Volunteers For Peace

Had a great trip to Italy. I met a ton of people from all over the world and we worked together educating about issues around refugees. We worked during the day and had fun at night and on the weekends. I am still in touch with many of the people I volunteered with. Thanks

I love helping the old people , and I love those who do this because it gives them a spirit of life and enhances their psychology for the better. I also love animals and playing with them gently and I hope that I will enjoy this volunteering because it will have a great impact on my psychological state

My experience with VFP way back in 2009 was remarkable. Living in Germany and building a labyrinth at a World Heritage Site as the only native English speaker in my group was a truly immersive experience. I didn't feel like I was coming into a place from the outside so much as I felt part of a community. Our group really bonded and while we had a primary task, many of the day to day decisions were made by the group, one of my first experiences with really being responsible for myself.

I've been always active with many local associations . And i would love to experience something new abroad . France can be 1 grear chance for me to deal with the local community and to help in any kind of project

I had a time of my life just vacation abroad in saudi arabia and in hongkong I had a great time there , meet new people new atmohphere that i could find it in my home country because every country had their own ways and own atmosphere

VFP made the travel and volunteer process very simple and it was very easy to communicate with them when additional information was needed. They worked with an agency in Nepal called VIN (Volunteers in Nepal) which was also excellent. Our host family made the experience really incredible. They were kind and very concerned for our safety and well-being. My partner and I remain in contact with our hosts and VIN through Facebook and have made life-long friends. Through VIN we were also able to feel involved and contributed to the reparations after the massive earthquake last year. I would recommend Volunteers for Peace to anyone.

This trip was amazing and Volunteers for Peace was an excellent organization to go through for my first international volunteer experience. Living and working with such amazing people, from our hosts to other volunteers, the project was enlightening and exciting and allowed all of us outsiders a chance to be welcomed into a vibrant, warm culture.

My time spent in Haiti has forever changed my perception of what's important in life. Volunteers for Peace, VFP, allowed me to experience life in a society where things we take for granted are not readily available and are scrounged for daily. Mere existence in Duchity, Haiti involves foraging for food, hunting for wood or charcoal to cook with, collecting water at a community water source, and cleaning clothes in an overused creek. I was overwhelmed with the opportunity to witness and live (if only for a short time) the joy and rhythm of Haitian life. Immediately upon my arrival, I found myself immersed in Haitian culture; for this I am forever grateful. I was able to witness the dangers of idleness and feel the uncertainty of tomorrow that brews in the youth of Duchity. The residents of Haiti lack opportunities to better their situation, but VFP has joined forces with a local energetic resident to help establish an adult vocational school to empower the Duchity residents with trade-skills that can be used to earn income and better lives. Volunteers for Peace has a strong commitment to empowering local residents. They understand that meaningful help for a person, group, community, or nation must come from within that person, group, or nation. They embrace this concept fully. Their affiliation in Duchity, Haiti is helping to assure residents learn to help themselves. I was honored to have been a part of their exceptional program.

My VFP trip to Alaska took place several years ago, but it's still worth reviewing here, because I've done additional VFP trips since. VFP has always impressed me with its customer service, affordability, and attitude that "Peace begins one friendship at a time." Our work in Sitka, Alaska, was varied, thanks to our excellent local hosts. We did everything from working with injured eagles at a raptor center to painting tiny furniture at a preschool. During our free time, our hosts took us fishing, camping, hiking, and kayaking in some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Our lodging was simple but comfortable (mattresses on the floor at a large church) and groceries were plentiful. While I doubt that those particular hosts are still organizing projects like this one, I highly recommend working with VFP if you want a meaningful and affordable volunteer travel experience!

