Teach, Trek & Conserve in Nepal
| country: | Nepal |
| departures: | 2008: 15 Sep, 29 Sep, 6 Oct, 13 Oct, 27 Oct, 10 Nov, 24 Nov, 8 Dec |
| price: | From £1025 (4 weeks) - £1360 (12 weeks) excluding flights. We can offer advice on flights from the UK |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Nepal is a developing country where more than 40% of the total population lives below the most basic poverty line. Thousands of small children are deprived of educational opportunities in Nepal because of many social issues and the lack of schooling opportunities. Choices for volunteering include working in schools, orphanages, and on environmental issues.
As a volunteer in Nepal you will both learn and put something back, make a difference and be made different by the experience. You will use your attributes to full effect testing them in a real but very different world.
Realistically, four weeks is the shortest duration in which this can be achieved. For those with the extra time, ‘putting something back’ can be extended in multiples of two week periods, i.e. 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks. Recreational activities are built into the time and the cost. They include trekking, white water rafting and for those staying for six weeks or more, wildlife safaris.
Volunteering placements include:
Teaching English - Schools in Nepal follow a fixed syllabus for teaching English. Volunteers will teach school courses in collaboration with local English teachers.
Children’s Homes - Much of the focus GVI brings to the children's home is emphasis on extra education but the need is also to help create a caring and positive environment. While helping to create the aura of a happy home, GVI Volunteers participate in health education, games, drawing, painting, games, music and sports. And tying shoe laces and drying tears.
Community based Conservation - Education and action by example is the GVI principle applied in villages and small towns. A famous case is the ongoing protection of a magnificent giant bunyan tree, ‘Operation Big Fig’. Other issues concern restoration of old but useful buildings, improved access and conservation of water resource at village level and refuse recycling etc.
Homestays with local families also play an important part of this volunteer placement – no better opportunity for cultural immersion! Participating in everyday Nepali life means a simple lifestyle; a bed that’s not too hard in a room shared with not more than one other (same gender!), with water when needed – not always hot. Electricity is the norm but not always guaranteed, cooking your own meal should you wish is welcomed and learning some Nepali recipes encouraged. Sometimes other facilities such as simple guesthouse accommodation, or even sometimes our trekking basecamp facilities etc are utilised. In Nepal there is not always a very high value put on personal privacy, but your own space will be respected – especially as it is seen that you are sensitive to Nepal custom, mores, taboos, etc.
As a volunteer in Nepal you will both learn and put something back, make a difference and be made different by the experience. You will use your attributes to full effect testing them in a real but very different world.
Realistically, four weeks is the shortest duration in which this can be achieved. For those with the extra time, ‘putting something back’ can be extended in multiples of two week periods, i.e. 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks. Recreational activities are built into the time and the cost. They include trekking, white water rafting and for those staying for six weeks or more, wildlife safaris.
Volunteering placements include:
Teaching English - Schools in Nepal follow a fixed syllabus for teaching English. Volunteers will teach school courses in collaboration with local English teachers.
Children’s Homes - Much of the focus GVI brings to the children's home is emphasis on extra education but the need is also to help create a caring and positive environment. While helping to create the aura of a happy home, GVI Volunteers participate in health education, games, drawing, painting, games, music and sports. And tying shoe laces and drying tears.
Community based Conservation - Education and action by example is the GVI principle applied in villages and small towns. A famous case is the ongoing protection of a magnificent giant bunyan tree, ‘Operation Big Fig’. Other issues concern restoration of old but useful buildings, improved access and conservation of water resource at village level and refuse recycling etc.
Homestays with local families also play an important part of this volunteer placement – no better opportunity for cultural immersion! Participating in everyday Nepali life means a simple lifestyle; a bed that’s not too hard in a room shared with not more than one other (same gender!), with water when needed – not always hot. Electricity is the norm but not always guaranteed, cooking your own meal should you wish is welcomed and learning some Nepali recipes encouraged. Sometimes other facilities such as simple guesthouse accommodation, or even sometimes our trekking basecamp facilities etc are utilised. In Nepal there is not always a very high value put on personal privacy, but your own space will be respected – especially as it is seen that you are sensitive to Nepal custom, mores, taboos, etc.
a day in the life of a volunteer
Your initial 28 day period is divided into three parts/phases; known as Orientation, Placement and Recreation. Orientation Phase: four days spent in the region of Kathmandu and the countryside of the Kathmandu Valley. We use family homestays. Each early morning we work at our basic Nepali language skills and we then explore the Kathmandu Valley with all its amazing sights, great monuments and rich cultural heritage. Recreational Phase (one): Two days rafting the white water of the Trisuli River. Great team building dynamics. Placement Phase: you should now be feeling pretty well equipped to start your volunteering placement period. The locations and roles of different volunteers will vary and will be based on the most suitable available placement, as well as attributes and preferences of the volunteer. The placements themselves will, for the most part, be individual ones, however the living quarters provided during this period are usually shared with other GVI Volunteers. Recreational Phase (two): Total 4 days trekking plus assembly and end of trek time. We assemble in Pokhara and the next day we set off on a unique five night / six day trek high into the Annapurna mountains (max altitude 3050m.) Here too we are very much in touch with the village people of the High Himal. how this holiday makes a difference
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This project in Nepal is distinctly different in many ways, putting plenty of emphasis on the real Nepal. This is achieved by making the best possible use of time; not least the orientation phase which is designed to create a unique relationship between the volunteer and the host nation. This enables the volunteer to feel familiar with and comfortable in the everyday life of the Nepalese people. It is in this context that you form close relationships with your homestay families, fellow volunteers and with our Nepal staff who are there to help in every way – yet not to pamper.
Vital Funding: Apart from the most important matter of hands-on volunteering, there are funds made available to the different projects with which we work. This especially applies to the children’s homes, most of whom have very limited resources and very limited other regular income, if any, and can be in dire need of the cash and the materials that we can supply. Thus, on the principle of ‘we are most needed where we are most needed’, funds are made available – much of it from the sign-up contribution made by each volunteer. At the same time, there are occasions when funds will be made available even if no volunteer is ‘on site’ as the whole purpose of a children’s home is to provide an environment in which the children feel secure. All projects with which we are involved are partially funded by us. None are wholly funded by us, as experience has shown that it is far better to avoid financial dependency on a single source. |
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