Projects Abroad
Reviews and Complaints

My son paid a deposit to visit Botswana for last July but due to covid, was advised to rebook which he did. Due to the uncertainty of travel, he asked for the deposit refund but was refused. They said the borders are open, but understandably he is not wanting to travel. Although he's been told that he can go away anytime, he wants his money back. I understand that this is a voluntary organisation and covid is no ones fault, but why can he not get money back?

I signed up for a volunteer trip with PA after doing research on several different companies. I paid my almost $300 deposit for a trip that I would take in November. I contacted my trip planner/advocate in mid August to let her know that due to medical reasons that were beyond my control, I would not be able to take the trip as anticipated. I later received an email from someone telling me that I could reschedule the trip with a fee or cancel the trip and lose the money that I paid. I explained to him that it was an emergency that was beyond my control. The reason that I will not be able to make the trip is that my doctor informed me that I would need to have a surgery in mid October and I would be bed ridden and not able to travel for at least three weeks. Even after being told that it was a medical emergency, the representative said that there was nothing he could do about and told me that I could postpone the trip with a fee of upwards of $95. I asked to be contacted by a manager or supervisor and he sent me an email stating that they were the manager. All of the previous emails they sent me stated that they had the title of ADMINISTRATOR the next email that they sent had the title of Acting Deputy Director. They sent me a link to the terms and conditions of their page which mentions nothing about cancellations in the case of medical emergencies. They again offered to reschedule my trip for a fee. Even if they gave me the trip completely FREE I would refuse to go. I cannot imagine the treatment that I would receive if I were to have an emergency while in a foreign country with their employees. My experience with Projects Abroad has been horrible and I am still trying to receive a refund. On top of worrying about the damage caused by the Hurricane I am faced with an upcoming surgery AND stressing over trying to get funds back from a company that I was going to VOLUNTEER for. I am in conversation with my bank but I cannot believe that I have to go to such lengths to get my money back from a volunteer organization.

This is a glorified travel agency and nothing else. My daughter who is 17 'applied' for the two week High School program 6 days before it was to start. There was no screening of her what-so-ever, no parental consent needed, no background check before she received an email saying she had been accepted. This company only cares about getting the money. It is a total fraud organization that is for profit.

My 17 year old daughter had filled out the application and paid the $295 application fee, without sending the parental consent. Her mother, nor I signed anything. The company happily accepted the fee and when we requested it back a day later because we decided she shouldn't go we were told it was not refundable.

I find it quite alarming a person would be accepted without any screening at all for a volunteer program in Africa. I certainly wouldn't want my child to go somewhere where the others hadn't been properly screened. And this is my point, this company only cares about receiving the fees. It also, of course, 'generously' offers and suggests one book the travel arrangements through it. Just one more way to make money.

My wife has volunteered on several occasions around the world through legitimate volunteer organizations. There is an abundance of screening and competition for these spots. I strongly recommend anyone who is looking to volunteer to get in touch with a local organization or local University and find a legitimate volunteer organization that is actually in it to help and not primarily to make money.

Despite the amazing reviews from other volunteers of projects abroad, I am devastated to say I have a really horrible one. I was recommended by a friend about this volunteer agent and similar like others, I was expecting a good experience with them. I am a 16 years old international student from indonesia who lives in new york which means my parents are not in usa and in fact, I live in my school’s dorm. To fill in my 3 months summer break, I decided to enroll for a summer volunteer program and had done enough research about projects abroad. I was in contact with their staff named laura before I enroll and I was told that she resigned. I called the central number to ask questions about the requirements of the project and was told to call directly the belize embassy about the visa. The belize embassy told me that I will not need visa to enter belize as I have a us student visa (F4). Projects abroad told me that everything was set and I was ready to enroll. On june 15th 2017, after nearly 4 months asking questions about the project, I finally enrolled to the community and conservation project in belize. It was kind of last minute but I have it all prepared before the project started on june 19th 2017. I was in contact with the volunteer advisor, carlos orozco, who will prepare me for my departure on the 19th. He was the one who told me the requirements and the packing list as well as the one who connected me with the projects abroad travel team about my flight arrangements. I was planned to depart on the 18th using united airlines from new york laguardia to houston and get a connecting flight to belize and then to placencia. I have prepared everything and packed everything needed for my project (This means all the legal documents and the materials that projects abroad told me) before I departed. Projects abroad emailed me the e-tickets and itinerary and also mentioned that I will only need a copy of my passport and the copy of the e-ticket in order to board the airplane and that someone will be outside the airport in belize when I arrived. They told me that they already have many underage volunteers like me beforehand and everything went well. I went to the airport at 3 am in the morning and was not allowed to check in and board by united airlines because I was missing a notarized parent consent (Notarized not electrically signed) which is required by the belize government in order for a minor like me to travel. I was surprised and confused as projects abroad didn’t tell me anything about the notarized legal consent. I called the emergency number of projects abroad immediately and a staff told me to wait as she will contact the center which is still closed because it was still 3 am in the morning. I had to wait in the airport for 4 hours alone and none of the projects abroad staffs called me. The emergency staff told me that she will try to change my flights and move me to another project which is mexico or argentina which my father didn’t allow me because I was left alone at that time. Projects abroad said that they never had this issue beforehand and they will try to have a meeting with the immigration of belize as they didn’t know anything about the notarized legal consent which is a regulation that belize government made. However, what I really disappointed in is they havent contacted me until now. Carlos orozco, the volunteer advisor contacted me so often before, demand me for the full payment however after the problem arose, he never contacted me not even once. My brother also emailed him (Carlos), the center email ([protected]@projectsabroad), and the travel team however, none of them replied. My father had to call all the way from indonesia to mexico and uk to speak with the ceo as none of the staffs contacted me. I am very disappointed in how they work. They are, indeed, a big agent however this shouldn’t make them feel less responsible of this matter. For other volunteers who want to enroll with them, please be aware.