One of the unique features of traveling with VFP is that they partner with a few organizations that will accept entire families to volunteer -- and most importantly, these programs are very affordable compared to others I've researched. A few summers ago, my husband, 10 year-old daughter, and I went to Sardinia to volunteer with Legambiente, a large environmental agency in Italy. We lived and worked with three other families from three different countries. Our lodging was in a former boarding school in a tiny village. There was a huge, modern kitchen, shower facilities, and a washing machine. The hosts brought plenty of groceries to us on a regular basis and we shared the cooking and cleaning duties. Our actual work was simple -- cleaning up trash from Sardinia's beaches, planting some trees, etc. (Children didn't have to do the physical labor; parents would take turns keeping an eye on them.) Usually this would take only a couple of hours each day, then we were free to go into town, to the beach, etc. Our hosts treated us very well, although for them it was their vacation time (!) so they often just socialized with each other, not with us. But the other families and mine became good friends; we still stay in touch.

In 2013, I volunteered in Reykjavik with SEEDS, Iceland's VFP counterpart. Volunteering is apparently not a common pursuit among Icelanders, so SEEDS has taken advantage of 1) Iceland's booming tourist industry and 2) tourists who do like to volunteer. The SEEDS program I did involved helping a soccer club called Throttur with their annual international tournament for teen players. The Throttur hosts provided a comfortable living space, groceries, and free passes to the city's top swimming pool facility, right across from our lodging. The work was physically challenging, but not difficult -- cleaning up the fields each day, setting up beds for the players and coaches, etc. Working with VFP for travelling is awesome. They offer a ton of choices, the fees are exceptionally low compared to others volunteer-abroad programs, and the staff is helpful, knowledgeable, and quick to respond to questions and concerns.

I've been involved with VFP for several years, both as a project participant and as a local project organizer here in the U.S. All together, I've been a part of 11 projects. Working as a camp counselor in Turkey was my favorite. Genctur, VFP's counterpart in Turkey, was excellent to work with. The Genctur staff were flexible with our situation, allowing family of three to participate together: Two of us were counselors and one was a camper. Our main purpose as Americans was to encourage the campers to practice their English with us while we enjoyed typical camp activities like games, swimming, arts and crafts, etc. We even learned some Turkish. The other staff were very nice to work with and the facility was clean and comfortable. And the camp food was really good, no kidding! If you like residential summer camps, and you like teenagers, I can recommend this project without reservation.

What an incredible experience! I went looking for an adventure, what I found changed my life. I couldn't be happier about my journey. I met some of the best people in the world and lived among the locals and they treated me like I was family.

No amount of International Relations coursework or even studying abroad could prepare me for learning the ins and outs of navigating cultural barriers and different work expectations. The program truly opened my eyes and taught me how to be more accepting and understanding. I volunteered at the end of March in Bavaria county in Germany. The first week we experienced hail and torrential downpour and yet there were people still working on our labyrinth! Needless to say, I found I much more value my health over my work. However, it did clear up and we managed to finish even with our reduced time given the weather! It was rewarding; next time though I think I will go during the summer.

This festival has been happening for over 30 years, and volunteer participation, both local and international, is a key component. The whole town comes alive for the week of the festival. Our group worked a week before the event, setting up booths, cleaning seats, making signage, etc and then worked every day of the event, with plenty of time for watching performances, and some field trips. We slept in tents, worked at ticket booths, food concessions, serving drinks, cleaning trash, etc. on a rotating basis. Ate our meals, which were cooked and served by local volunteers, at the high school, alongside of the performers, who came from many different countries. It was great fun to see them perform in their traditional attire, and then have breakfast. lunch, and dinner with them in their regular daily clothing. Got to know some of the performers well, and are still in touch seven years later. A great experience.

My experience in Desab, Haiti was unforgettable. The work that we did was really effective and the interactions with the community were meaningful and productive. VFP projects are a great way to get an authentic experience while learning a lot about the people you are working with and the place where you are staying. Teaching English was so rewarding and through that work we were able to gain the trust and respect in the community that we needed to accomplish other things. If you have any interest in traveling to Haiti, I suggest going with Volunteers For Peace.

Excellent chance to develop skills working on a variety of school related activities with children in a summer school program, such as teaching English and playing educational games. We had several opportunities to explore the local area outside of our daytime counseling duties. Kids were terrific. Locals were very helpful and made us feel very welcome. Also got involved in a 3 day building project at the end of my stay to contribute to the building of a new school in the Duchity area.

