Everyone is trying to convince me otherwise?

Since February, I have been planning a trip to a third world country in June. I'm set to go volunteer in an orphanage for three months. I've been working nonstop and every bit of my paycheck has gone towards the trip. When I came back I planned on moving to a beautiful city, where I would work full time for a year to get residency, and then go back to school. My mom decided to just now do research on the crime over there, and everyone is having a fit about me going over there. It's of course dangerous, but I'm always going to be with a group of people, and if I want to go volunteer abroad I'm never going to find a third world country that's safe anyways. They said they'll reimburse my all the money I've spent, and they'd go with me over the summer to find an apartment to move into. I just want different people's opinions on what you think I should do.