I would like to add to my previous complaint. Not only did they never refund my 3 grand, but the insurance company that I paid extra for them to organise for my trip is equally untrustworthy and disorganised. They are called "Endsleigh Insurance". After weeks and weeks of emailing back and forth when it came for them to refund me they disappeared for almost a month. A few days ago I got an email saying a travel insurance policy for me doesn't even exist! What is Projects Abroad even being paid for? They did not even update my phone number on my file In case of emergency so I would have been in the Peruvian jungle with no travel insurance and they would of had my old contact details because eyre incapable of doing even simple tasks. Avoid Pojects Aboad and Endsleigh Insuance like the plague.

Getting to the island was so scary. I was put on a bus with no other English speakers and told my trip would be 3 hours long, 8 hours later with no food we got to a beach where I was told to get out and ushered onto a small wooden boat that looked like it would sink. Luckily I survived the trip to the island.
The accommodation and bathrooms were so unhygienic I got sick almost immediately. There's no septic system so you have to put all of your used toilet paper in a opened bin beside the toilet which is in the same room as the shower facilities. There's nowhere to wash your hands and to flush the toilet your pour water down the bowl.
I also have a pre-existing medical condition that I was told I would be able to manage over there until I arrived and found the medical facilities on the island were very basic and almost non existent. I was apparently not the first person worried about this as diving is a dangerous activity and can require medical attention. I was also worried when I found out not one staff member knew first aid.
The staff are very friendly at first then become immediately standoffish on the second day. The only time they lighten up is when they are drinking which is most nights.
I'm a young person and enjoy a drink or few but not every night. I also felt very out of place because some of the people in charge were younger than I was and were almost only interested in sleeping with the volunteers. Even though most of the volunteers were already sleeping together or had done in the past.
There are posters all over the accommodation that state no drugs on the program. This couldn't be further from the truth. Almost every volunteer was smoking marijuana and taking pills every day and would come back to the house out of their brains. Not to mention certain staff felt it okay to supply the volunteers with drugs and were happy to do it with them.
There was also very little conservation work happening at all. Volunteers could work on their "own projects" which mostly consisted of us watching movies or reading each other's books. Only a few volunteers had actually collected any relevant data while most of them had not even researched anything, we just tagged along on the dives.
I also didn't even see a seahorse in my time on the island. I was told they'd seen 4 seahorses but I find that hard to believe.
The food was very mediocre to poor quality. If you don't like rice, don't go. That's what I survived on and occasionally ate fish. The chicken was disgusting and pork often still had skin and hair attached as well as parts of bones. There were so many times when no one even knew what the meat was. There are so restaurants on the island that do amazing food though so I recommend those.
There is no interaction with the community other than the children saying hello every time you walk by. I was advertised that we would be teaching and interacting with children as well as teaching them about conservation only to find this was never a part of the program.
When I left not one person from projects abroad contacted me or even saw me to the airport. I was simply put in a taxi and dropped off.
Two weeks after I returned home the project manager emailed me and asked how I was as they hadn't heard from me, they weren't even aware that I had returned home.
For the amount of money you pay it's definitely not worth it. Apparently a girl left before I got there, she changed her flights home. I wish I was fortunate enough to do that because I would have gotten out of there in the first week.

On the plus side:
I made some amazing friends who were equally as disgusted as I was at the organisation and overall let down of the program.
I also enjoyed the experience of seeing another country and culture.

I would not however recommend this to anyone unless they are into 'cheap drugs and alcohol' and watching movies every day and going for the occasional dive.

As parents, we were SHOCKED at how little adult supervision there was on the programs. Our child went on a supposedly supervised program for 16-19 year olds, and we discovered that the Projects Abroad teens were on their own almost every night, ending up drunk at the local bars and discos 3-4 nights per week!

We paid for the Projects Abroad meal plan, and learned that the first three dinners were (1) chocolate cake and hot chocolate, (2) bread, and (3) a slice of bread and spam. After the kids complained that they weren't getting enough food, the meals improved a bit, but our child spent a significant amount of additional money just buying FOOD.

We initially liked that Projects Abroad promised that our child would stay with a local host family, to learn about the Peruvian culture, but most kids were actually put up in a small hotel. The medical program was supposed to be shadowing doctors for two weeks, but there was only four total days of that - the rest was mostly busy work. Not the hands-on experience we were promised.

