Volunteering with Tvind

Tvind relies heavily on volunteers and the organisation recruits very actively in university towns, on college campuses and on the internet.    It looks great.    For young people, especially college drop-outs, one of the most appealing things about Humana People-to-People is that absolutely no qualifications, skills or experience are required

BUT - as described in many news reports (and confirmed in many emails from volunteers directly to Tvind Alert) - a high proportion of volunteers report feeling cheated, let down or mistreated, especially as they have usually paid money in advance.

The commonest complaints from ex-volunteers are:

• They were made to go out 'fundraising' on the streets instead of attending college.  more on this.
  
  

• They were expected to work very long hours and to meet impossible targets  more on this
  
  

• Training at the colleges was poor  more on this
  
  

• Foreign aid projects and travel were underfunded, badly run and pointless but volunteers were often made to feel it was their fault  more on this
  
  

• Some people reported health and safety issues such as being made to travel alone, hitchhike or work in dangerous areas without proper support   more on this

Many personal accounts by ex-Tvind volunteers are in the stories section read the stories

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