Kaya Responsible Travel

I lived in Quito for 6 weeks working at the Equidad for short, a center for LGBTQ + members. I worked on my Spanish and helped the community as a desk person. I traveled on the weekends to beautiful spots like the Galapagos (which you can only travel to from Ecuador) & Baños.

I interned at MPLUS Foundation for two months this summer! I thoroughly enjoyed my time here as an intern and am so appreciative for the opportunity to gain knowledge, exposure, and experience by watching, learning and participating in the inner workings of this foundation. I learned about the importance of sexual health, HIV and STD prevention services, and how important it is that these services are accessible for people. I have seen the value and emphasis MPLUS places on reducing stigma and discrimination, which I believe is so profound and pertinent. I also think it is wonderful that MPLUS is a community-based organization that provides comprehensive people-centered services that are free! I felt positively impacted by having the opportunity to intern at MPLUS. I hope to take what I have learned and observed here, such as accessibility, affordability, decreasing stigma and discrimination, and operating as a community based organization whose sole purpose is to serve the people, back home to America, and implement each of these in my future career role. Everyone here at MPLUS has been so welcoming, kind, and sweet! Getting to know everyone and building relationships has been one of my favorite things while being here! I am grateful for the support that everyone has provided to me while I was an intern at MPLUS and for being the best people with the kindest and most considerate hearts!

My internship in Morocco through Kaya was amazing and was a very valuable experience for me. However, improvements can be made in the administration. I was given a brief overview of my internship before arriving (location, supervisor, responsibilities, etc.) But I was assigned to a different location upon my arrival. It wasn't until almost two weeks into my visit when I was able to start working. The housing accommodation had many pluses and minuses. There was no kitchen access, privacy, or refrigerator space, air conditioning, etc. However, the location and design largely made up for it. I was fine with this, but wish that the accommodations were better explained to me before arriving so that I would have better prepared. If there are fixes in the administration and a more in-depth description of the program/housing would have made an already amazing experience greater.

I travelled to Vietnam for an intern placement for 2 months. The program set me up with a host family, work, and a buddy system. The program could have done better to set up community within the cohort group and the buddy system. It could have also done better with checking in for health and safety - they bought me a phone but only a one month data plan and I didn’t know that so my phone stopped working after 1 month and I couldn’t read the message about renewing the plan because it was in a foreign language. I would recommend the experience if you have the initiative to explore on your own and want ample time for self-reflection.

I am a mature volunteer, and enjoyed the opportunity to live and work with an incredible group of young people, from varying backgrounds and with diverse ambitions! And that was just my fellow volunteers! The Program provided me an unforgettable experience working directly with young women, and local community on varying activities. My highlight was assisting facilitation of a six week family planning session, with an engaged and committed audience of women and men, sharing their stories and providing them with information which could literally change their lives.

Even though I was unfortunately by my self through some miscommunication throughout the program. I had a great time with my host family and the workers on the farm! They really made up for it and was able to support me throughout the whole time!

The turtle project in Ostional. Kaya was helpful with helping me discover the program and lineup my multiple volunteer positions. Ostional and my host family were wonderful. I got to witness an arribada wiry thousands of turtles on the beach too!

Voluntariar en junquillal es una experiencia que cambia vidas. Se conoce gente nueva todas las semanas y te permiten involucrarte verdaderamente en lo que es la conservacion de tortugas, ya sea dando informacion sobre las especies de tortuga o su conservacion hasta trabajos practicos. Si bien estos trabajos son fisicamente demandantes, son extremadamente gratificantes. Me voy con una experiencia inolvidable a mi casa, grandes aprendizajes y con lazos muy fuertes con gente de todas partes del mundo. Muchas gracias.

My trip to Swaziland for 5weeks with Kaya was absolutely life-changing and perspective altering! I decided to do it in between my sixth form years and have returned to school with so much more confidence, motivation and experience! I made such special connections with the children I taught, the locals that I met and the staff that helped me both from Kaya and from the organisation that helped me while I was in Swaziland. The staff that worked in my accommodation and that organised my project were truly amazing and were pratically surrogate parents and siblings to me while I was there. Anele and Piwe, two young ladies that worked in the accommodation bonded with our volunteer group and made special effort to show us around all of their favourite spots to relax and eat and have fun and were always there for us to talk to. I got the chance throughout my stay to interact with locals and the people of Swaziland, see many different areas (from the capital city to the countryside for ziplining!) and learn so much more than I ever could have through books and websites. So many beautiful landscapes and people live in my head rent free and I often try to reimagine them while I'm in the midst of my day-to-day bust life. Once I had settled in my placement the pace of life and culture was so amazing and something I wish I could experience at home too! The volunteers I met while I was there have become life-long friends, bonded through being thrown into a strange situation altogether and despite all living in different countries, we have met up twice since returning home! I am also in touch with some of the students I taught, the teacher at my school, my friends I made from Swaziland and even my taxi driver!! I absolutely adored my experience abroad and Kaya made it so so easy for a first time traveler like me! I was guided step by step through everything necessary for my trip and despite my total lack of experience the trip was pulled off without a hitch. My advisor Sheila was so so kind and always quick to respond when I had any queries or concerns. My trip will definitely form a huge part of who I become and have a special place in my heart. I cannot thank Kaya enough for making it the experience it was! Thank you! Meg :)

