Last Friday I told you about the volunteer Brazil testimonials which we had received from past volunteers.

Well it's fair to say that after almost 6 years and more than 2000 volunteers (directly and indirectly) we have had some hairy experiences. We do make checks on all volunteers who apply, and follow up references etc.

It's a case of having to, as many of our projects are working with children, women at risk and other vulnerable people - Nevertheless, we sometimes don't know quite enough about volunteers before they arrive in Brazil - and mistakes are made - but fortunately we have been able to protect the vulnerable children and communities from missfit applicants ( for the most part anyway).

Here follows some incidents involving volunteers who came to Brazil on a program, who really shouldn't have come (due to one thing or another).

We recently had a volunteer from Calgary who came to work on a health project in Brazil - when he arrived everything seemed fine - it would wouldn't it. His resume stated that he was seeking admission to Medical School at the University of Calgary. And also stated he was currently under the wing of Dr **** (to protect the Doctor's reputation, I won't name him) on an open studies program.

Anyway, to cut the chase, this self employed-subcontracter for an Architectural Finishing System Company in Calgary turned out to be a very unstable man who behaved rather odd, so odd in fact that the the staff of the health project were concerned about admitting him to the program.

Initially, we thought this his behaviour was due to culture shock, but after a week got really concerned when he threatened to cut the throat of one of our domestic employees (a gesture made to her in an elevator)...

She was terrified and traumatized by the incident - and is still shaken over the incident.

To be frank I was going to call the police, but refrained from doing so, by the way , his account of this incident was that he meant it as a joke - some joke, eh!

Needless to say, we had no alternative but to terminate his placement... And he now has the audacity to send us abusive and disgusting emails (using his name and an alias)...

I'm running out of time on this blog, but just very quickly... We also had a volunteer who had used all her fundraising monies having a honeymoon with her boyfriend - 3 others who were mentally unstable (they hid this from us on their application and references)...

So, if you are intending to apply for a volunteer program abroad, please don't come to get away from your problems (it never works), don't come if your medical advisor advises against it or because you think it will look good on your resume - Oh, and don't lie on your application , you will be found out - and don't give false references...

Happy Days.....catch you soon...