VISIONS summer student volunteers have lived and worked on Virgin Gorda since 1993 and so this island community is not surprised by our arrival with the coming of summer. The intimacy of Virgin Gorda and the warm welcome you’ll receive will make you feel right at home in no time.

Our home base is St. Mary’s School on a hill top with a spectacular view of the ocean below. The school is the heart of the community. You will live with your VISIONS leaders (staffers) in the large open hall. Boys and girls will sleep on separate ends of the hall with staffers in the middle and privacy areas for each gender. We sleep on six-inch air mattresses on the floor. You bring a pillow and a twin sheet set. There are bathrooms and three showers handy and a spacious dining area. Keep in mind that fresh water is precious in the Caribbean. If the season has been an especially dry one, showers will be short and may not necessarily be taken every day. That’s when bucket showers kick in!  We do laundry once a week.

Five days a week, after breakfast, you will head off to work on your chosen community service project for the day. We typically start and finish work early, with short breaks and at least one hour for lunch. A rotating group of three or four students and one staffer stays back from projects each day for "home base" crew. The crew tidies up and cleans our living space, collects the mail, goes to market for the day’s fresh-food shopping, prepares lunch, and helps our cook with dinner preparations. Home base crew usually joins another work crew later in the day. (See "Projects" for more details about your work.)

After work we make time for activities such as internships with local artisans, going to the beach to swim and snorkel, short hikes, making coconut bread and Johnny cakes, or just relaxing before dinner. Several evenings each week after dinner, we set aside time to meet as a group of volunteers. This is a slow-down time to speak and listen to each other, share our reactions to the day or iron out occasional issues together. You’ll have the opportunity to call home once a week.

There will be constant opportunities to explore and learn about Virgin Gorda’s island culture and to mix and mingle with community members. We will go to steel drum performances and a colorful Carnival. We will prepare traditional food with local friends who join us often for dinner.

Weekends are all about exploring. We take a ferry to Tortola to visit Road Town, the BVI’s commercial and governmental center, climb Sage Mountain, and stroll the Botanic Gardens. There will be a boat trip to another smaller neighboring island to see flamingos and coral reefs. We’ll go on nature walks and hikes with other local youth. We’ll see the Mokko Jumbies perform (traditional stilt walkers / dancers) and visit the Baths regularly. Virgin Gorda’s world-class beaches are minutes away from our home base.