Volunteer Programs in Colombo Central, Sri Lanka

This was my second experience with Project Abroad (first with two amazing projects in Cambodia in September 2023) and now I can confirm that after an experience with this organisation you’ll never travel looking to a new place with the same eyes. I’m a 56 years old Italian woman and I travel a lot but I love to visit new countries doing Project Abroad volunteering project. Why? Because with them you’ll have the opportunity to know real life and local people, to live with them and to know how they are wonderful, smiling and really kind even though they live much more simply than us (or probably because of this). This time my husband came with me and I realise that he appreciated every minute of our shared experience despite the hot and wet weather, the shared bathroom (when we travel alone usually we search rooms with a private bathroom every time) with only cold water showers and the hard work during the project. Together we decided to go in Sri Lanka and to work for Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Galbokka. We’re bank employees so we haven’t any experience to offer… only our hands and of course our hearts. But the centre staff is so kind and supportive that after only one day we felt like we knew each one of them like they were our kids. We’ll never forget any of them: Nimna and his smile, nicknamed Joker because he loves to joke with everyone; Kaveesha, the singer and artist, with his wonderful voice and his passion for Spiderman (his nickname); Kaveen alias Jerry, big and sweet eyes, who helped us to release our small baby turtles. And finally of course Charith, the Turtles centre ‘boss’ always busy but a real good friend for everyone in the centre. A typical work day in the centre includes cleaning the turtles tank, feeding them after cleaning fish to give them, to dig holes in the sand in order to hide turtles eggs from predators, washing turtles and a lot of other works. Each day is different and exciting so you’ll forget the hard work. Turtles are wonderful and baby turtles so nice and cute… I loved them so much. We released them two times, one at the sunset and one at midnight after patrolling beach to search eggs. This has been a wonderful experience because we went to the hatchery and we discovered that babies were born… what a great emotion. During the project we lived in a local family home and we enjoyed every moment with them. Our hostess Senanee is really kind and helpful in every moment and she is surely one of the best cooks in Sri Lanka! We felt like family with her, her daughter Nuhansa, her husband Ramidu, her mother in law and always safe. After our two weeks project we decided to make a week trip around this wonderful country and we enjoyed every moment. So, I wrote a lot about my experience and if you want you can read my 2023 review about Project Abroad. I think you could understand how well organised, safe and serious is this organisation. They are really careful about volunteers safety and I think it’s great to become a Project Abroad volunteer, no matter what age you are...so go ahead, sign up and start packing! For everything else there's Project Abroad

My previous accommodation with Projects Abroad was canceled by my institution days before I was scheduled to leave. When given the option of doing a different project, this company was incredibly flexible and was able to ensure all my needs were met to have a successful project. I truly loved my time in Arusha, Tanzania, and believe that this experience happened for a reason. I would not change it for the world!