Our volunteers have given so much to Les village. We want to give our volunteers something back - memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.
ASHLEE, USA
Ashlee, a marine biology major from Stetson University, USA, stayed with us for a month in June/July 2017. We will miss Ashlee when she leaves us, especially the kids of Les village whom she taught English. Ashlee wrote a moving blog here.
BG, AUSTRALIA, MEMBER OF STARR EXPEDITION 2016
I really enjoyed the diving, we had a great team with extremely dedicated scientists and backed up with support from Gumbol and Pak Eka. The recreation dives at Tulamben were excellent. Garri and his team must be congratulated on the effort that they put in to make us very welcome, our accommodation was 1st class, the meals were delicious, thanks to the happy girls, Made, Made & Made. My wife appreciated Gumbol We(smiley) showing her around the village including his parents home The home stay at the rice terraces was a very educational experience with Sweden and his family being gracious hosts, I'm very glad you included that in our tour.
KAY
Everyone was very nice and always had a smile on their faces. I loved that the fishermen came to help and were always very nice and knowledgeable. It seemed everyone went the extra mile to make our stay great. I was very appreciative of that. Thanks for a great week!
ANDREW
The experience was truly an eye opening one for me. it allowed me to learn first hand about the unique Balinese culture, lifestyle, and strong emphasis on religion. Being able to teach the locals English was truly fulfilling as they would definitely be able to utilize whatever they learn even after we leave and marine conservation opened my eyes to a whole new way of volunteering. All these made the programme very meaningful, and to top it all off, I managed to experience the strong sense of community in Les Village. This journey was truly amazing.
YI HUI
This trip has been very enriching and enjoyable one for many of us. As we contribute to the community in Bali, we also learnt many things from them such as appreciation of Balinese culture, the dance, the religion, the language and music. The visit to waterfall and the rice fields were eye-opening and memorable. Through teaching English, we forged many strong friendships and created many memories.
I hope that our service in Bali has made a significant impact and that Les Village will continue to develop and flourish.
MING YUE
The sincerity of villagers really touched me. To them, we are not outsiders. Tourists like us are accepted into the community almost immediately upon arrival. I could feel that they genuinely welcomes us and they accommodates to our requests with no grumbles or complaints.
When I stayed in Les Village, I felt like I was part of the host's family. When we left, the villagers cried with us. Despite having scarce resources, they are very generous towards us. They ensure that we always have enough food and even gave us sea salt they farmed painstakingly as souvenirs.
DANASTRI
I see there are a lot of opportunities here, that the community can do for a better life. I am glad that I live in a family that loved each other and there are so many experience about life that I can learn here.
ANNONYMOUS
This is a well-organized programme which involves a diverse range of activities. The activities include snorkeling, making substrates and turtles, as well as teaching students from the local elementary school and high school English. All these activities allow the participants to interact with and establish friendship with friendly local people.
During our stay in Les Village, the food provided is delicious and exquisite and the living condition is highly satisfactory. The room we live is very large and clean, and there is wifi also in the villa.
People we have met in Les Village are very friendly and greet us warmly. They try their best to help us and present us with the rich and vibrant local culture. During the trip, we also visited the amazing Les waterfall and enjoy the cool weather around the waterfall.
JIE YING
The programme has been very fulfilling and an enriching experience. I got to understand more about the village life where people come together to form a close-knitted community. Learning about the Balinese culture was also very interesting and fruitful. I would miss Les Village so much when I go back to Singapore, the peacefulness and also how it made me reflect on my own life. The people are so welcoming and friendly, definitely different from our bustling city. I believe the people in Les Village have such strong determination to learn and grow more, I feel ashamed to even dread going to school. I hope to return again someday and do more good.
ZAL
Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. It really taught me how to appreciate simple things like transport and education normally taken for granted back home.
The event I enjoyed most was teaching people from the youth organization as I felt that real bonds were formed which i will treasure for the rest of my life.
I thank God that I was blessed with the opportunity to meet this friendly community and understand and appreciate a beautiful culture.
HELEN
I've learnt more from this experience than I ever expected. The exposure to the Balinese culture, locals, community and schools helped me to better understand their way of life, mentalities and desires better. We had experiences such as snorkeling, trekking through padi fields, teaching English to the locals and having cultural exchanges with the Balinese. Other than the friendship that we've cultivated with the locals, I am really glad that we had so many opportunities to serve the community and grow as compassionate, understanding people.
I wish this trip could last longer, because there are so many things in Bali that I would love to experience more.
DARYL
I would think many divers would like to experience a holiday doing a mix of volunteer and pleasure days.