I'm so thankful for Kaya Responsible Travel. At the end of my college experience, I desperately wanted to go abroad and experience living in another culture both in a meaningful way for me and in an impactful way for the community. I also didn't have much money. I gravitated toward Kaya right away for their cost-efficient programs as well as their commitment to traveling responsibly (as is in their name). Kaya was very personable from the start, my advisor listened to my wishes and concerns and helped me choose a program based my interests and skillsets. It was clear that my advisor was not rushing me to sign up, but wanted to find a program that fit my needs as well as find a program who would benefit most from having me as a volunteer. My internship on Social Justice in Ecuador was more amazing than I could have imagined. The program head in Ecuador was thorough in the orientation, excited to get to know the volunteers and interns, and ready to provide assistance in any way. She explained how the money from our tuition and tourism was circulating in the local community and the importance of responsible travel. I lived with a wonderful host family and felt equally supported at my internship. My internship was assisting a local, LGBTQ+ NGO on administration and events planning and implantation. My supervisor was excited to have me and interested in any input I had. In my free time, I did lots of hiking. The program head helped answer any questions about the logistics of traveling throughout the country, which favorite places to go to, and gave suggestions on tour guides to hire. I'd highly recommend this program for anyone looking for a high-impact internship program with great in-country support.

The Treak Community Centre is an amazing place for any traveller young or old. The administration is ready to help with any situation or need that comes your way, and the staff at the centre are some of the most welcoming group I have ever met. This program offers cultural immersion and an enjoyable volunteering experience that I would recommend anyone to try.

Volunteering in Junquiall has been great fun, it's an eye-opening experience and you'd have to be prepared for hard, physical work but it's worth it when you get to see baby turtle hatchlings and large females laying their eggs. The accommodation is basic, there are no home comforts that most people would be used to but its expected considering where you're based. It's a 20 minute walk to the beach which can be tiring when you're walking to and from the beach multiple times a day but there are plenty of opportunities to relax and rest. Weekends are kept free giving volunteers the option to travel close-by or stay at the project to explore the local area and help with tasks if desired. Staff are knowledgeable and passionate, there is a lot of time to learn and absorb from them. Overall, a wonderful experience to get stuck into a wonderful conservation project doing great work to help turtle populations.

I really enjoyed my time in this program! It was a great way to become more independent by traveling solo while also being supported by a very resourceful team. I also was able to learn a lot about the healthcare system in Ecuador which led me to reflect more on the way that the healthcare system functions in my home country.

I enjoyed the online Buddy Chats a lot more than I've expected! They bring such positive energy to the internship experience and it is nice to get to know someone of the same age. I hope to keep in touch with them and even visit sometime in the future!

I think my greatest achievement from the remote internship was just connecting with my mentor. She was able to really help me understand the ins and outs of her work and I came away with a lot of information and insight into my career path.

I thought that my placement combined both my majors really well (Spanish and Environmental Science). The work I was doing was also close to what I want to do as a future career, so I thought it fits my passion and needs very well. I thought it was really beneficial to talk to young adults that lived in Ecuador. We could all share our life experiences with each other. Through the course, my greatest achievement was conducting a presentation about oceans and climate change, completely in Spanish, to about 50 students.

Participating on the remote internship gave me a great experience to build connections with a lot of people I worked with and that was one of my favorite parts of the program. It was also a great achievement for me to design a comprehensive workshop during the internship.

I loved the online buddy chat aspect of my virtual internship as it was nice listening to personal experiences and stories from my colleagues who are based in Ecuador. I am also proud that I was able to create a model prototype of an artificial spleen.

I was given the opportunity to meet so many different people from all different backgrounds and the ability to form these unique connections with them left me extremely dedicated to my goals throughout the internship. I'll cherish these memories forever!

The online cultural workshops and buddy chats were the unique aspect that made this virtual internship so special. It taught me so much more about Ecuador and Ecuadorian life than I expected to gain from this internship. It is a life-changing experience!