Community Development Volunteering in Quito, Ecuador

IVHQ is an amazing volunteer community. The team is super helpful and supportive from start to finish. The volunteer locations and the home stays are great for immersing yourself in the culture and environment. I’ve done 2 trips. One in Guatemala and one in Ecuador and have plans to do many with. 5 star experience! I hope this review inspires someone!

I did sports education volunteering in Kenya for 7 weeks, and the program was everything I was looking for and more. The hostess at the apartment was super kind, the other volunteers were really friendly, and the volunteer placement was awesome. I really felt that I was able to immerse myself in the Kenyan culture, and I learned a ton. Go in with an internal locus of control, and you will have an amazing time!

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

What I felt I gained from the experience was the ability to immerse into a next culture and to develop a teaching style best suited to the children. I would advise just throw yourself into it. It’s the most rewarding and life changing experience you could do.

I had the most lovely time in Ecuador! My host team was so welcoming and helpful. They went above and beyond to ensure that I had safe transportation to my add ons and they made sure I was happy with my placement. The volunteer house was a friendly environment and I had no complaints about my housing situation. My volunteer placement helped me give back to others while practicing my Spanish. I recommend this trip for solo travelers and students like me for anyone who wants to truly immerse themself in the South American culture!

Join the Sports Education project in Nairobi! It's a great atmosphere. The people are great and I had loads of fun playing football with the kids. They were so happy to have other children visit them as volunteers (they especially loved my Messi t-shirt). I loved their positivity and never giving up attitude.

IVHQ were great, the preparation they gave me was really helpful and the resources I received were amazing. The local team were the best if ever we needed anything they would be there to help. The impact the children and the school have had on me has been huge, the kids were always so happy despite their disadvantages and it has created a new sense of the world for me. My host Mum was amazing and the food was always amazing too. The house was always clean. I would suggest to anyone hesitant about joining a program to just go for it. I was also hesitant about joining and it was the best thing I've ever done. Everyone is in the same position as you and also there for the same experience.

As a volunteer teacher in Maasai, Kenya you will make bonds and memories and there's nothing better than putting yourself out there. The program will also give you joy as you will be making a difference.

I spent 6 weeks in Córdoba, Argentina as a sports volunteer. Even though school was not in session, I was able to attend 3 different sports camps and even volunteered at a soup kitchen. The experience was rewarding, allowed me to practice my imperfect Spanish and I met fellow volunteers from around the world. The local team opened their home and hearts to the volunteers and made us feel welcome, answered our multiple questions to the best of their ability and created a safe and fun environment for all. It was my first volunteer experience abroad and it won't be my last!

We volunteered as a family (children aged 11 and 15) on the Sports Education Program in Nairobi and we had a great experience. We were all stretched in different ways, contributed in different ways according to our strengths, and gained differently from the experience. At the same time it was a superb experience to share and support one another in! Having IVHQ and the local team support gave me the confidence to take my kids to places I would never have dared to take them alone. Playing sports with disadvantaged children was an excellent way to connect across cultures, and we were astounded by how much joy was shared. We were also so impressed and humbled by the energy and commitment of local staff and volunteers from the community setting such a positive example to us all. We gained more than we could have imagined!

Volunteering is not an easy thing and it’s definitely way out of my comfort zone but 100 percent one of the most rewarding and fulfilling things you’ll do in your life. Seeing different cultures and realising how happy you can be with so little made a big impact on me and being able to connect with the students at the program was a favorite moment of mine.

I gained valuable experience of how different life is in certain parts of the world, which is easy to forget sometimes when you are caught up in your own life. Learned to be more open minded when approaching situations, try to maintain a positive outlook as almost everyone who I met out in Kenya seemed to have.

My experience volunteering was transformative. I gained valuable insights into the local culture, resilience, and warmth of the people, and broadened my perspective on the global community. To anyone hesitant to join this program, I'd say: don't let fear or uncertainty hold you back. This experience will challenge, inspire, and transform you. Trust that you have something unique to offer. Your presence, skills, and passion can make a real difference in the lives of others.

