6 Months Climate Activism in the Caribbean

Absolutely delightful experience! From the warm ambiance to the impeccable service, every moment was a joy. Their dedication to community through their volunteer system left a lasting impression. Highly recommend for a good experience! I would like to express my gratitude for the wonderful opportunity to participate in this volunteer-based project. Joining this project has not only allowed me to meet new people but also provided me with a chance to develop myself. The energy and excitement I felt while working together were truly motivating. It was an honor for me to be involved in the project.

Richmond Vale Academy stands out as a unique educational institution, with a distinctive type of educators. Working alongside the Academy was a truly defining moment in my life, merging theory with practice in a way that deepens understanding of the society we inhabit was profoundly impactful.

The teaching council, comprised of individuals from various nationalities, fostered a rich multicultural environment that emphasized the value of dialogue and active participation in shaping our collective existence.

The Academy's pedagogical approach closely aligns with the philosophy of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, aiming to cultivate individuals who are community-minded and prepared to transform reality by tackling social and environmental challenges.

The school's infrastructure is exceptionally well-equipped, providing a safe and engaging environment for those seeking an international experience. The participatory methodologies employed here involve everyone in a collaborative and egalitarian manner, truly embodying the essence of cohesive and affectionate education.

When I started my Program in Canada on November 2021 I was in a really bad spot mentally. I just had broken up with my girlfriend of over two years. But this program gave me the chance to reinvent myself. I could be anyone because no one knew the old me, so I had this amazing opportunity to basically start over. And I did. Inspired from my teammates and my teacher I decided that I wanted to come back to Germany with the attitude to be the happiest person in the room. This was not a decision I made over night. It rather was something I started to want over time. Because it was thanks to my teacher and my amazing friends in the program I was forced to self reflect on the person I was so far and the life I had back in Germany. I never realized before that how good I had it. These 6 months were by far my most favorite 6 months of my life. I learned so much about me, about my life, people from different countries with different cultural backgrounds. I have changed and grown so much thanks to this opportunity and I have changed for the better.

First of all, Richmond Vale Academy in Saint Vincent and Grenadines offers you a unique experience that everyone must be a part of for some period of time in their lifetime. It also offers a great learning opportunity that combines education, community engagement, and environmental sustainability. The warm hearted staff both from local communities and different countries are very supportive, welcoming, knowledgeable and very friendly. I have learned a lot and had long lasting friendships all around the world along the way. I genuinely and highly recommend everyone who are looking for an impactful and engaging learning experience.

I was a teacher in the 6-month climate compliance program for almost 5 years.
During these years, I learned a lot, really a lot of things that changed my life and my perception of the world. Living in a community, accepting and embracing those around me, compassion, critical thinking and working hard for a better future are just some of the skills I developed during my time at RVA.
Here I met people from all over the world - people who want to do something useful for our planet and the life on it. I was constantly inspired, challenged and provoked by the members of the RVA community to become a better and stronger person.
The work with the local people and the improvement of their conditions is a strong and everlasting motivation for me to continue doing development work.

I did my voluntary service here in 2023, and very mixed feelings. I would have liked a comment like this in advance, because the alumni contacts you get didn't mention any of this. First of all, it is good to know how this school is structured: all teachers are in a suspicious association called Teacher Group or Tvind. (it's worth doing a Google search) The group is like a cult, and joining is a condition for becoming a teacher here.
Even if you don't notice much of the structures of the TeachersGroup apart from the "another kind of school" principle, the staff is conspicuously unprofessional. Nearly no teacher has much expertise, both in terms of content and pedagogy. The program is therefore weak in teaching and relies on an online learning platform with faulty and old files. Instead of being about the content, the focus of conferences and the typical day is not the actual project presented (on instagram very romantized) but the community life:

In concrete terms, for the individual this means daily cleaning for the community, e.g. 45 minutes of dishwashing in the morning. Once a week you are assigned to a meal, or as a kitchen helper (you spend up to 2.5 hours in the kitchen for dinner duty or as a kitchen helper from 8:15 a.m. to 12 p.m). Every Wednesday you serve only physically intensive work to maintain the Academy, every 4th weekend a "Buildingweekend", where you also spend the entire weekend helping to maintain the Academy. This also includes very disgusting tasks, such as cleaning a freezer with frozen blood, emptying a compost with maggots inside or very exhausting things like digging out a big 6 ft deep hole to create a water well. The 2nd month is also only used to further expand the Academy campus. It's actually cool that there are no cleaning/maintenance employees except for the cooks in order not to create a hierarchy, but where is the limit to the exploitation of volunteers?