This was a great intercultural experience. The mix of local and international volunteers really made it meaningful. I learned a lot about the fall of Yugoslavia and Serbia today, and felt I was able to give co-volunteers are better understanding of life in America.

I had a fantastic time with VFP in Duchity and Port au Prince. I had amazing community experiences that didn't involve technology, and it changed my idea of what "fun" and "friendship" look like. I also felt like I made a difference in the village because I remember I taught the school I was at a a song and they would sing it all the time, and I got pretty close with a lot of the kids. It was a great experience

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I signed up for a VFP volunteer trip to Serbia, one that would begin 5 days after I sent the initial email. VFP responded quickly to all my questions and provided enough information to make me feel comfortable flying halfway around the world to a country I knew nothing about. Because of this experience, I actually got a job with an NGO in Serbia. None of that would have been possible without VFP's support.

Best program for real service that leaves a legacy and continues after you leave. Absolutely designed with both participants and residents in mind, working together. Meg Brook is fantastic and makes sure you are safe and fully integrated into the host culture as a gracious and grateful guest.

It was a childhood dream of mine to volunteer overseas one day. I've been working as a nurse for five years. As I was bonded, I had no choice but to complete the bond first in order to achieve my dream. As I wanted to do something new and go out of my comfort zone, I chose to be involved in the Working With Children Program in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I was posted to the Ky Quang Pagoda Orphanage to help out with the care of disabled children. I learned from the local team that most of the children suffers as a result of the Vietnamese war that can still be seen until today, i.e Hydrocephalus children. 70% of the orphans are disabled either physically or mentally, therefore needs an extra care which they couldn't have been able to provide enough without the help of us volunteers. When I first saw the children, I felt nervous, whether I could perform well to take care of them. As a nurse who worked with adults previously, it was my first time working with disabled children. Most of the time spent were to walk them or push their trolleys around, do some drawings and play games with them. When it's meal time, I helped to feed them as well. I took quite some time to learn how to tackle their eating habit, and once I got it the daily routines became more and more enjoyable. These activities might seem very simple to some people; however without us volunteers it could have been a huge difference to the children's development. Volunteering isn't just mentally challenging, it is physically challenging as well. Carrying, assisting the staffs in lifting the children and walked or pushed them around made me sweat a lot each day, yet at the end of each night I would be smiling looking back at each day's value that I have earned. My life motto has always been "One Smile A Day, Keeps All Negativity Away". I believe I have managed to draw some wonderful smiles during my volunteering days not just on the children's face, but the local staffs as well as fellow volunteers. It was a truly amazing experience. On weekends I was able to enjoy the local attractions and coffees in some of the districts. I am a coffee lover who visits the country which happens to be the second largest coffee exporter, hence it is a must to try out the cafes in town. I also celebrated my birthday in a lovely trip to Mui Ne with my sister who also joined the same volunteering program. Coming here to volunteer also gave me a chance to get to know fellow volunteers who came from around the world such as France, US, Canada, and many more. I'm glad we shared common interest in humanity and trying to maintain it by bringing positive vibes representing our own countries. I believe that volunteering needs no verbal language to understand each other, we need but kindness and compassion to join our hearts together to lend a helping hand to make the children's life better. Yours truly, Yee Sheau Ai-Yin.

My time with the REV (Solidarites Jeunesse) in France through VFP was truly unforgettable. The work was enjoyable and challenging at times, but the support network was good and my fellow volunteers became good friends. The time was spent together on work projects, trips, trainings, and just hanging out was really fun and provided me with great opportunities to meet others from different backgrounds and cultures. I spent a total of 6 months during my volunteer work, and my knowledge of France and the French language vastly improved from this experience. I would go back again if I had the time, and hope to work on another project with VFP in the future. Just a unique experience and such a great opportunity, thank you!

