Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
This volunteering holiday offers the chance of making a real difference in a deprived community where housing is very poor (often including polythene and cardboard), and most adults are day-labourers – earning less than £1 a day. Volunteers get the opportunity to work alongside inspiring community workers and teachers to play a part in supporting local people to tackle some of the difficulties they face. Most volunteers report that meeting and working alongside these highly-committed community workers is one of the key highlights of their trip.
Travellers go as part of a group of like-minded people, with an experienced leader who has strong relationships with the projects. This ensures that volunteers are well-supported throughout the trip. We strive to use only locally owned hotels, which employ local staff and contribute to the local economy. Wherever possible, all food, transport, supplies etc are bought locally. We encourage travellers to limit the environmental impact of their trip by being aware of water-use and turning off the air-conditioning when they leave their room. We encourage travellers to purchase locally produced drinks and to buy their gifts in outlets run by development projects where we can be confident that staff received a fair return for their labour.
The environmental and social impact of the trip is a key part of the induction programme before departure, and there are many opportunities throughout the trip to discuss these issues with local workers. We encourage our partners to consider the environmental impact of their work. We have helped to install solar power at a local community centre and have provided clean water at the local school.
Half the time on the trip is spent on leisure: visiting the sites, the elephant orphanage and at the beach. We take care to use local guides and companies. We brief travellers on heavy bargaining and offer advice about buying coral from beach sellers. We are a community interest company where all the profits go to a UK registered charity, Asha Trust, which provides ongoing support and funding to these projects in Sri Lanka.
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!
