In a typical year, we take small groups of volunteers on week-long or weekend trips in the Spring and Summer. Our trips have included a wide range of activities and experiences, with the majority of our time spent at ANACS with the students and staff.
planning activities for the students at ANACS, teaching English, painting or doing maintenance work on the school buildings, taking walks around the neighborhood and visiting students’ homes, teaching American sports to youth in Cité Soleil, visiting other non-profits, going to local markets and stores, having a beach day at Wahoo Bay Resort.
“I looked around me and witnessed people that I have known for years, or just a few short days, grab hands with strangers, with no common language, and be in community with one another.”
Neighborhood Walk to the Waterfall
Hanging with the kids at Sakala
Fun at Wahoo Bay
Meeting Your Sponsor Student
Crafts with the students
Baseball lessons at Sakala
Soccer ball delivery to all the students!
Finding the waterfall!
Teaching games to the students
Seeing old friends again
Eating Haitian food prepared by the school cooks!
Delivering and reading sponsor letters
Music time!
Dancing at the Spektak!
Neighborhood Walks with the students
Visiting student’s homes
English conversation practice at the English Institute
Craft time with students
Field trip to Papillion Marketplace and Cafe
Making new friends
Teaching baseball at Sakala
Music time with students
Selfie time!
Neighborhood walks with the students
Lunchtime on the beach day field trip
Recess!
Fun at the English Institute
A typical week-long trip with us is under $2,000 per person. The total cost will include your flights, lodging for the week, all meals, and any tickets/entry costs to anything we may have planned for the week. The only extra costs you may have are optional food/beverage purchases on our excursions or art/souvenirs from the local market.
The exact cost will depend on the size of the group, U.S. Dollar to Haitian Gourdes exchange rate in Haiti, flight costs, and time of the year.
We typically stay in a guest house about near the school. It is in a safe neighborhood and hosts other foreigners, ex-pat travelers, volunteers, and missionaries.
Flights: Typically, we fly on the same flight out of Minneapolis into Port-au-Prince. Kozefò takes care of all booking of flights and will accommodate travelers from anywhere in the U.S. For those traveling from Minneapolis, there will be a required time to meet at the airport and travel together as a group.
Transportation: While in Haiti, we arrange for hired drivers in 12-passenger vans drive us to all of our destinations. We have worked with the same driver since our first trip back in 2014.
Passport: You are required to have an up-to-date passport.
Volunteer Insurance: While not required, you may want to consider getting volunteer insurance. We can provide more information after you decide to travel with us.
Up-to-Date Immunizations: We encourage all volunteers to visit their doctor to make sure they are up to date on vaccinations their doctor recommends for traveling to this part of the world. Haiti is a third-world country, so there may be additional vaccines recommended that are not common in the United States.
Physical Abilities/Fitness: Haiti is a tropical island with high levels of humidity, lots of sun, and high temperatures in the 90’s. We typically take neighborhood walks on uneven terrain. The roads are also very uneven, which causes fairly bumpy car rides. These are all things to consider and prepare for if you travel with us.
Currency Exchange: It is not required to exchange your currency in Haiti. Most vendors and stores happily accept the U.S. Dollar. However, if you would like to use Haitian Gourdes, we often get the best rates at the airport in Port-au-Prince.
Positive Attitude & Flexibility: These are musts on our trips! Sometimes things don’t happen right on time, we need to pivot plans, or long days and heat can take their toll. We just ask that everyone has a positive attitude to enjoy and embrace the experience. On each and every trip, volunteers tell us how changed they feel by what they experienced, saw, and felt - be open to the experience!
Haitians speak Haitian Creole, French, and some know English. We hire translators that travel with us all week to help us with the language barrier.
Before we leave, we’ll go over some basic Creole words and phrases so that you have some basics to use when greeting people and interacting with the students!
In general, we recommend you pack lightly in a small carry-on. It is typically hot and sunny, so lightweight clothing, hats, comfortable walking shoes, and a swimsuit are ideal to pack.
Non-clothing type things to pack include a reusable water bottle, sunglasses, sunscreen, bug spray, a shower towel, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Many volunteers also bring a small backpack or drawstring bag to carry their essentials with them during the day.
Depending on the itinerary, we may have plans to attend a church service - if this is the case, we recommend packing a nicer, modest outfit with sandals (for the ladies) and a shirt with a collar (for the dudes). Haitian’s wear their Sunday best for church!
We’ll go over more details of what to pack once you are signed on as a volunteer on a planned trip.
First, let us just say that Haitian cuisine is GOOD! The chefs at the guest house prepare our breakfasts and dinners for us. There is typically a balance of traditional Haitian food and American food.
For lunches, we recommend that you pack some snacks to bring with you when we leave for the day. Things we’ve found work well include granola or protein bars (without chocolate - it melts!), dried fruit, jerky, and crackers.
Awesome! We’re sure you have some questions. For details and more information, you can email Kozefò’s Director, Sara Lein, anytime at sara.lein@kozefo.org.
We will work with groups of any kind, can accommodate a range of ages, as well as specialized volunteers such as medical professionals, contractors, and educators to customize an agenda of activities to suit your specific talents.