Volunteers for Peace did an amazing job with setting up and coordinating my volunteer experience in Ecuador. They connected me with an organization called FEVI which is an Ecuadorian non-profit organization that is dedicated to intercultural education and volunteer community service. This program suited me perfectly, and my entire experience volunteering and staying with a host family was incredible because volunteers for peace was able to find such a perfect match. I checked in with a Volunteers for Peace staff member each month via e-mail to let them know how my volunteer work was going. At the end of my 5 months in Ecuador with the VFP program, I had not only made an incredible connection with an amazing and loving host family but also a connection with staff members of the Ecuadorian organization FEVI. I highly recommend Volunteers for Peace for anyone looking to volunteer abroad, they were the reason I had such a positive, unforgettable experience in Ecuador.

Definitely one of the best experiences I had. Volunteered at the botanical garden for two weeks; the staff there and the volunteer leaders were really awesome and amazing. The organization offers discounted excursions to the volunteers and I did several of them, which were quite amazing actually. The best part of the project was that I got to make friends with people from all over the world!

This was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I had no idea what to expect when I first signed up for the project, and when I arrived in France, I was extremely nervous and shy. That all changed in about 10 minutes. All of the other volunteers (and the two group leaders) were extremely nice and energetic. Everyone was there to help a community, to make friends, and to make experiences. The actual volunteer work was difficult but rewarding. My group made a huge impact on a community garden in Saint-Maximin. Though the work was, as I said, difficult, it was always fun because I was with my friends. In three weeks, the 18 of us from around the world (USA; France; Germany; Turkey; Denmark; Spain; Nigeria) became best friends. The program was run extremely well. The living situation may not seem that great as we were sleeping in tents, but it was fun. Ya, I got rained on a couple of times, but it didn't matter. We all became really close by living together in the tents, and it added an extra level of crazy and excitement to a group of insane teenagers! Also, as for the food situation, we had to make all of our own (and clean our dishes), which definitely helped with all of our creativity and cleaning abilities as we did not have the best equipment. I love cooking, so I had so much fun making dinner (or lunch or breakfast) for 18 different people. Whenever any of us cooked, we would always bring a bit of our own culture into the food that we made, so I got to experience food from around the world. And, even though we only had about five pots and two gas stove tops, it was always fun. I really cannot mention enough how great of a time I had in this program. I loved every last bit of it, and I really want to go on another trip. This was one of the best summer experiences I have ever had!

This program allowed me to meet teenagers from all around the world. The most valuable experience I took away from this program was that, because we lived on opposite sides of the world we were forced to find common ground with our surrounding peers. I was worried that I was going to arrive at the camp and not have any friends. That proved to be very difficult; I now have two very close friends in Italy who I am going to visit. The trips that we went on as a group really strengthened our bonds and made it an incredible experience for all of us.

Life changing experience! Exposed to a unique fushion and integration of culture. Experienced different languages, cultures and food. Lavished with unexpected tourist occasions too. Increased my global awareness. Such a fantastic experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.

The two weeks I spent in Iceland with my new international family was truly an experience of a lifetime. We were all there to learn what it meant to be environmentally aware, meet people from other countries, and of course take in the amazing sights, sounds, and culture of Iceland. As the daylight and temperatures of October were turning down, allowing the Northern Lights to be seen, the amplifiers of the International Airwaves music festival were turning up. We had a comfortable house in the middle of a park space with a good walk to downtown Reykjavik. Our group quickly bonded with the help of our awesome leaders. We enjoyed some informative movies and guest speakers about population and energy consumption in the mornings and braved the weather a couple of days to help a local whale conservation group. We gathered signatures and informed tourist in the streets of downtown Reykjavik earning us a whale watching tour. Our group also got our hands a little dirty weeding the garden beds for our neighbors in the botanical gardens at Cafe Flora. They cooked us an amazing breakfast and lunch for our efforts. We toured a geothermal power plant, went to the Blue Lagoon, and were able to explore the south coast and the inner loop of the Golden Circle seeing waterfalls, geysers, and volcanos with our great van drivers. We had plenty of free time in the evenings to either rub elbows with the locals at some great free shows during the music festival or on the nights we felt mellow walk to the nearby hot pools and relax local style, which we did often. I think the best part of the trip was just hanging out with my new international family. Sharing meals from around the world, talking, and learning about them and their countries. Ultimately pushing my boundaries and understanding of others and myself. I would recommend a trip like this to anyone. Its hard to believe how easy it was to arrange and how many amazing people I met and sights I saw in such a short time. I can't wait to figure out my next trip and to see some of my new friends again. Thank you to Volunteers For Peace for such a great experience! Michael Byrd Eugene, Oregon

