Costs

The program fee is $3,970 which includes:

✔️ Roundtrip airfare to the Dominican Republic from the U.S.
✔️ Visa (if required)
✔️ In-country airport pick-up and drop-off with your group
✔️ Housing
✔️ WiFi
✔️ Three at-home meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
✔️ Pre-departure + in-country training
✔️ Local support
✔️ 24/7 emergency assist line from ILP headquarters
✔️ International SOS membership
✔️ Hands-on education
✔️ Meaningful service opps

Additional items (like your passport and domestic travel to and from the U.S. group departure airport) and in-country costs (like vacations, shopping, and activities) are not included. See a more detailed list here. It depends on your personal spending habits, but most volunteers recommend budgeting around $1,500-3,500 for the semester to make the most of your time in the DR.

We have custom monthly payment plans to help you make it work. That can be especially helpful if you’re saving up little by little, by working or doing fundraising.

An ILP Humanitarian Trip

This type of trip means that the kids you are working with come from very limited means and would not otherwise be able to afford this extra support and education provided to them.

The time you spend volunteering in this program is a free gift to the kids and they do not pay a fee to attend our English classes. Thank you for wanting to help our sweet kiddos in the DR!

Is the DR right for me?

Each location is unique and therefore has its pros and cons. What falls into those two categories will really depend on the person you talk to, but we’ve put together common complaints we hear most about volunteering here. Knowing the typical pain points that just come along with the experience will help as you consider which country is best for you.

• You’re not here on a cruise or an all-inclusive vacation. The housing has cold showers, power outages, and bugs.
• It’s a very hot and humid country without A/C at home to keep you cool.
• You’re living in a local neighborhood, where poverty is apparent.
• The kids you teach have so much love to give, but this is a difficult teaching location — maybe more so than anywhere else. The kids come from a wide variety of backgrounds, many from unstable homes without discipline and structure.

About Your Group

This program has about 15-30 volunteers in a group, which means you’ve got lots of new travel buddies! Our Dominican program is the best fit for:

• Single females/males and married couples
• 18-about 25ish years old
• Volunteers from the U.S. and Canada
• No experience needed!

About Your Town

Your new home is found in a smaller community on the northern coast, just minutes from the beach. You’re living so close to the beach that it can definitely be something you enjoy every day! You’re a short drive from Puerto Plata, a major vacation destination, and several other highlights found on the island.

Tons of tourists come to the DR to spend a week at the beach, but you’re here to do more. Volunteers are living away from the resorts, tucked right next to dirt roads in local neighborhoods. The two are vastly different worlds. As a volunteer here, you’re not living in a hotel on the beach. Many of the families who live right next to you share a single bedroom under a tin roof. It’s a humanitarian experience, but one that lets you see the best part of the Dominican Republic firsthand: the people.

Our favorite part about this program is the community that has welcomed us in and watches out for our volunteers — you can’t walk more than a block or two in your neighborhood without getting a hello from your neighbors or getting spotted by one of the kids who comes running full speed down the street to give you a hug. If you’re looking for a program where you’ll get to spend more quality time getting to know your kids outside of the classroom, this is it.

Glimpse A Day In The DR

Wake up to your ILP group getting ready for the day. Groups in the DR are anywhere from 15-30 people, who all live in the same house. Many of you will share the same room, so it’s like a big sleepover every night!

With so many people, you have lots of adventure buddies to go exploring with. And, because your new home is in a hot and humid country, you’ll have a few extra roommates, like the bugs and lizards who find their way inside. One word of advice? Some ILP alumni say to grab your phone whenever you hear screaming because you get the best videos of the semester when someone is trying to smash a spider!

Breakfast starts early so you guys can get to your classes. Meals are all provided and shared with your entire group. Today, your group sits down for yogurt and granola, along with some bananas. They’re picked from the trees right down the street, by the way. Lunches are either at the school you teach at, or at home, provided by a cute cook. You’ll all come to the house for dinners full of Dominican staples. The ILP experience is all about the local experience, and that includes the food. If you’re a bit unsure about what Dominican food is all about, plan on dishes full of rice and beans, and pasta. You’ll also see fried salami, yucca, plantains, pumpkin soup, and fried chicken to go along with those staples.

Now, it’s time for teaching. Your group might all teach at the same school, or will split up to teach at a few schools nearby. Everywhere you’re teaching is within walking distance, so pack comfy shoes. After teaching, you stop by your favorite empanada stand for a quick snack. Then, the rest of your day is yours! Since teaching is only part-time, you have quite a bit of free time … maybe more than you anticipated. That leaves time for playing games with your ILP group, heading down to the city for some live music, or playing with the kids in your neighborhood.

Your whole group is back before dinner, and settles in to watch the huge rainstorm rolling in after the sunset. You love these crazy rainy nights even though it tends to kick the power out for a few hours. Volunteers get a taste of the humanitarian aspect of a semester here: the power goes out frequently, the WiFi isn’t at all reliable, you’ll use fans to stay cool instead of A/C, and won’t have hot showers. But compared to many of your neighbors who don’t have running water in the first place, you’re living in quite the house. If you’re looking for a semester where you can step back and evaluate what really matters, you’re a good fit for the Dominican Republic.

The Backstory Of This Program

How did we choose this little island as an ILP location?

Well for starters, this is a top vacation destination that pulls in travelers from all over the world! With beaches galore, it’s a prime spot for cruise ships and vacationers. We knew volunteers in the DR would have plenty of choices when it came to planning weekend trips and vacations, but there is so much more to see if you can pull yourself away from the pristine coastline.

First, we got in touch with a Canadian couple who had made it their mission to serve the community. They had first traveled to the DR on vacation, but soon found the impoverished neighborhoods just a few blocks from their resort. They knew they wanted to do more. This couple founded an organization that now fundraises for good causes on the island — everything from building new homes (giving families more stability than the tin roof they previously had) to funding needed medical and dental procedures.

After connecting with them, we soon found the community that we’ve been in and loved since 2015. Giving a free English education to the kids here has been a unique way we could make an impact. We’ve even had many volunteers take the initiative to do fundraisers of their own, with the help of our Canadian friends.