Volunteering for a mission trip abroad

i didn´t do it personally but know people who did that after graduation. i have to say they encouraged me to do something similar (maybe with my boyfriend) after my graduation from university.
a friend went to south africa and was in a township and had some really cruel and creepy experiences but said it was the best thing she could do before starting a new part of her life which means studying again. she also received a lot of inspiration for her own life, it´s sad but she left her longtime boyfriend when she returned because she were changed by the things she had seen and didn´t have the connection to him she had before. but all in all, she was really happy to have the opportunity to do it. although she said it was more worth for her personal development than the development of the people who lived there...

What sort of creepy and cruel experiences did she have? Was she assulted? I'm a little concerned about being in an unfamiliar place and hope to be paired up with other people so I'm not alone where ever I am. Where did she sleep? Was she able to shower?

she lived in a centre in the township where a school and some other institutions were. there was a security and the area was fenced in, but one night she was sitting on her bed and was reading when the door opened and a man she didn´t know looked in, saw her, shut the door and ran away. he was going to do a robbery. also, she had several experiences with toxic animals. the worst thing was that she lost her passport or someone stole it.
she was there with about 10 other people from germany, so she wasn´t alone. but whereas she took it seriously some people from the group were constantly molesting her and the girls who lived in the township, they even payed them for having sex. and once she was offered to get a tattoo that was poked in with the gum of tyres.
she had to look at how much water she used and they constantly had blackouts and not much variety of edibles, basically mush and beans every day (and dried worms) but it was all okay.
to balance my post a bit: she got the opportunity to visit not only parts of south africa but namibia and i think two more countries, did a bungee jump, had dreadocks (a thing that she always wanted to have), saw a lot of animals in their natural environment (she even ran a monkey over... it´s sad, but who can say this in europe?) and, as i said before, she was able to think a lot about her future. now she´s studying teaching post for elementary school, because she taught children when she was in africa.

Wow! That does sound creepy but I guess every trip has its pros and cons. It's good to hear she had some good experiences too. I'll definitely consider all of this when I finally decide on a trip. Thanks

My husband is about to go on a Mission trip with my church to Haiti. My church has been many times, we've been building a school there, and a church. His team is going to finish the Church (the school was fin. the last trip) and they're also (and always do) are taking a medical team to help in that area. They started doing there trips through an organization, but the name of it slips my mind right now, if your interested I can ask one of my pastors what it's called. They're VERY reliable.

Also, you may want to ask some of you local churches, they may have mission opportunities.

The trip I'm looking for is more of a humanitarian trip than a religion related one, but it's still referred to as "Mission Trip".

I've been looking at this site http://www.abroaderview.org/programs/orphanage-child-care-assistance

and this one http://www.missions-trip.com/browse/country/South%20Africa.htm

but there's so many there, I don't really know where to start.