I thoroughly enjoyed the two programs I participated in with VfP in Botswana. I made great friends, contributed hard work to our volunteer tasks, and learned a lot about local life and culture. The people are wonderful, full of generosity, and excited to exchange stories with volunteers. My only criticism is that there was sometimes a lack of or delay in communication between VfP, the host organization (Botswana Workcamp Association), and the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. I highly recommend the experience if you love nature and wildlife, or are looking to learn more about Botswana in general.

My experience in Nepal was unforgettable. I stayed with a host family, which was one of my favorite parts of the experience. They taught me so much about Nepali culture and I will always remember them as my Nepali family. The project pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to think critically about gender issues, poverty, and development. It changed my view of the world. Nepal is a great place to travel because of its beautiful and rich culture and friendly people.

In 2012 I decided to run and collect money for children living with disabilities. The Bator Tabor Camp in Hungary has a group uf volunteers, this so called Élménykülönítmény (means: Team for Joy). I organized a team of 5 collegues to run a marathon together and we collected money by our supporters to the Camp. We were 200% succeed !! I think it is a project for living healthy but also for living in peace with ourselves and others. Because peace comes from within.

I had always been interested on volunteering abroad, and I have always loved Japan. As soon as I turned 18, I started researching projects and most of them way out of my budget. I found VFP and wasn't sure whether it was reliable or not, since it was so cheap, but I really wanted to try it out so I did (I took a teaching project)... and I was not disappointed in the least, the project was perhaps the best experience I have ever lived: the living conditions were great, the project was awesome, and people were REALLY nice and thankful. I still have a hard time believing that people can actually be so overly nice, I still keep in touch with many of them and two of my former students have even mailed me gifts to my house! I got to meet volunteers from France, Belgium, Italy, Finland, and Korea and learned a lot from them. I also learned a whole lot about Japanese culture, and the food was awesome! I definitely plan on returning to Japan through VFP, it was a million times worth it.

I traveled to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti in July of 2013 to assist Haitian leaders in running a summer day camp for kids. The densely populated city offers no opportunity for kids during the summer, so hosting the day camp gave the kids something to do while allowing them to interact with people of other cultures. I was challenged by the language barrier. I do not speak Creole, although I learned a few conversational phrases by the end of my trip. Connecting with the kids without a common language became an enormous challenge, but we did it! Through games and activities, I played with the kids each day and created friendships that will impact me for the rest of my life. I lived comfortably at the Tchaka Inn, run by a local Haitian family that works directly with VFP. I felt like I became part of the family by the end of my project. I loved volunteering in Haiti and I would recommend a trip through VFP to anyone interested in challenging themselves through service to help others. I look forward to traveling back to Haiti someday and I hope to do another VFP project in the future!

