Voices for Animal Welfare (VfAW)

I recently traveled to Tanzania to participate in a volunteer project with this NGO on animal welfare for a period of 3 months. It is a very recent NGO, with only one year of existence, so I had practically no references to inform me about its work. At first everything seemed fine; we had some online briefing prior to the project and were provided with basic logistical support. In the project we were 4 people: the person responsible for the organization, a photographer, an educator and myself, who was as scientific advisor. Although during the first month everything seemed to be going relatively well, unfortunately everything inevitably fell apart when a major problem was revealed: the person responsible, an Italian woman by the name "V.V.", is a terribly disturbed and potentially dangerous person. Although I could write a very long story about what happened, I will simply say that because of her abusive, authoritarian and despotic nature, this woman made us feel very uncomfortable for many moments when we lived with her. Because this attitude was also manifested with local people involved in the projects, this caused the project to get stuck, being very difficult to deal with her, which put us volunteers in a bind. Giving this awkward situation, the 3 of us decided to leave the organization after having an online meeting with the volunteer coordinator to explain the issue. It’s a shame because I think that with someone else in charge this NGO could have a rather positive impact on the region where it works. However, I think that this organization is doomed to failure as long as such an emotionally unstable and reprehensible person remains at the forefront. Don’t waste your time, your volunteer efforts are very valuable, so look for organizations that have a real impact and whose main goal is to bring a benefit to society, and not satisfy the ego and impose the biased vision of someone with mental issues.