Volunteering with 'frontier' - any advice?

Hi!
I'm hoping to do a voluntary work placement with a company called Frontier this summer (I'd love to do a gap year but can't because of the rise in tuition fees, so I'm hoping to go away for 2weeks-4weeks abroad).
I really want a new experience and to do something worthwhile, although I'm pretty scared too! Has anyone volunteered with Frontier (or a similar organization) before? Any advice or comments? I haven't even picked my placement yet as theres so much to do but I look the look of teaching in Madagasca... :smile:

Rose x

Reply 1

WillyMar

Hi.

I´m looking at Frontier as well - for a project in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
They have some great reviews, and seem very professional in what they do.

Only thing that´s raising a doubt is the price !

Looking around, it seems you can get things arranged much cheaper by organizations ´in country´ (don´t know if that´s the same for your destination)

Try having a look at someone like Idealist.org, or GoAbroad.com
They have loads of volunteer places listed.

Reply 2

Lex1234

Original post by *buried-in-books*

Rose x

I haven't used Fronteir but last year I volunteered with PoD and taught English in Thailand with them.

They are a small, not for profit organisation and gave amazing support before, during and after the project.

I really recommend you look at them as they really were amazing and there projects are anything from 1week to 6 months

Try www.podvolunteer.org

Reply 3

murphydarren

If you want to do a bit of volunteering, but don't want to pay a fortune, check out my new (incomplete) website:

www.freevolunteering.co.uk

...the directory wont be complete until the summer, but there is already hundreds of links to free volunteering organisations around the world.

Also, if you are a little afraid to volunteer, why not do a couple of days volunteering in this country to get a feel for it. You can find 100s if not 1000s of opportunities on your doorstep in the UK (check out UK section of my website).

Reply 4

cobug

I signed up for the healthcare programme in Madagascar for the month of February. My experience did not live up to this promise. I signed up for a two week project paying £399 for each week. They then paid an additional £200 to bring my volunteering forward a week. In the first 7 days i was at the project i spent in total 5 hours teaching English at a primary school, 6 hours teaching English at a youth club and 2 hours helping out at an orphanage I.e. just 13 hours in total volunteering and precisely zero hours spent as a ‘healthcare volunteer’. The lack of volunteering opportunities (in healthcare and more generally) was explained by the local staff as being down to the lack of a ‘Community Coordinator’. We were given a Forest Coordinator who was unfamiliar with the Community Projects and spoke neither Malagasi or French and as such was unable to communicate with locals to organise volunteering. An example of this disorganisation was on the Tuesday she took me to the hospital but there was no doctor to meet them or anyone expecting them so they returned immediately to the Community house. Not only was the actual volunteering disappointing but the living conditions were diabolical. I slept on a foam mattress that has disintegrated so it effectively wasn't there. The roof was leaking and in order to flush the loo you had to put your hands in the cistern! DISGUSTING!! Furthermore the food budget per day was £1 which was not even enough for 3 meals a day which was what the website guaranteed me. Please take this as a warning NOT to use the FRONTIER, they are cowboys.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 5

Ushkin23

I have used frontier and without getting long winded because I plan on writing a full review later, but STAY AWAY FROM FRONTIER. At best it's a completely disorganized, poorly functioning