I feel like I personally gained a new self confidence, it was my first time solo travelling. Going through IVHQ made it so that I wasn't alone though, I made so many new friends. My advice would be to embrace it, it is obviously a different world to what you are used to but if you come with an open mind you will have the most amazing and rewarding time as well as meeting so many amazing people.

I was certainly out of my comfort zone, however, the host for the Sports Education program in Kenya made the week special. To enjoy the week, you have to let go of your anxiety, trust the process and go all in.

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.

IVHQ is such a great program and way to experience the world, other cultures, and to meet great people. The other volunteers I met were equally as fantastic to interact with as the local community and I'm so glad I met all of them! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this program and can't wait to plan the next one!

I did not know what to expect when I originally applied for this program. However, it ended up being everything I could have ever wanted and more! I felt safe and well taken care of during the entirety of my time in Kenya. I learned so much at the hospital and was able to enjoy numerous cultural treks in my free time. I would thoroughly recommend this program to anyone. I have always had an interest in global health but throughout my undergraduate career, I could never find the time to travel abroad. So during my first gap year, post-graduation, I was excited to finally have time to pursue this dream. I spent several weeks researching medical programs in Africa before coming across International Medical Aid. Between the glowing reviews on the website and all the beautiful Instagram photos from past interns, I decided IMA was the program for me. I was ecstatic when I received my acceptance but also incredibly anxious because what was once just an idea was now becoming a reality. I spent the next few months prepping, and then COVID hit, and I had to delay my trip to the following summer. During that year span, I changed jobs and was accepted into medical school. It felt like a lifetime since I had applied for IMA and what was once a fully planned experience, felt more like a dream again. But somehow on June 4th, 2021 I sat down on a plane in the JFK airport and departed for Kenya. When I arrived in Mombasa, a mere 17 hours later, I had no idea what to expect. The first car ride to the residence was a culture shock in itself. Beyond the initial surprise of the road system, traffic patterns, and tuk-tuks, I took immediate notice of the poverty level and the clear economic stratification. According to the World Bank, “ Kenya is East Africa’s largest economy…” and yet “36.1% of Kenyans [are] still living below the international poverty line” (The history of pre-and post-colonial Kenya lecture). This inequality is evident on the street as you see families living in huts only a few minutes away from mansions with tall gates, topped with glass shards so no one can enter. It is also evident in the healthcare systems. Private hospitals, such as Premier, offer superior facilities to those who can pay the cost, while the lower class has access to public-funded hospitals such as Coast General Teaching and Referal Hospital (CGTRH). The public facilities are “under-resourced in terms of equipment and clinical staff” and have “overall, poorer patient outcomes and higher incidences of hospital-acquired infections” (The current state of healthcare in Kenya). Equipt with this information, I was eager to start my hospital rotations and get a better idea of the true healthcare experience in Kenya. My first week in CGTRH was spent in the Obstetrics department. Within my first day, I saw six vaginal births, including a set of twins, and learned all about the different stages of labor, medications given to mom and baby, use of the fetoscope, procedures for cord-cutting and sex determination, and so much more. I felt immediately welcomed into the hospital. Everyone was eager and willing to teach and let us see everything. This was a welcome change from shadowing in the United States where pre-medical students are often treated as more of an inconvenience than anything else. This was definitely not the only notable difference from the hospital settings I was used to. The biggest difference, by far, was in the use of pain medications. In the United States, a woman laboring in the hospital readily has access to multiple forms of pain medication including the well-known and commonly used epidural. In Kenya, however, moms are not given any pain medications unless they have to undergo a cesarean section. This means that women go through the entire labor, sometimes including an episiotomy and later suturing, unassisted by analgesics. This type of strength and personal fortitude is unimaginable in the United States. The other major difference is in prenatal care. Although prenatal care is offered for free in Kenya, most people do not go to the doctor before they are in labor. This is due to a large number of factors, including lower health literacy. Due to this, most mothers go into labor without any knowledge of the sex of the baby or even the number of babies they are having. In the United States, most women receive consistent prenatal care, including “every 