My Nonprofit Reviews

I just returned from my second trip with Cross-Cultural Solutions in Rabat, Morocco. Each trip was absolutely wonderful and without a single complaint. The staff is amazingly wonderful from the van driver who delivers us and picks us up from our volunteer placements, the guard who always greets us at the gate with a smile, the cook who prepares fantastic Moroccan dishes and will definitely accommodate particular needs in diets, the house manager who keeps things organized and also provides some of our afternoon lectures, and the country director who makes sure our placements are suited to us, is our afternoon lecturer on many topics, and serves as the person to go to with any assistance we might need. He always made time and treated each question with equal importance. My volunteer placement during this 4 week trip was at an orphanage for children with extreme special needs. We had about 25 children, ages 3 to 30ish. Our jobs were to help feed the children breakfast, which could take up to 45 minutes, and then play with them, stroll them in their wheel chairs, hold the small ones, help with crafts, or listen to music accompanied by shaking some noise makers. In spite of extreme disabilities, these children stole my heart quickly. The staff was wonderful in helping us to become helpful. They were patient and very appreciative. In a few days we were able to be somewhat independent, knowing what was required of us. The staff spoke some, but limited, English. If we didn't understand, we could always follow by example. It would have been beneficial to speak French since it was the staff's strong second language, however, I speak no French and felt fine with creative communication. Other placements were teaching English as a Second Language or playing with children in a general hospital who were undergoing long term care, using crafts and music, Since it is 'cross cultural' part of the mission is for the volunteers to learn and understand the local culture. In the afternoons we had a class in cooking, Islam, women in Morocco, language, or script, for examples. The depth of the staff's knowledge was absolutely amazing. Their willingness to answer any questions made the afternoon sessions feel more like conversational learning. Our home base was very nice and comfortable. Our sleeping was dorm style with bunk beds. The neighborhood felt quite safe. I am a runner and, as a woman, was very comfortable running alone before breakfast. There are restaurants and coffee shops very nearby, plus other shops, if needed. Local extra-curricular travel by taxi was never a problem. If we wanted to go somewhere and doubted that we could make ourselves understood the staff would write it out in Arabic. As far as week-end travel, there are many enchanting places to go including the desert, Marrakesh, Fez, Chefchouaen, and beach locations. We traveled by bus and train. Again, without any problems. While traveling if there were questions it seemed there was always someone around who could answer our questions in English or French. Before each trip to Morocco I was asked many times by friends, "Is it safe?" I can only say that my experience from the moment I arrived at the airport in Rabat was a sense of absolute friendliness, being comfortable, and a feeling of being safe. I will definitely be making a third trip there.