At Volunteer Society Nepal we always try to ensure we get the most from our volunteers. We believe everyone has unique skills they can bring to help when they volunteer in Nepal. Few people bring as unique a skill as one of our most recent volunteers from France, Irene. As a trained sign language teacher she has come to volunteer in a deaf school in the ancient city of Bhaktapur.

Having been here for only a week she has already settled into life with her new host family and her new posting. We went to see how she was getting on and found her in front of a classroom of 7 highly focused deaf children signing back and forth to one another. The challenges of this for Irene are significant. She has had to learn to speak Nepali, sign Nepali and also help to teach the children to communicate correctly in English sign language. However, she seemed to be excelling in her new volunteering position. The children also seemed very grateful and were eager to engage with their new teacher.

The opportunity for the deaf children to see someone who has the same hearing difficulties as them, but is able to travel the world, be highly independent and respected is an inspiration. All too often, people with disability issues are not given any opportunity to learn in Nepal. Having a volunteer in Nepal like Irene is of huge importance as it gives these youngsters an idea of what they can achieve and brings them a huge step closer to them achieving their dreams.

Find out more about volunteering at Deaf and Disabled schools throughout Nepal

Last Friday was both an exciting and a sad day in Pepsi-Cola Kathmandu. It was Jan and Misty’s last day volunteering in Nepal with us and we will miss their energy and enthusiasm greatly. But to say goodbye they organised a party at the New Life Children’s home (Volunteer Society Nepal’s orphanage), which was a great way to spend a Friday night and rarely have we seen an orphanage feel so much like a family gathering!

All the VSN staff, their kids and the volunteers squeezed into the orphanage at 5pm where a house full of very excited children were getting themselves dressed up for the concert and munching on some sweet treats. Whilst the kids did their last dress rehearsal we all helped to help make momo in the kitchen. With over 20 hungry mouths to feed a big team effort was important! Beesal mixed the buff meat with the secret blend of spices, Gelu mixed up the hot sauce, Nick rolled the dough and the rest of us tried our best to stuff the mixture into the dough in vaguely momo like shapes. This is not as easy as it looks when the Nepali’s do it! If there is a knack then it will take another few months of volunteering to get it.

Once the momo were steamed and ready to eat, the whole house fell silent for half an hour of filling bellies with delicious food. I think about 50 each was the average number consumed, quite a feat given that some of the children are just 5 years old. The hot sauce was no barrier either with the call of  pani, pani! (water) being echoed throughout as the children flapped their hands in front of their mouths.

After the feasting came the entertainment. Misty had prepared some dancing for the kids and they each took it in turns to sing a song of their choice – a nice mix of Nepali and English classics that found the rest of us humming away. The volunteers were also called up for an impromtu singsong of their own, which lead Nick to get all 20 of us to do the hokey-cokey bringing on much hysteria from the kids.

Finally it was time to try and calm the children down and say goodbye. The New Life Children’s Home presented the volunteers leaving the next day with beautiful and very touching hand made cards to say thank you for all their love and support. A few tears later and we all headed off to bed, the adults as exhausted as the kids, but all with the warm feeling of love and laughter! It was incredible finish to the time as a volunteer in Nepal and a wonderful memory to take away back home.

International volunteering in Nepal is not a new idea. People have been coming here for decades to offer their help and support in any way they can. However, as is often the way when opportunities like this develop, there are lots of people who tend to take a cut of the money involved. What makes Volunteer Society Nepal different is that we are a local Nepali company and so you can be 100% confident that when you volunteer in Nepal your money is going to the country itself, not to pay for advertising and office space abroad.

International vs. local agencies

There are many placement agencies located throughout the developed world. You will see large adverts in magazines and newspapers from companies in the US, UK and Australasia offering volunteer packages throughout Nepal and the rest of the world. However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that these large agencies then use local agencies like VSN to manage the placements in Nepal. Despite the difference in cost, the experience you have on the ground is no different, and in fact they are often a lot less flexible than if you arrange to volunteer direct.

International fees are often 2 to 3 times more expensive:

To give you an idea of the huge range in volunteer fees, here is a list of some of the leading organizations worldwide and what they charge for a 6 week program:

All of these programs offer very similar inclusions. None of them include flights. Volunteer Society Nepal is far better value at between half and a third of the cost.

