I had the worst volunteering experience with Simabo. First of all, their shelter doesn’t respect health rules (there is not even a place to wash your hands), the dogs are living by 4 or 5 in extremely small spaces, the dogs have strong diseases and some of them are very aggressive (I had scratches all over my legs and back) and the job is absolutely not fitted for everyone. They expect you to walk 3 dogs at the same time in the Cap Verdien sun and to do a shift of 6h non stop per days which is not what they say on their description in your website. I was really chocked by the conditions of the hotel and the shelter, and by the lack of staff of the association. Going to the shelter with their pick-up, they put me in the back with the corpse of a dog rotting in the sun for almost an hour. Then, I got attacked by 2 men of the hotel of the volunteers one night and reported them to the association. The staff (Rita, Laura and the hotel direction ) told me to not say anything because it would cause problems and ruin the hotel reputation, then they forbid me to go in the public spaces of the hotel. I showed them my bruises and they told me that I must have fallen on the stairs and that no one would believe that they hit me. I am shocked and extremely disappointed of every one of the staff, I am an 18 year old girl and clearly this association is not a safe place for women. This was my third volunteering abroad and I had never seen a place that dishonest and unsafe. I am sorry to say that I won’t do volunteering with VolunteerWorld anymore given the awful circumstances of this association and their false description on your website.

I had the worst experience with them. I contacted them because I found a stray puppy while on holidays in Cabo Verde. I took care of her as much as I could and, even though I wasn’t planning on adopting a dog at all, I fell so much for her that I decided I wanted to take her home to Spain with me. This animal needed to be saved from that environment. Yes, just as many many dogs in Cabo Verde and many places in the world. But I crossed paths with that one and really broke my heart to leave her there. I realized that the process would be more difficult and long than I first thought (because all of the bureaucracy and health issues related to bringing a dog into Europe) but I still was willing to do it. Still, I would need Simabo’s help because all of the paper work and vaccines and tests and so on. I think they are the only organization that takes care of it in Cabo Verde. Well, I called Simabo and talked to Sílvia and she just went on and on about how overwhelming the situation was and how she didn’t want any more dogs and that she was on the edge and how awful everything was and how she would start asking 1500€ in advance to everyone willing to adopt a dog this way. But still she said I could go to her office and I felt like there was still some hope. I went to see her at the office and she practically kicked me out in a very rude way and totally refused to help me (even though they say on their website that they do take care of this kind of cases - all expenses paid by the adopter, obviously). She was obviously annoyed by the fact that I was thinking of taking another dog home instead of one of her “ready to go” ones. The thing is there were this german family that were supposed to adopt a dog (the dog was there next to me and ready to travel) and cancelled last minute, so she assumed I was going to do the same and tried to convince me to take that dog instead of the one I was intending to save. She didn’t understand that mine was not safe like the ones in her shelter, that was the main point. I understand that things in Cabo Verde are difficult and I am sure that she’s seen many many horrible things and that it must be a very stressful job, but misjudging and letting out your frustration on someone who is trying to do something good it’s just not right. I don’t doubt their good labor in general but in this case they did a really bad job. Probably if I had donated money before she would have treated me very differently. I think that everyone who contributes to this organization in one way or another needs to know that they and Sílvia herself deliberately decided to let a poor little dog die on the streets (there are so many dying out there so who cares, right?), when she could be on her way to a decent and loving life, just because she “didn’t want to take any more dogs”. I believe that if you are such an animal lover as they advertise they are, every animal counts. If you have space for 130 dogs, you have space for 131, specially if the dog is going to be there for only a few months and all the expenses are going to be paid by me the whole time. Thanks Simabo and thanks Sílvia for absolutely nothing. Keep on posting photos on Instagram of dogs around the world happy in their new homes, while that little one is rotting on the streets because you decided not to help me.