4 weeks until 28 weeks of gestation, every 2 weeks from 28 to 36 weeks, and then weekly until delivery” (Lockwood, 2021). This creates much more opportunity to monitor the health of both mom and baby, increasing the likelihood that any complications would be detected early and taken care of. The following week I was in the pediatrics ward. I was able to learn a lot here from the nurses and resident doctors. It was particularly interesting to learn about their top ten most common conditions -gastroenteritis, pneumonia, several acute malnutrition, neonatal sepsis, neonatal jaundice, meningitis, malaria, anemia, bronchitis, and tetanus- because they are so much less commonly seen in the US. I was also shown how to insert a nasogastric tube into a newborn which was very interesting. My third week was spent in the Accident and Emergency Department. Here I was able to see a lot of interesting and varied cases from bandage and catheter changes in the minor theater, to epilepsy and pneumothorax in the beds. But what I really enjoyed about this department was getting to talk with so many of the staff members when there was downtime. Doctors spoke openly with us about the corruption in their government and police force, the lack of resources and staffing at the hospital, the pay delay that they were currently experiencing, and the poverty that surrounds them. Here, I gained a new sense of appreciation for the level of dedication that these people were putting towards their patients. I was told that the staff is paid monthly and that although it was almost the end of June, they still had not received payment from May. They had apparently tried to strike in the past but were unsuccessful. Despite all of this, when I asked the residents if they would continue to work at Coast after their training was completed, most of them said they would because they loved the work they were doing. That is one of the biggest things I will take with me into my future practice of medicine. Always put the patients first and remember why you came into the profession. My last week was spent in the surgery department. This rotation was particularly fascinating as I have had very minimal OR time in the US. During my first day in the theater, I was able to observe a bilateral inguinal hernia repair on a five-month-old baby, a biopsy and excision of a mediastinal mass, and a bullet removal from near the spine performed under local anesthesia. On my second day, I was able to watch a broken femur repair. Then, I was even fortunate enough to get a third day in the OR after another intern had a night shift. During that shift, I was able to observe another inguinal hernia repair with a circumcision, and a skin graft from a woman’s leg onto the right side of her face after they had previously removed a neurofibromatosis. The skin graft was by far the most interesting and intricate procedure that I have witnessed. The surgeon was absolutely amazing and really took the time to teach us and show us what he was doing. I was able to learn so much from this. I was also able to learn a tremendous amount outside of the hospital. Between the clinics, the cultural treks, and the Masai Mara safari, I was able to gain a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the history and culture of Kenya. What stood out to me the most was the warmth we received everywhere we went. In the United States, especially in New York, where I am from, people aren’t very openly friendly to one another. This was not the case in Kenya. At the hygiene clinics, the children would run up to us with open arms for hugs and high fives. At the beach, people would strike up conversations about where we came from and what we thought about Kenya so far. At the grocery store, we had people thanking us for coming to the country and working in the hospital even though we got much more than we were able to give. Time and time again the people of Kenya inspired me to be a kinder, warmer person. When I sat down on my June 4th flight, a year and a half after applying to IMA, I could not have known the impact this experience would have on me. I am so grateful to the IMA staff, the hospital staff, the Kenyan people, and the other interns for making my experience everything that it was. As I start my journey through medical school, I will take with me all the knowledge I gained and the lessons I learned. I will be kinder, warmer, more dedicated, more resourceful, and above all, more appreciative for all the things that I had previously taken for granted. And once I complete my training, I would love to return and give back to the patients everything that was given to me.

I had a time in my life where I worked in rural areas when I was there I met with children who lived in the very bad lives some didn't have food to eat some lived in the roads so their lives were not really good. So I tried to help some of them we tried even to give some of them food, life insurance and try to change their lives From that time I found myself having the zeal of helping people, I joined a foundation which helps people who need help P4H(Pride for Humanism ) so we help children to study and help poor people who are in needy to help to get what they want in life. So to work there It will be something were good for me because I will be helping people as well as my passion and interest in whatever I will be doing