Affordable volunteer fees do not mean less contribution to local projects:

?Looking at global volunteer agency websites, you read about funding for multiple offices around the world and the ever increasing costs of getting listed high up on search engines. However, you very rarely read clear information about what % of your fee goes to the project. The simple reason being… it’s very little. Once they have paid for all their running costs only a minimal amount goes to the organization you are working with. However, we know if you volunteer in Nepal you want to know exactly where your money is going. That is why we give you a clear breakdown on our website according to your length of stay.  Click here. On average it is over 30% of your total fee, far higher than international agencies.

But how do I trust the quality of VSN?

Talk to our previous volunteers. We have placed hundreds of people since we started work in 2004. On our site you can find email addresses of past volunteers who are happy to answer any questions, or you can contact people through our Facebook community group. There is no better recommendation than those people who have come before you. Volunteer Community

We hope you can come and join us to volunteer in Nepal and make sure every bit of your hard earned volunteer fee goes to the right place.

One of the common misconceptions about volunteering abroad is that you will be in a group of very young people. It is true that many of the large volunteering organizations target the ‘GAP year’ pool of school and university leavers. However, at Volunteer Society Nepal we have placed volunteers from the age of 17 to 76!

Make the most of your time after the kids have left home

We often find that when people retire or their children leave home they are suddenly left with lots of time to spare. This is the ideal time to come volunteering in Nepal. We find that the varied experiences some of our older volunteers bring with them not only helps hugely with their interactions with Nepalis, but also allows them to share it with our younger volunteers.

Older volunteers bring valuable life experience

Many of our more senior volunteers bring with them real world business experience, first hand child care experience, teaching expertise and often top medical knowledge as well. In the past we have also had parents coming with their adult or young families. By all accounts the bonding of working in a different environment such as Nepal is a memorable bonding experience.

Read about Michelle’s experience below:

Volunteering in an orphanage as carer and gardener

My name is Michelle. I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I’m 60 and retired from teaching 3 years ago. Every year or so, I have a special volunteer project. 2009 brought me to volunteer inn Nepal. I arrived Oct. 1st and stayed for 2 months.

First I was welcomed by Sughanda Bai at the airport and found my new home in Kathmandu. I then had a crash course in Nepali in the mornings and visited Kathmandu in the afternoon. I had asked for manual work and enjoyed painting at the orphanage and school with another volunteer. My short stay with Sughanda Bai and his family was reassuring, convivial, (the best dhal bat ever!!!) and rewarding. Tej Bai was also of great help with communications between the Orphanage in Pokhara and Kathmandu. They always knew where I was and made my security their priority. Although I didn’t feel insecure in this new environment, their supervision showed the professionalism of VSN.

After 10 days in Kathmandu, I went to volunteer in Pokhara in another orphanage and worked for a month starting a vegetable garden from scratch. I also took care of the children when it was too hot to dig!!!!. I enjoyed every minute of this posting. Great scenery,charming people, great trekking, and my hosts were as thoughfull as the Shresta family!!! Simple living, but grandiose people!!!

I returned to Kathmandu a week before leaving, and indulged myself in a last trekking to Langtang with Gelu Sherpa. He works for Volunteer Society Nepal as a language teacher but is also a trekking guide. It was the ultimate trekking!!!

To sum up my stay is almost impossible. No words can express my learning, my sensations, my gratitude to these people and their land.

I can only recommend Volunteer Society Nepal if you want to volunteer in Nepal. It is a very good option! Please be free to ask any questions on this Email

So why not Volunteer in Nepal?

Whether you are a grandparent, have just retired, or want to do something special with your family, you will be warmly welcomed in by Volunteer Society Nepal. If you would like to speak to some of our older volunteers then you can contact them through the volunteer community:

• Michelle – Volunteering at an orphanage in Pokhara and building a new vegetable garden
  
• Maureen – Fundraising support in Kathmandu
• Mark – His family volunteered on a construction project in Kathmandu

Background to health care in Nepal:

Nepal is located between China and India. Its mountains, lack of infrastructure, and land-locked status pose extreme barriers to development. Its per capita income is just USD $218 and the vast majority of people are subsistence farmers. Nepal’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 539/100,000 births ranks among the highest in the world. (In comparison, Sri Lanka’s MMR is 94, while the United States’ is just 8). Life expectancy is 55 years. Diseases of pregnant women, children, infections, and malnutrition account for two thirds of Nepal’s illnesses.

