govolunteerafrica.org

Do NOT travel with this company under any circumstance

Do NOT travel with this company. This summer I flew out to Sénégal to volunteer teaching in a school for 4 weeks. I am a teacher in the UK, and so I thought that my skills would be greatly appreciated.Prior to going, I received very little information about my placement. Despite this, I was still really excited to go and just thought that the level of communication was normal for a company in Africa. When I arrived at my host’s home, I was surprised to find that the school term had just finished and that no children would be attending classes for 3 weeks, apart from 1 day a week for a couple of hours. Immediately this seemed wrong. The primary reason why I decided to embark on this trip was to have an impact through volunteering yet there was hardly any opportunity for me to do this.I am incredibly frustrated by this situation. My frustrations do not lie with my host (who has been very welcoming) but with Go Volunteers Africa as I was misled and missold an experience that was not possible given the time of year. My program fee certainly did not reflect the experience that I received whatsoever. No where does it state on the GVA website information regarding term times in each country. I applied 3 months prior to departing which would have given them ample time to advise when schools are open, and given that I did apply for a teaching volunteer program, one would assume that schools would be open.Even after applying, no one from Go Volunteers Africa explained the dates of terms for schools, which would have been the right and decent thing to do. This demonstrates a clear lack of communication and a purposeful lack of honesty and transparency. They saw no issue with accepting my money despite knowing that they would be unable to fulfil their promise of an impactful volunteering experience.This has caused me a great deal of stress and after one week of being in Sénégal, I rearranged my flights so that I could return home and not waste any more of my time.I discussed this issue openly with my host, who was very understanding. My host also informed me that she contacted GVA on April 26th to inform them that their school term would finish on 3rd July, therefore there was no reasonable explanation for GVA’s choice to accept me on to the program.Since I voiced my frustrations to GVA, I have received no further communication from them, they have gone silent. In recent weeks, I have been in contact with my host again who has also told me that she has not received money for 4 volunteers who stayed with her not money for airport transfers, which GVA claim they pay for. This demonstrates poor ethics and poor business practices.I am most frustrated by the lack of honesty, transparency and communication by GVA. The choice to facilitate this trip despite knowing the situation shows how little Go Volunteer Africa care about their volunteers, sending them to a country on a different continent where they are unable to take part in any volunteering, leaving them isolated and stranded.In addition, this highlights the sheer greed of Go Volunteers Africa, who are clearly only interested accepting money from well-intentioned, willing volunteers, with little care for their experience.I have been disgusted by the minimal amount of accountability that GVA have refused to accept in being responsible for this awful experience. In hope that no one else has the same unfortunate experience as me, I shall be contacting an international consumer group who can share my experience on a global platform.

Date of experience: Jul 23, 2023