Volunteer Voices

This trip was once again one of the most life changing experiences we have ever had. We left the United States with little knowledge of what was ahead of us for the next month, and after three days of travel we finally arrived! We navigated by taxi to the little village of Kotayk and met the volunteers we would be staying with. There were eighteen volunteers from France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Georgia and Armenia. Over the course of the next month a typical week looked like: breakfast in the morning, manual labor such as painting, landscaping, or cleaning on the orphanage until one in the afternoon, followed by lunch made by the volunteers, playtime with the kids from 3-7, dinner, socializing with other volunteers and finally after a long day of work we would go to bed! The time spent with the children ranged from simple games of pick-up soccer to organizing a performance at the end of our work-camp. On the weekends the volunteers would make excursions around Armenia to important historical sights such as the Genocide Museum, the Garni Temple, Lake Sevan, the Archaeological Site of Zvartnots, Tatev Monestary and much more. My trip to Armenia was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. When I returned from Estonia in 2008 the first thing I thought of when I got off the plane was how excited I was to travel with VFP again. I highly suggest VFP to everyone I meet and tell them about the experiences I have had. I suggest to anyone who is thinking of traveling to choose VFP as their connection to other countries and I also highly reccomend choosing a country that you are unfamiliar with because that is how all of my adventures have started!”

Julienne Vergura ~ Armenia 2010