One P.A. student spent 1.5 of her two weeks in a hospital with a nasty stomach bug she picked up, possibly from the unfiltered brown tap water. Another kid ended up going to the hospital after getting into a bar fight with another Projects Abroad student. LOTS of drugs being offered to the tourists too. No adults anywhere around.

We spent a LOT of money on two separate two-week Peru programs and felt that the Projects Abroad overall supervision was seriously inadequate. I could go on and on about the two Peru programs but, in summary, as a parent, I wouldn't recommend sending my kids on a Projects Abroad program. We're not especially nervous parents, but we don't feel the program was NEARLY safe enough to send kids that far away.

Hello
I am one of the volunteer working in Nepal under the projects abroad.
I have some serious problems or issue regarding the management of this organization.
Currently I am in chitwan district of Nepal staying in the relatives of assistant manager nearby his house.
I am having serious bad time here in his relative house.i am having bad foods and bad hospitality and behavior from his relatives and I don’t think I have paid for that.
One day I went to house of assistant manager and there was some horrible scene over there
Binod dhakal, assistant manager for chitwan came home lately but he was drunk and he told me that he is the powerful person of chitwan and he is member of political party and he can do everything.
Another issue is that binod and one of his cousin or someone else was having some ### behavior with one the ladies volunteer who is staying in his relative house .binod dhakal tries to show power to us and want to rule over us….other people are also pissed off with his behavior but they want to complain because they want to be in mess in other’s country.
Later on we ask binod to manage rafting for us and he manages rafting for us and told $55 for each person and we think it is a good price but later on when I and one of my friend tried to contact the rafting company and then they told us that they are charging 35 $ for each person and other person is commission to binod dhakal..isnot this bad thing……………………………………..

Social Care in Jamaica

I spent two months at a Children's home in Mandeville. I was really excited to work with children, the greater was my disappointment when I realized what work was gonna be like! The staff members at the placement (except one of them) were not interested in working togehter with the volunteers. One lady was very agressive and yelled at volunteers for a lot of things no one ever told us not to do. There was no structure at all but that was not the problem, all of us had a very hard time because every time we wanted to change a dirty diaper we had to look for diapers and wipes for about ten minutes till we found them. They moved them on a daily basis and kept them in different drawers every time. I often had to clean at least 4 hours old dry poop from a babie's butt when i arrived in the morning and that's almost impossible to do if you dont have any wipes! I almost felt like they are hiding the wipes from us on purpose. one time i had a baby with a dirty diaper on my arm and i was walking around to look for wipes. after a few minutes i found them in the bathroom (why would they keep them there and not next to the changing table where we need them?), when i took them 3 staff members yelled at me: "hey what are you doing with these..?" I just kept walking and said im gonna change the diaper! duh why would they ask me that?
but that was the smallest problem. the one lady was so agressive, one day she beat up one of the volunteers because he wanted to comfort a crying baby! she hit him in the head and bruised and scratched his arms! when the guy went to his supervisor to tell her what happened she acted like it was his own fault and said they cant do anything about it! Then the director responsible for the children's home decided that they dont want to have any new volunteers because we are crazy and not good for the children! the lady who beat up the volunteers also regularly beat the children (which is illegal in jamaica!) and she got away with beating up a volunteer, what kind of organization would be ok with that? they are just after the money, they dont care about the safety of the volunteers!

what also disappointed me was that my supervisor did not support us at all! everytime someone had a problem or felt uncomfortable at work she made it look like its the volunteers fault and that we are bad and lazy people! i once told her that i want to feel comfortable at my placement and i dont want to be yelled at for things i can not know! im not jamaican and ive never worked at a childrens home before so of course i dont always know what to do or how im supposed to do things! she never once said that yelling is not the right way to talk to someone, all she said was that its my own fault and that im not interested enough! I couldnt believe it but when i heard what happened to the guy and many of the other volunteers i knew that its not about me and i dont have to take it personal, the supervisor is just a cold, heartless person and doesnt care about volunteers!

other than that projects abroad is very expensive compared to other organizations! but i thought its not that bad because they use the money for a good cause but that's not true at all! the host families that let the volunteers live with them dont get a lot of money, and when i talked to the staff members they said they have to work 12 - 24 hours every day and hardly get any pay! sometime they didnt get wipes for the babies for more than a week so obviously the money is not spent on the children either! we had to buy our own lunch (unless some cookies or a bun fill u up) and we had to pay half of the taxi money to the work place and back! the flight is not included in the price either so that means that most of the money u pay goes to the management or the people who work in the administration! its a shame! the worst is that they dont pay their staff members well, which means that only very uneducated people are going to apply. they could at least hire more people so the staff members wouldnt be so stressed and wouldnt have to take their anger and frustration out on the poor children! most of the children have been abused already so why would you let violent people take care of them? and they act like they are doing something good for orphans?

I think thats all i need to say! if i didnt like jamaica and my host family so much i would have quit after one week!