I stayed at simabo hostel for 10 weeks. I am appalled by the things Lorcane wrote and I want to set the record straight.I hesitated a long time before I went to the shelter. I was afraid of what I would see as I was expecting bad conditions as this is Africa. About 6 weeks ago I finally went to the shelter after a lot of reassurement that it was fine. To my relief it was indeed fine. There is a rotation system so the dogs are always able to run around for part of the day. Inside the shelter it was nice and cool. All spaces are kept clean. There are two cleaning ladies and on their day off one of the other staff cleans. The dogs are very happy to see you. The first time I went I was warned to wear appropriate clothes as the dogs jump for joy. When we were getting ready to walk the dogs I said I wanted to walk maximum two dogs per walk. Later on, when I felt more confident I decided to walk 4 dogs at a time as there are little volunteers now because of covid19. It was always me who told the staff how many dogs I wanted to walk. It is great to see how well the staff know all the dogs. When a new one comes in it is kept apart until the staff knows their character and with which other dogs it will get along). Some of the dogs have eye infections or skin problems, some are extremely skinny as these are street dogs who are rescued. All the dogs are checked by a vet on a regular basis. Because of the lockdown it is a nurse who is checking the animals now. Each dog has a chart you can check that tells about their character. Lorcane only walked the dogs a few times. Then she complained that she had an allergic reaction. When the staff offered antihistamin she refused. She said she would try again. She never went back again. The rest of her 'volunteer' time she spent as a tourist. She likes to party. She found a friend in that, another volunteer. At night they would sit upstairs in the hostel (which is for guests, the volunteers stay in other buildings) listening to music, drinking and talking to each other. They are of a similar age. Often they stayed there even though all the guests had gone to bed. About the night Lorcane claims she was attacked. In the morning Rita, Laura and me went to both girls to listen to what they had to say. At that moment they claimed they were beaten without any provocation from their side. The guests told a different story. The girls had been noisy and disrespectful and were thrown out after several guests had asked them to keep the noise down which they didn't. I spoke to the second volunteer alone and in this conversation she said she had not seen what had happened to Lorcane. She felt bad about the whole situation and apologized. Lorcane did not. I hope my report gives a counter-balance to the things Lorcane wrote. Lorcane is immature and seems unwilling to admit that she is at fault. I have been a volunteer for WWOOF in India and China, for VIA (flemish part of SCI) in Serbia, I volunteer in my own country for cultural and environmental organisations. Every volunteer job is different and the circumstances are different. I have slept in tents, on floors of buildings, in shared rooms and private rooms. I cannot say that the circumstances for a volunteer are bad at simabo. There is a good atmosphere between people and there is time to talk, have fun with people and animals. Can the shelter improve? Yes, of course. Can the hostel improve? I wouldn't know why. (Except better matrasses)

I stayed at Simabo for 1 week. I loved every moment of my stay. The building is pretty new, all rooms are well decorated and include all the services. Some of the rooms have shared toilet, I found them always clean. Silvia and Paolo, the 2 presidents of the association are 2 marvelous persons, always smiling and good hearted. They helped me with to put on a map all the things to visit and they contributed in to having an amazing experience in Sao Vicente. Also, the Simabo is shelter for cats and dogs and I enjoyed cuddling the little kittens in the morning :-) Thank you for your kindness. Forever appreciated :-)

Simabo is a small organization doing the incredible work of a big one. Their activity on the field has been changing not only the life of the pets of São Vicente but also the mentality of a whole society. During my two-months stay, I helped at the dog shelter and with communication activities such as educational programs at schools, social media, website copywriting, photography. The love I received from the local people and the animals is beyond this world and above all my expectations! Plus, I could see the results of my contribution, which fills your heart! I highly recommend it with a minimum stay of two to three weeks to all those motivated and with the energy to contribute to this project. It is highly rewarding if you dedicate yourself fully!

I stayed in Simabo hostel 8 days in March 2020. It was a quiet place, with nice rooms. The kitchen is clean and there is a roof top well equiped and 2 terrasses. The staff was really nice with us. It was a strabge period because if the sanitary crisis. They were very careful with us and helpful to find information about the flight back to Europe. And they were available each time I had a question regarding Mindelo and rh hostel in general. I will remember my trip in Cabo Verde and my stay in Simabo, where I met nice people. I also had the chance to visit the shelter. There were many dogs very happy to see us. I spent one afternoon there walking with the dogs. It as a good experience, there were well treated.

Simabo is an organization made of incredible people: volunteers, vets and guests. With few resources, in a very remote Island in West Africa, they manage to care, help and assist an incredible number of needing dogs and cats. During my staying I felt in love with the passion and the hard work of everybody.

This is a comment to Rosa’s 1 star post: First of all I want to say that it’s very honourable to take a dog from the street. There should be more people who don’t just look away. Nevertheless I have to defend the organization Simabo. It’s easy to judge them when you only spent some holidays on Cabo Verde and didn’t work as a volunteer. It’s easy to say that “if there is space for 130 in the shelter, there is also space for 131”. The thing is that sometimes there is really no more space. If everybody said there should have been space for just one more dog, soon there would be thousands of dogs in the shelter. If Simabo had the possibility, they would save every single dog from the street but there isn’t enough space and not enough money either. If you would have taken home a dog from the shelter that was ready for travelling (vaccinations done, papers done etc.) Simabo would have had a space for the puppy again. The sad thing is that most people want to save the cute puppies and not the ones that are already some years old. But they need a chance as well! Anyway, like I wrote in the beginning, it was honourable to take a dog from the street. I hope the story of this puppy had a happy end. A friend of mine spent quite some time volunteering for the organization Simabo. When she went back home, she saved a dog. She took one from the shelter. She didn’t choose a special one, she took one that was ready for travelling. This dog is safe in Europe now and has a good life.

A place and people with so much love for the animals. Highly recommended for people from Cape Verde and also for the people interested to volunteer at Simabo!