Volunteering in Mexico

I chose to volunteer with IVHQ for a week in Merida and chose the child care program. This was my first time with IVHQ. I found the process of signing up very easy and user-friendly. IVHQ was very responsive and even called me to chat. The IVHQ placement options are enormous across the entire world and it is the most affordable volunteer organization I have found. Once registration was complete, the program review was really easy to follow and full of a lot of important details. They even offer flight booking help, travel insurance links, and your travel country of choice's visa requirements. The local contact in Merida was very responsive by text before my arrival. I was given the choice to be picked up at the airport which went as planned. I chose to stay at the Volunteer Inn (instead of a host family), which was clean and my room was comfortable. We were provided one day of orientation that covered a lot of details, including a trip into the town center, with historical sightseeing. My assignment in child care was well organized, although we had to use our imagination to work with the children. I wanted to do a geography lesson and needed a round ball to draw the continents. I did not have a ball handy so I used a coconut I found in the street. I had the children paint it blue and I traced the continents to teach about other countries in relation to Merida and Mexico. I met a nice group of like-minded volunteers, which was a lot of fun.