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“The best of the best times”

written by ChanaKincaid on 22/08/2014

Where to begin!

Through volunteering with Lattitude I was able to go on the most amazing journey of my life - I had a truly unforgettable experience, the people that I met and the memories that I've made are ones that will last with me forever.

In terms of value for money - volunteering with Lattitude is expensive in comparison to organisations that are free, however sometimes you get what you pay for. For me, generally speaking this was the case...

After deciding to embark to the one of furthest, most remote and unusual corners of the world, the need for lattitude's advice was imperative and something I'm very glad I had during my time volunteering. Knowing that if something went horrendously wrong whether it be medical or otherwise - I would have the means to access professional support. Having said this there were others on our trip who didn't feel supported when things had gone wrong for them.

One thing, that was an initial dissapointment when arriving at my placement was that Lattitude hadn't told me and my partner about our living arrangements (we thought we would be living together but ended up in seperate huts in different villages)... Now, whislt this actually worked entirely in our favour as we intergrated potentially the best out of any of the volunteers on our island - it was a shock and the kind of thing you need to be prepared for - you must realise before you go, Lattitude won't and simply can't let you know/prepare you for everything. This may be due to changes in your placement that are previously unforeseen/unknown or just the country that you're in... Whilst waiting for our new volunteers to arrive, our head teachers decided the night before who would be hosting them - not everywhere in the world is as organised as the UK!

Another dissapointment (again initially, and also again, working out in MY FAVOUR in the end - though not for all) was the lack of teaching. Due to teaching a second language in the school and being second group of volunteers, lack of classrooms etc. we were only able to teach roughly 2 hours a day, which if teaching is the sole reason for your trip would have been very dissapointing. We decided to pull our socks up and put efforts into other areas in the school and also into our communities as well as going off on daily adventures hacking at jungle with huge bush knives and herding cows (I said it worked in my favour).

Whilst Lattitude is not the cheapest option, as it's a registered charity I was able to fundraise over £1200.... A pretty big chunk and over a months wages at the time! And that was just through writing letters to trust funds and grant awarders... I was also doing all of this in a bit of a rush... potentially a lot of help to be given out there - if you do volunteer with Lattitude - DO BOTHER WITH THIS - filling forms in is tedious, but I actually wouldn't have been able to go without this help and seriously worth it, you feel very proud of what you're about to do when

I suppose what I'm trying to get at is that you need to be flexible and have an open mind to volunteer overseas.
Yes Lattitude can prepare you some what, but don't expect everything to be as they say it might.
NO-ONE and NOTHING can prepare you for the feeling of jetlag after not sleeping for 40 hours and arriving in 45 degree heat in cyclone season when you've come from -8 degrees in the raining bitter January winter.

I'm very very very glad I found Lattitude.

I'm very glad I went and volunteered, made a difference in one of the most remote places in the world and had an absolute blast doing it, we laughed every day and I will never forget the family and the friends that I have made.