MAIN BENEFIT OF HOMESTAY

When Maria Sauer from Germany visited Goma, a town in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) early this year to do her final year student project, she contacted Virunga Community Programs which suggested to her that she takes a homestay. Though at first she had qualms about the suggestion, she jumped for it nevertheless and says she doesn’t regret the decision.

“For the eight weeks I stayed at a home in Goma, I was treated like a family and it was all tears for me when the time came for me to live. This home had become a home away from home for me, and I had become emotionally attached to my hosts,” she says.

Sauer says she had opportunity to interact with local people, partake in their rich culture, learn new language and eat plentiful of delicious local food.

“This was an unforgettable experience that I want to relive over and over. It exposed me to new things that I never knew I could experience and I thank the Virunga Community Programs for opening my eyes to experience a whole new world,” she adds.

People like Sauer are among millions of others around the world who have taken travelling to a new level by choosing homestay instead of living isolated in hotels. In the end, they end up making incredible friendships and push their international experience up a level. This can open your eyes to familial ties of the nation. The following are some of the benefits you are going to get with Virunga Community Programs homestay.

Why not ask cultural question?

You may be curious about one thing or another, like direction, the suitable clothing for a specific setting or how to behave in a particular. Homestay is going to provide you the chance to ask your hosts a question while you avoid the embarrassment of asking it in the first place. They are always there to answer your question with a typical smile that is synonymous with African hospitality.

Improve your language learning

Virunga Community Program homestay is going to provide safe learning setting to practice local language and try out new words. You get necessary phrases interacting with your hosts and try this out speaking with happy kids in the comfort of your new home. You are going to bond well through language mishaps.

Live like a local

You will learn what locals do from dawn to dusk. You will also have the opportunity to learn how to cook local food, brew local beer, try out native games or watch local TV shows. Your weekends will be fun taking village walks. You are going to fully live like a local!

You will gain a new family

Finding a home away from home is among the biggest reasons people choose Virunga Community Programs homestay. Living in a family setting may help you feel free and relaxed in a foreign land, and particularly this will help you combat your feelings of homesickness. You are going to be treated like a family, enjoying together locally made traditional food. The hosts normally cook meals for their guests in the traditional ways. This gives you the opportunity to try out different local cuisines and you will also get to learn the complex methods of cooking such delicious meals.

Living with a host family through Virunga Community Programs is going to make you experience the world in a different way. You also will be able to save on your expenses since staying at hotels when studying or volunteering is always quite expensive.

Virunga community has established reputation of linking travellers with host families in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

You can book with us a homestay by contacting us today through:virungaprograms@gmail.com