All of this voluntary maintaining and cleaning is adressed before, but talked down. New tasks always came up. Would have been no problem for me, If there was a spirit of apreciation for volunteers.

The rule concept is also questionable, as the rule against alcohol gets much more attention than the no discrimination policy, for example.
The staff drank and smoke themselves, sometimes with the students, who are then punished for it. Body shaming and sexism are common. Working was always closely connected to the girls being expected to can't work as hatd as the boys/ not being as skilled. Complete mysogony and sexism.
Instead of employees being rethought, people who criticize grievances are literally kicked out.

What has kept me here are the people from the different teams and the wonderful country. For me the better part began after 2 months, because you actually lived with the community and not in this commune bubble.
Even though you are isolated in the first 2 months and don't see much of the island on campus, it's great to have met so many warm international and local people

however, I wouldn't recommend coming here to any of my friends, for example. The importance of the gardening is questionable, only a third of the program is really about it. The program gives you the feeling that the individual is unimportant here, less important than the participation fee. We had a course on the economy in the third month and I questioned one thing about the numbers and the headmaster was already confused about her own numbers (that don't add up)
In my time here, some people have dropped out very unexpectedly, many have left voluntarily. We were a team of 20 people and after three months 11 were remaining. They didn't get money back enough that it would be all spent but only a share, for us it felt like people leaving actually profits them.

For me it's hard to believe, that the organisation is really non profit!!

Coming to the actual volunteering period starting in the second month:

1. there was one projectleader who is ultimately unskilled in communication and being on time as he says himself. He is likely to call you weak. The working hours were changed towards the end to the month from until 12 to until 4pm without including us in planning.

Remember: You paid alot of money to join the programme, whereas the rent for the school to pay is free for the campus, and the budget for the food is set for 5ec (about 1.6€) per meal eventhough its not that cheap to eat here.
That also explains the "quality food" we had( One time I wanted to make a salad I got badly critizised) There is no students kitchen, so you depend on the three meals a day (remember its super rural, the next supermarket is 40 min walk away)

Its ironic to do presentations about healthy eating at the schools around and at the same time have to eat plain rice and lentils because your budget ran out.

2. the concepts around the gardens that are build doesn't make sense:
the preperation period in advance is not preparing you in building those gardens. The concept of being "activists" that teach the farmers doesn't work out if you just learn about the tools/ materials/ methods in the moment you arrive in the garden.
all our work was about was building bamboo constructions, which is monotonous and at the same time not very sustainable. We don't build complete gardens, mostly the bed frames, whereas you have to know, that bamboo decomposes in a few months and the garden owner is expected themselves to replace it.(Something that is never taught to them. Also we build the gardens without the support of their owners, therefore it is not sustainable at all)

In the 2 months of the building time, we build 2 gardens. Later on we found out, that both of them were build without purpose. One garden didn't have a permission to be built and the other home garden owner is about to extend her house on the area we build her garden.
I feel like I wasted my time and energy in this place.

This place is run by unrealistic, idealistic principles that make sense in theory and are sold good. The reality looks completely different, there is no sense in professionality in any area. Both of the teacher we had as being the main responsibles for us left. Others were in holidays, headmaster changes randomly, everything is unpredictable and there is way too much drama in all areas. Apparently at some poing there were some skilled local teachers who were really passionate and knowledgeable about permaculture. All of them got kicked out/ left voluntarily.

I started the program in February 2022, one year after the volcano erupted. So I was in one of the first teams to not only run a program, but also help recovering the Academy from still visible damage. Right from the beginning I felt very welcome, and during my time I got to meet so many nice people from all over the world. Everybody was very motivated to give their best in order to work, learn, teach and also have plenty of fun.
The program made me grow as a person, helped me to deal difficulties situations of any kind. Even though we had quite some troubles due to different reasons, I would still recommend the program to everybody who likes to go on an adventure, wanting to make a change, meet new people and who is open to new ideas.

In my experience at RVA I went through a lot of personal changes. My experience made me learn a lot of patience and it also taught me a lot about leadership skills. I also feel much more welcome in places with people from other countries. The staff at RVA are very cool and they also made me change my mindset - I did not want to be a teacher, but now I do!
Part of our team, 6 people, went out into the community of Bagga, where we had to build home gardens in both Layou and Bagga. We were divided into threes and I was placed into the Layou group. We all worked together to start one garden in Bagga so that everyone knew what to do, then my group of 3 started our garden in Layou (where we was assigned). We competed 3 gardens in Layou and four in Bagga.