Just the other day, I stepped out of my little hut, walked through the recently drenched rice patties, and found myself falling through space. The sky above was immensely dark and thick with stars, denser in some regions, almost making parts seem wholly lit, while others seemed more scattered. Behind them all was the great river of light we find our home in—the Milky Way. Yet, all of this, Milky Way included, was beneath me as well. The rice patties around me, in their 10’ by 10’ squares, acted as a seamless mirror when crouched down just so, letting the horizon disappear. The surface of the pools, in the day, reflected the blue sky, a reflection quilted by thin, bright green tips of newly budding rice. But by night stars filled the patties’ surface, allowing that river of light to flow underfoot as well as above; ground ceased to exist, only the star-strewn space stretched onto forever. I was no longer just beneath this night sky, but also above it—there was a sensation of floating. There could have been potential for reorientation, to regain gravity and stability, were it not for that something which totally confounded my senses: between the constellations above and below floated countless paper lanterns, their lights pulsing just like the stars’. Some moved up to join clusters above, others seemingly moving down when seen through the patties’ reflection. At times I found myself thinking if this is what vertigo feels like, and others I thought I’d found some magical realm—both held me in a trance. Even an hour after I’d found my way back to the hut, I couldn’t entirely convince myself this room wasn’t floating detached from earth…ah, Thailand. I’ve traveled to Thailand on a VFP Scholarship to teach—more precisely, to hone my teaching ability and instill the love of English into my students, a love which brought me, almost literally, halfway around the world from Ann arbor to Thailand. One aspect of the scholarship is reasonably unique: I’m to travel throughout the country teaching English camps every one to two weeks, instead of staying at one school for the trip’s duration. I’ve been a teacher part-time for the past two years while studying at the University of Michigan. One year teaching five- and six-year-olds with America Reads, and another running four to five workshops a week at the wonderfully fun 826Michigan tutoring center. The success I had hinted I might be able to continue it elsewhere, allowing me to explore the relation between a Westernized teaching style when it’s implemented in a non-Westernized classroom. It was this interest that led to the aforementioned scholarship and to my sojourn in southern Thailand. Here, my enthusiasm and comfort with students proved invaluable as a means of stirring curiosity within local youth (my blond hair and green eyes and light skin helped, too!). For all teachers—whether they teach non-linear algebra, deep ecology, or the ABCs—have in common that they work with the malleable minds of students, able to garner and crystallize a love of learning much more indurate than the time spent within classrooms. It’s a heavy burden if one chooses to shoulder it (all teachers have observed this), but they also know its payoff: the joy in seeing a child’s improvement; their fired eyes when they shout, “I finally understand!”; seeing their continued success after they’ve left you, hungry for a better life. And all of this I observed, almost making me feel like I, at times, learned more than those I thought. But the one thing I tell friends and family at home when they ask how I’m doing or ask for an interesting story about what’s happened to me here, I find myself talking, of all things, about small, black ants. It’s a story that seems to express this scholarship’s goal of intercultural enrichment with volunteers, but the only difference here is that insects brought forth the experience usually conveyed by humans. Early one morning I brought a small, delicious bowl of fruit back to my hut, which I ate by myself, sitting on the ground, leaning against my hut and watching the sun start its planned journey, shining through palm’s fronds. I noticed a friend walk by carrying little boat-shaped trays woven simply and neatly from sections of 3-inch blades of thick grass. They were maybe six inches long, each containing a small lump of freshly cooked rice. He continued walking by, eventually going around a bend and passing out of sight. When he returned from that spot two hours later, the bowls he had were completely empty. The second time I saw the tiny boats, I asked my friend what they were for. He patiently explained that they were offerings to the spirits that protected this land. When I inquired about the Thai word he used for “spirit,” he repeated, in simple Thai, that they were gifts for the spirits of the compound, and I understood that I’d correctly heard him. He then disappeared down the same trail. I sat and mused for a bit, put down my bowl and peered through the trees. At first there was nothing to see, but then he appeared crouched down, delicately placing an offering at the foot of the shrine—a small bird-house sized oriental hut sitting atop a six-foot pole. Then he stood up with the other bowls, turned to his right, walked ten feet, and sat down another bowl on the ground. He did the same ten feet to the left. Later on, when my friend was napping, I walked back to see the offerings. There were the little grass boats, all three perfectly equidistant. But the mounds of rice they held were gone. The next week, I finished my bowl of fruit, waited for my friend to pass by on the trail, then lithely headed to a spot where I could watch. The three trays were placed as precisely as before, filled with their rice. But as I gazed at the center bowl, I was puzzled to see one of the white kernels actually inching away from the bowl. It was only when I knelt down that I realized a small, steady stream of ants winding