WASTE OF TIME AND WASTE OF MONEY

I arrived in Nepal ready and eager for the experience and challenge of international volunteering, and I (along with the other members of my volunteer group) was deeply disappointed and enraged by what we got. In fact, out of a large group of volunteers, all of those planning to stay more than 2 weeks terminated their stay early. It's almost like the descriptions on the websites are just made up by staff who've never actually been to the placements. The "orphanage work" description says that we'd be staying in a homestay and would work all day with needy children, helping them in all areas of their life. In reality, we were grouped into one-bedroom apartments or hotels and the children were gone ALL DAY at school and we were only with them for an hour in the evening to help with homework. When we showed the IVHQ staff in our local placement what the website said we'd be doing and the schedule they provided us of our daily routines, they laughed and couldn't believe it-- saying that that's never how it's been and that it's "impossible". There were even several volunteers who were scheduled to teach in schools for a month DURING the children's school holidays when no one was there!!! Clearly the staff doesn't care at all about the impact of its program. Meanwhile, the staff all drove the nicest cars we'd seen anywhere in Kathmandu, and other than that we couldn't figure out for the life of us where on earth our dues were actually going. It would have been infinitely better in EVERY way, and we all could have made a significantly greater impact in the communities, had we just traveled there and volunteered on our own without this ridiculous excuse for a volunteer program.