My Nonprofit Reviews

I volunteered in lima, peru. I enjoyed my experience, and the staff members were all kind and accommodating of my special dietary needs, which I really appreciated. The senior citizen center where I volunteered was well staffed and over staffed with volunteers. I think that I expected that my service would be needed, and it wasn't, though I was glad to be able to help in the community by rebuilding portions of a house for the cutest little women I've met to date! Getting to know the people and the history of the community was rewarding, and I'm glad I went, I just found myself searching for purpose in my travel and expense as I was clearly not needed. I did find purpose and joy in the little bit of service that I was able to participate in, I just expected the service aspect to be more valuable to the people then it was. My experience led me to the realization that ccs is a vacation organization with a little bit of service instead of the other way around. As long as you understand that, and understand that you are paying 2500$+ for transportation to and from the airport and to and from your volunteer placement, a place to sleep and food to eat, and nothing else, you'll likely really enjoy it. The money wasn't an issue with me, so i really don't resent it, but if I had been saving for a long time, I probably would have. I could have stayed in a 5 star hotel with 5 star meals and gotten my own transportation and traveled around a bit for that price, but, the fact that I was traveling alone for the first time, staying with other volunteers made my trip more enjoyable. I really did enjoy getting to know the other volunteers. I would say that if this is your first time traveling abroad, and you feel nervous about it, ccs is a comfortable way to go, if you can afford the upfront expense and all the expenses of your travels in country. The "cultural immersion" activities were really more of a bother then an enjoyable part of the program, though I did enjoy learning about the history of the community. Now that I've been to Lima and seen how comfortable I am in that city, I would not return their with ccs. I, personally, would have a more meaningful experience with something more authentic and service oriented, as the service was more of a motivating factor for me then the vacation was, and I found myself with a significant amount of time to kill, and really didn't have the extra cash to do any significant traveling in country.
I did have one other motive in going and that was to see if ccs would be a good program for my high school age niece to participate in on her own, for the service and the culture. During my stay, there were three 18 year old kids, one still in high school, who liked to stay out past curfew and drink and party all weekend. Though there were technically rules in place about those issues, they were not enforced, and the kids were left to wander the city on there own at night, drunk. Though there was someone to open the door for them at any hour, and the night guard did call the director, he did not enforce the rules. This would have been an uncomfortable living arrangement for my niece, and a lonely one, with very little support, so it isn't likely that I will send her out with ccs either.
I am giving 2 stars because I enjoyed my trip and I was grateful to not be bothered with finding vegetarian meals. I'm not giving more because I felt that ccs did not manage my money (there were 11 staff members half of whom I didn't know what their job was) my time or my service well, they did not live up to their clearly written rules on safety as displayed on their website (the seat belts in the vans didn't work, they didn't enforce curfew or drinking rules, etc.) and the cultural immersion was almost entirely self-directed and a further expense to myself.