A Note to Potential Googlers

I came to Rwanda through the Global Volunteer Network (GVN), which is a volunteer placing service that is based in New Zealand. They placed us with Faith Victory Association (FVA), a Kigali based NGO/charity, which placed us with the Noel de Nyundo Orphanage near Gisenyi.
GVN is safe and is not going to steal your money, but realize that you are essentially paying them half of your volunteer fee to send an email to Claire with FVA and tell her you are coming. The rest goes to FVA (some of it paying to cover the costs of your stay) but none of the money you pay actually goes to the orphanage itself. In the end, I would have preferred to volunteer directly with the orphanage, which you can do through the Point Foundation. There is a volunteer house on site that is actually nicer than the FVA house (hot water, sometimes!) and you are more connected to the orphanage because you’re always there. Plus it costs much less and you can use the money you save for a better purpose.

There is a time and place for GVN, and if you are a first time traveler or nervous about coming to Africa and figuring out the ropes on your own then you may find it is worth the extra cost. But I just thought I would let you know that there is an alternative.

If you have any questions you can email me at emeybee at emeybee dot com.