Hi there, I have been accepted onto the programme recently for an intake later in 2011. I have received the contract which has different 'terms and conditons' than when I applied i.e. the programme was advertised with 'free accommodation' and now we have to pay 100 lari from our 500 lari salary to the family (which was not a condition when I applied and was accepted). We were not told about this change until we were sent the contract so this was quite a surprise. When I suggested that TLG honour the original conditions which I applied under, they were not willing to do that.

The contract has changed considerably for the new intakes in 2011. I have seen a copy of the original contract and I have been having trouble getting my head around this new one as there have been alot of changes that are not in favour of us volunteer teachers. It doesn't offer much protection and is hugely lop-sided towards the Georgian Govt who are running the Teach and Learn program. If you put 'one foot out of place' while you are on the program it is covered in the contract and you are put on a plane and asked to pay back the whole airfare within a month. And believe me you don't have to do much to do that according to the contract.

I have been keeping an eye on the blogs from the volunteers that are in Georgia and I have noticed that the guys seem to be enjoying the experience more than the girls, but I would say it has a huge amount to do with if you have a 'good' homestay family or not. There seems to be big gaps in cultural differences that are not easy to bridge. I have also observed that many of the teachers have moved homestays since they have been in Georgia and many of them have asked to be placed in Tbilisi. So I guess living in the Regions with the power and water shortages is taking it's toll on the young things who are not used to roughing it!

From what I can see, the majority of the volunteers are from the USA and in the 18 - 25 age bracket who may not have evolved good 'coping' skills as yet. That said, I have been left with the overall impression that its not much fun up there. Is it worth going all that way up there, to get paid very little and not enjoy the experience? Also, once you are there how do we know they won't make other changes that will not be in our favour...unfortunately we will be the ones that will be left in a vunerable situation!

P. S. I am fairly sure that the money for the TLG program is coming from the United Nations.

Hope that this feedback helps you make an informed decision. Goodluck!
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