A Shout Out to GIVE

Written by: Ashley Dunlap

One of the recruiters was a lead guide for the Laos trip, and the other was the lead guide for the Tanzania trip. They excitedly went into detail about GIVE and explained to me GIVE’s mission, the volunteer locations, activities, and projects, and also asked me questions about myself. Fittingly, they were the most enthusiastic recruiters I’ve met! I was so impressed with the organization and the reviews I read about it being “life-changing” and “an adventure worth the money and time”, that I nearly signed up to go on the Tanzania trip two days after finding out about GIVE! Unfortunately, my parents were not ready to send me overseas, and later on, I was very thankful because that was the summer of COVID. 

I waited almost two years to finally be able to register for the Tanzania trip, and it was one of the most exciting announcements I have ever made. Before that, I hadn’t flown overseas since 2015, so I knew it would be an adventure that would take some getting used to. The beautiful thing that GIVE does for people who register for trips is that a volunteer profile is created, and your deposit is good for life! Therefore, if you can’t make your trip during the dates you signed up for, GIVE can easily transfer the deposit to another date!

Before the Trip

GIVE cares about their volunteers and offers to guide them through planning their trip, and gives them to-do lists and deadlines in their volunteer profile. They have flight partners that assist volunteers in booking their flights, and they do their best to book you on flights that other volunteers are on so you can all fly over together. They’re also a great resource for support if a flight is delayed, canceled, and/or needs to be changed. I signed up through the flight partners for my Tanzania trip because I did not feel comfortable booking alone and risking flying all the way to Tanzania by myself, and I was very glad I did because I met up with quite a few other volunteers during our layover in Qatar. I also flew with a couple of volunteers on my way to the Thailand trip the year after.

The volunteer profile also gives its volunteers places to upload all their required documents and a link to purchase travel insurance. In addition, if a visa is required for the location you are volunteering in, GIVE also provides instructions on how to obtain a visa. When I applied for a Tanzania visa, all I had to do was follow the link provided and copy all the information given to me by GIVE, and my visa application was approved a couple of days later! There is also an option to apply for a visa when you arrive at your volunteer location, but it is so much easier to do it in advance, and there’s less to worry about when you are more prepared. For the Thailand trip, I did not need a visa since I stayed for under 30 days.

The Actual Trip

Aside from the support volunteers receive prior to their trip, going on the actual trip gives a deeper understanding of how GIVE works. When my group and I first arrived at the Zanzibar airport, we walked out of the exit and saw two of our guides wearing the iconic bright green GIVE shirts. Yes, that’s how they wanted us to notice them, haha! They greeted us and loaded up all our luggage onto a Dolla Dolla (which is basically a Zanzibarian cab). This is basically the same thing that happened in Thailand. No matter what trip you go on, you’ll have GIVE guides at the airport ready to pick you up.

Day 1 of the trip is basically a rest day and time for the guides to retrieve all the volunteers from the airport, since people arrive at various times. It was the second day in Tanzania when we actually traveled to the village of Kairo Kiwengwa in Zanzibar, where our volunteering would take place. In Thailand, we flew into Chiang Mai and spent two days and nights there, and then traveled to our volunteer location in Mueang Khong.

A common question I get from peers is if the GIVE trip is constant volunteering, and believe it or not, the answer is NO! Orientation day on both trips took place on day 2 and consisted of our leaders giving us a planned schedule for the entire trip. While it varies between programs, Tanzania had two days of volunteering, a culture day where we would go back to Stone Town for the day, two more days of volunteering, an adventure day where we would go snorkeling, our two final days of volunteering, a travel day to Dar Es Salaam, and our final two days on a safari. Our volunteer projects were also not designed to be all day long, as we had two different shifts, and volunteers could choose if they wanted to do a morning construction shift and afternoon teaching shift, or vice versa. During our break times in between shifts, we had our lunch break, voluntary Swahili lessons, downtime, and one day, a special day trip to a reef in the middle of the ocean!

In Thailand, our volunteering was consecutive, but for only five days out of the trip, and only two days were full-day volunteering. We got to choose if we wanted to do education for the day or permaculture, and unlike Tanzania, we only did one volunteer activity for the day instead of both. During the three half-days of volunteering, we spent the rest of the day at a ceremony at a new school, and also spent a morning watching Thai children perform a traditional dance.

I have also had peers ask about the type of food we eat on the trip, and the simplest way to put it is local delicacies, but modified to be foreigner-friendly. For example, in Tanzania, we had rice nearly every single day, a fish/chicken and veggies, and some surprise dishes like Zanzibar pizza that was just bread with red sauce and cheese, but so good! And in Thailand, we had chicken and rice basically every day, as well as a day where we made our own Pad Thai! They do feed us well on the trip, and there’s plenty to go around. In addition, GIVE is also accommodating for people’s allergies and/or if they are vegetarian, vegan, or have religious exemptions. And yes, your meals are one of the things included in the trip price!

Although everything pretty much went as planned on both trips, the GIVE guides are prepared for any situation possible and always book our adventure activities and accommodations ahead of time. I do not think I have ever experienced traveling with such an organized group, and that realization cured all my anxiety for the trip! The guides also made safety the #1 priority when out in public. They never allowed anyone to go off alone, and they did a head count anytime it was necessary.

The guides are also well-trained and come prepared with a complete medical kit, having previously completed their required wilderness first aid course. They have the knowledge, training, and resources to support the whole group. If you get a cold or traveler’s tummy, you’re in good hands. 

The end of the trip is obviously very sad and a lot of overwhelming reflection time, but the guides try to make it happier with goodbye gifts. One of them was a letter of thanks, thanking us for all our hard work and dedication to the community, and a list of benefits and next steps we could take as GIVE alumni. In addition, we also received a special green GIVE TANZANIA bracelet, and those bracelets are only for people who have been on an actual trip. I also got one in Thailand. GIVE also asks its volunteers to take a brief survey at the end of the trip, and I did not have any suggestions for improvement on their end since I was so impressed with their organization skills and their care for their volunteers and the communities we volunteered for! All I said was that I would like to see more locations as the organization grows! (I know some potential places and projects, haha).

The next day was at a no-contact sanctuary where we still got to feed the elephants, and the other days were trekking for them in the jungle. The experience taught us that in Thailand, elephants are a symbol of strength and intelligence, and due to the dwindling elephant population, they are cared for very efficiently by their mahouts. We also got to experience what mahouts do daily, which is to take treacherous hikes into the jungle to care for the elephants, as well as feed and clean them. That being said, I recommend the add-on trips as much as I recommend the initial 2-week volunteer trip because add-ons will give you an adventure boost and a deeper understanding of a culture.

If you are thinking of applying for a GIVE trip or have already signed up for one but don’t know what to expect, I am here to tell you that you have NOTHING to worry about! Especially if you book flights using their flight partners. It is one of GIVE’s many goals to make volunteers feel safe and free from anxiety, so I want people to know that GIVE CARES. Don’t believe me? Read these numerous testimonials from past volunteers right here! If you would like to ask me any questions about my own experience or about GIVE in general, feel free to connect with me!