shop. It was great having our own space. It gave us so much freedom and independence . We all had individual rooms and shared kitchen, dining, lounge and bathrooms . Hobart was a good place to live. Despite it's rather small size it's got everything you need and you never get bored because there is always something happening, either with the other Gappies, at the School or in town. Living with Gappies from all over the world was the best thing ever. We had such a gerat time together and became like a family . We will definitely keep in touch and have already planned our reunion. We also met so many other amazing people from Hobart and had a really good realtionships with staff members. We were invited for dinner or to other events so many time and very well looked after by our Gappie supervisor. I can't think of anyone who would have done a btter job. Of course, we also had the opportunity to travel. I have seen so much of the country in my holidays which was was one of my favorite things about my Gap Year. The overall experince was just amazing and I am so grateful for all the opportunities I was given and all the amazing people I could meet. I will never forget this year, it was the best thing I have ever done.

I had a spectacular time on my placement in New Zealand. It couldn't have been better, I loved every second. New Zealand is a beautiful country, filled with friendly people, gorgeous sights, and pretty decent food. However, before I left my home country for NZ I had a bit of difficulty with Lattitude. First of all I was impressed, my interviews went really well and the staff were lovely. But when it came down to the money we met our first problem. I paid my deposit way before the deadline date, but somehow they lost my money. Considering your deposit is non-refundable and is £300 I was really worried and annoyed as they wanted my to pay another £300. I refused and said that they needed to find it as I had all the proof that I had paid. After being in limbo in two weeks not knowing if I was going on my gap year they found my deposit and apologised. The next problem: the person that was helping me sort out my flights etc. for NZ was always absent from her desk. I understand that the position is voluntary and that there may have been personal issues, but being out of office so frequently was not fair to ten gappers who where nervous about the whole ordeal and needed the support from the Lattitude office. If someone is absent they should fill in for that position so all gappers are answered within two days, then we wouldn't get so stressed. Lastly, the pre-departure briefing was incredibly dull. The PowerPoint presentations on money and health were self explanatory and can be kept short. And if a gapper does fall ill during their placement, they should get in touch with their parents just as quickly as they should with Lattitude. I have personal experience in this department as I was hospitalised for two nights. All I wanted was my family and I was reassured by them as I talked to them as soon as I fell ill. The staff at my placement also comforted and looked after, but Lattitude could only wish me luck with getting better. Now if it were a life or death situation then yes Latitude should be contacted immediately, as should the gappers parents, but for something like a broken bone or glandular fever, like in my case, then it is not so important for Lattitude to be notified. Gappers need their parents in these situations, not acquaintances. Other than these few problems Lattitude was a great organisation to do my gap year through, and I am pleased I did so. Thank you.