World Challenge - experience anyone?

[mumblechum]

DS has just come home with an info pack for a world challenge trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2011.

Sounds good, but it's quite expensive (£3.4k ).

Has anyone's dc gone on one of these trips and if so was it worth it?

Any dos and don'ts?

Ta

DS went on a World Challenge last year with his school to Lesotho and South Africa. He really enjoyed himself but it was very expensive - somewhere around £2.5k then. The worst aspect for him was the practice camp up in Buxton in December on an incredibly cold weekend (we stayed up in the Peak District separately and have rarely experienced such cold weather).
DS was impressed with the World Challenge leaders and found it a useful experience having to organise parts of the trip himself. He was also quite moved by meeting the local school students in Lesotho and realising the tremendous efforts they and their families have to make just to get to school each day, so that aspect was well worthwhile.
Don't forget to add on another few hundred pounds for clothing and equipment and for spending money.

They do this at my school in Oz, every year; most Aussie schools seem to do it. Pricey, but well worth it - the teachers fight to go on the trip. Nepal, this year.

Our school do this every 2 years they are going to Namibia next year costing just shy of £4k.
TBH I think its a total rip off our whole family could have stayed in a 5 star hotel for a week for that ! Spoke to a friends adult child who is a student who had done almost exactly the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
The school kids who had been on the trip to peru the year before were a bit 'mixed' in their reports.

Thanks everyone. According to the bumf which I finally got around to reading this morning, the pupil is expected to raise 80% of the funding themselves.

Our school runs them, the students who have been do find them life changing.

One of the many reasons I would love my dd to go to the school I teach in is because of these trips.

I think most students raise what they can towards the trip from part time jobs. Very few can raise money by putting on events etc in the way that World Challenge often suggests. World Challenge also put on sponsored runs and other events but really only family and close friends are likely to sponsor someone for what is a holiday not a charity. With DS2's group a lot of parents/grandparents matched what their DCs raised pound for pound etc.

Hi - i took a group of girls to Thailand a few years back as the accompanying teacher. I have mixed feelings about it. I cant really see how they justify the expense - ok they have 24hr emergency cover - all groups have a beacon thingy that they can set off in extreme circumstances and they will be rescued wherever they are. Apart from that though....

Considering the amount of money the girls raised (most of it just given by parents actually) their budget dished out by WC was a pittance - and the girls were a bit miffed about it.

It was a very challenging experience for them (and me it has to be said!! - this is NO holiday for teachers!) and I saw them change from scared 16yr olds on the first couple of days into capable travellers able to source and book their own accommodation, haggle over everything and find their way around a strange country with ease.

We did some work in an orphanage, which was very eye-opening - and reassuring as it was a lovely lovely place. We also did a 6 day trek across the jungle - my goodness that was hard. Everyone apart from the WC leader was in tears at some point - then we found out it was an SAS practice trek. We slept in hammocks strung up in the trees and cooked our own food that we carried with us. Almost Ray Mears country!

So on balance, it WAS a fantastic opportunity, and safe - well as safe as it can be - they still had to take local transport in tuk-tuks etc and they all got loads out of it. However, i would be inclined to let them have a year off travelling with a friend or on some kind of language/volunteer course instead. It would cost a similar amount and i think it would be far more of a life changing and enhancing experience. But if you dont want to spare a whole year, then WC is a good alternative, albeit an extortionate one!!

Thanks so much for your input everyone.

Well, he's finally decided not to do it.

Partly because there's also a rowing trip in California at the same time, which sounds like more of a holiday and it's "only" £2k.

I was glad that he really weighed up the pros and cons and decided it wasn't for him BEFORE he committed himself, bearing in mind the money seems to be pretty much non refundable.

My daughter currently has her name down for a trek through Belize next summer. Sadly she has done very little to motivate herself into raising any of the £3,700 required. We just decided to pull the plug, but looking in the small print, WC charge you for cancelling. Don't expect to get any money back. Although I struggle to find how they justify it, it looks like we will be ducking out of this 15 months before the departure date, but over £500 out of pocket!

My DP ran World Challenge.

The pupils are supposed to raise the money themselves. That's kind of the point. Their parents aren't supposed to pay - it's to be an independent project, with the teachers guiding rather than leading. In fact the pupils make all the major decisions, including what they'll eat etc when they're on the expedition. My DP was quite put out when he had to climb a mountain on a bowl of Frosties and powdered milk, and when they budgeted for rice but not any salt, and when they generally made an absolute dogs' dinner of the cooking. But they're supposed to learn from their mistakes.

A lot of the money goes towards the project work the children do with disadvantaged communities in the developing world. My DP's group helped to renovate a school, for example.

He thought it was fantastic and is organising another one. It's a lot of work though.

Hi My son was signed up to go to Costa Rica/Nicaragua in July 2015 unfortunately he did not pass his AS levels and had to leave the school new college commitments meant we had to cancel. We cancelled in September 2014 and had paid £1150. World challenge said we were entitled to £71.50 refund, but if a replacement challenger was found we could get another £1050. We contacted the school and they found a replacement in fact there were two, however World Challenge are refusing to give us our money back as they say that we should have contacted the parents and arranged a transfer. We do not have the information that thte school has and the teacher thought that by putting forward another challenger this would be enough but BEWARE you have to arrange a transfer with other parents even if you are not party to the information of who they are. World Challenge will just take the money from the new challenger and add them on the trip, So effectively if we hadn't asked the school to get a replacement they wouldnt have another £7200 in their bank account whilst still keeping our £1150.