Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
Every year hundreds of young children are abandoned in Nepal’s towns and cities penniless, hungry and alone. Some are found sleeping rough, others are ‘sprung’ from wretched work conditions. Others are left destitute, abandoned by parents who are too poor to be able to provide for them. These children are without education and other opportunities, without somewhere to belong and without adults they can trust and rely on. Much of the focus we bring to the children’s homes and schools is emphasis on extra education but also to help create a caring and positive environment. Besides teaching, good children’s homes are structured to develop competence and life skills in the children and a strong sense of fellowship and social responsibility. While helping to create the aura of a happy home, our volunteers participate in health education, games, drawing, painting, games, music and sports.
On this program volunteers can expect to be working in small groups on their placements which allows for a direct influence on the children’s lives. Volunteers will support the local economy by staying in a mixture of locally run guesthouses, home stays and camping (on trekking phases). Not only are the home stays a wonderful insight in to Nepali culture they also provide a steady income for the local families. Our partner in Nepal – Himalayan Encounters – work closely with the community to make sure that volunteers are involved in projects where they are most needed. This means that the community are involved in all decision regarding the volunteers and the work they do, We always try to make sure that the community benefits the most from any volunteer program.
The owner of this company did a gap year trip in the early 90s which involved building a bandstand for a small village in Patagonia. While he was there, he realised the project was only helpful in developing the Western traveller as the village didn’t want a bandstand and only argued about who owned it. And so he set up a volunteer organisation which is useful to communities and provides them with resources and help with funding. Today, his projects offer travellers an opportunity to fully integrate into communities and to make a real long-term difference to the local people’s lifestyles.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