through the grass to the offering. The line appeared to stem from a thick tuft of grass near a palm tree behind the shrine. The other bowls had their own stream of ants, all three coming from this patch of grass surrounding the palm. I walked back to my hut smiling to myself, not so much at thinking that my friend actually believed spirits took the offerings, just amused at what he’d say if he saw ants take them away, one piece at a time. But then I wondered a strange thing: what if the ants were the very “spirits” the offerings were for? This thought kept me up for nights, and probably had something to do with my inability to escape this westernized notion of “spirits” (which is almost always defined in contrast to physical presence or “flesh”), and the orphic presences to which the Thai culture, along with many others, pay so much respect. We in Ann Arbor give worship to (depending on the time of year) football, weather, and academic deities. Sometimes they listen, at times we feel wronged. But it’s always convenience worshipping, nothing as dedicated as what I witnessed with the ants and those who fed them. It only takes a Google search to read about how the earliest Western students of these phenomena were primed to wrongly see occult ghosts and ghouls in place of simple tribal displays of respect to local winds and the functions they serve. This original misconception has made its way into our Western idea of “spirit,” which has to do with human association (human-shaped ghosts, for example). But this was my first encounter or suggestion suggesting “spirits” of indigenous cultures are primarily not in human form, while still retaining an intelligence and awareness. We humans have a pretty good rapport with our bodies and know its needs and limits, but things get murky with knowing the first-hand experience of a hummingbird or komodo dragon, the portly squirrels of Ann Arbor; their precise sensation aren’t available even if we perform the same actions: drinking water; eating food; knowing on acorns. For all the effort Michigan students put in their Squirrel Club, I’m wondering if they’ve ever tried to feel “one with the squirrel.” Moreover, it’s not just the entities acknowledged by Western civilization as “alive” that help define this oral Thai culture’s sense of self, not only the animals and plants, but also the weaving river up the road, the rain-season that’s now in full swing, the stones I can pick up and fit neatly into my hand. The mountains to the north also seem to have their thoughts. The forest birds’ chirring drone is the vocal embodiment of the life around me. It’s possible to feel hints of this in Ann Arbor. The Nichols Arboretum seems to have its own personality and deep secrets, perhaps even fairies. Front and center at North Campus’s Nature Preserve is the sheer multitude of flora and fauna that our region offers. More examples are available in the city, but I feel none give the sense of seamless connectivity to the environment surrounding it that this Thai landscape offers. In the Arb you see the University Hospital at a distance; the city’s sounds encroach on the Huron’s gurgles—there’s always a human presence where one goes. I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Ann Arbor will always feel like home. But the ability to have this ontological shift to become attuned to the nun-human side of things is a whole not easier when it’s readily available. So I finally settled that the offerings were ways to be attentive to nonhuman nature; it signified not so much an awe or poignant reverence for human powers, but a deeply-rooted appreciation and celebratory act for these forms of awareness not in human form, which is when our direct experiential connection severs and atomizes into the surrounding cosmos. The exact one that so profoundly disoriented me a few days back. This branching of the human back into the larger world we inhabit might allow us to never feel entirely alien to those other forms that experiences life a little (or a lot) differently we do. If we’re able to look past the obvious differences in shape, ability, or style of being, they remain permanently attached to us, even though the thread may be thin. So while VFP makes room for the most intimate and transformative bonds to occur between humans, if you follow your curiosity, their trips can also offer up everything and more.

this was my second trip to Haiti. Because of this trip that I made with the VFP, ,I will definitely return to Haiti. If I had had a bad experience, I probably would not have returned. I am so happy I went. The first thing I noticed even before leaving was that the AFP was organized and helpful and supportive. There was nothing I wondered about before leaving for Haiti. All of my questions and concerns were taken care of before my departure. accommodations a were better than I expected. The food was phenomenal. I cannot tell you how many different ways I ate race, beans, and outstanding sauces. The mangos we're out of this world.everyone was so friendly. We had 8 people in our group from the United States, Canada, and a Australia. We were a super group. Everyone work together, help each other, and supported each other. the culture we lived in was absorbed daily through our skin. Every minute we encountered new culture. Some easy to deal with. Some more difficult to deal with. I got to teach French during the week we were there. Now that was a cultural experience. Teaching is not the same as in the United States. And that doesn't mean that the Haitian way is less. It is just different. The children we lived with in Desab were smiling and happy and wanting to spend time with us. They were so cute and so happy. It reminded me of where we needed to be. I was very sad to leave Haiti. Next time I will know more Creole. I think that knowing a little bit of their language is important. People are right. Haiti changes people from the inside out.