There is a gaping disparity in the quality of health care access offered in urban and rural areas. While Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, has 98 doctors for every 100,000 people, rural Nepal averages just 2.5 per 100,000 – and in many of its 75 districts, there is no doctor. Many approved government posts of all levels of health care workers are unfilled. For example, For example, for the whole of Nepal, 13% of all baby deliveries are conducted by trained personnel; and for the poorest fifth of the population (mainly rural) the number is just 3%.

VSN has been focusing its health programs to meet a small number of that need in urban and rural areas of Nepal. With this program hundreds of local people have been already benefited. While Nepali underprivileged people are receiving health services from health experts, overseas medical professionals, medical students, and other volunteers also receive the opportunity to work side-by-side with other foreigners and Nepali health professionals in a Third World setting. Overseas volunteers will work alongside their Nepali counterparts to organize overall health camps, examine patients, distribute medicine and consult with communities about sanitation and health care.

VSN Health Clinic at the landless community

On the banks of the Manohara River near a place called Jadibuti, there is a community of internally displaced Nepalese citizens. The Manohara Landless Community (MLC) consists of over 5,000 people (3,800 under the age of 18). These people come from a variety of circumstances. Some were driven from their homes due to Maoist rebels and associated violence. Others came because floods and landslides destroyed their villages, and more still are sharecroppers who have never owned their own property.

Despite the fact that they are squatting on public land, these people have built “camps” on this river bank and in the past 3 years have established their own community. It is unlikely that they will be removed. The conditions here are the likes of which most people in the world cannot even imagine. The homes are makeshift sheds, some held together by little more than discarded rice bags. Because it is on the bank of a river, they have no clean water or waste management system. Raw sewage runs down the middle of the “streets”. Sadly, every day hundreds of children play in these filthy conditions, and the residents use the same river water for urinating, defecating, bathing, and sometimes, drinking.

Despite their hardships, the residents of this community have established their own government. VSN contacted its leaders, or ‘elders,’ about the needs of the community. Although VSN does not have a regular donor-base for its projects and has always depended on volunteers’ fees, VSN decided to establish a small health clinic for the community, including health awareness and income generation activities. Now this community has a health clinic with an experienced health worker, as well as one other staff member who provides treatment and medicines for a minimal fee. Until overall sanitation improves, however, the sad truth is that all of this hard work will be futile in the event of a major epidemic. The objectives of establishing health clinic are as follows:

• To provide quality health care facilities for internally displaced people with either no cost or low cost
• To provide quality health care facilities to local disadvantaged women and children.
• To provide health care facilities at local level so that patients do not have to go far and expensive hospitals
• As this health clinic is located near to the orphanages run by VSN, we aim to provide free health services for the locally run orphanages
• Making a center for overseas medical doctors, nurses, paramedics and medical students where they can serve underprivileged women and children and learn about Nepali medications system.
• Organize health awareness program on a regular basis

What we need to develop the clinic:

Currently this health clinic has one junior doctor with a small pharmacy, who provides general health checks for local people. This clinic provides healthcare facilities to around 300 patients a month. As this clinic does not have sufficient medical equipments and human resources, these landless and local patients either get no treatment or they have to go to private hospitals, which is extremely expensive. VSN has a plan to expand its services to local people with more equipment and qualified medical personnel. If we have more equipment and human resources, we will be able to provide healthcare facilities up to 750 patients a month. We have three rooms. Two rooms have been used for patient examining and one has been used for pharmacy. To provide quality healthcare facilities we would be needing following equipments and human resources.

1. An X ray machine and Laboratory

For ordinary diagnosis patients have to pay lots of money or they have to go far away. If our clinic owns an X- ray machine and laboratory, people from this area will benefit hugely from this clinic. It costs approximately $3,300

2. Medicines

As we do not have sufficient medicines, we have not been able to provide health care facilities.

Helpful medical supplies that may be provided to our health clinic

• Gloves
• Cotton balls
• Bandaids
• Penlights
• Metronidazole syrup
• Amoxil 500 mg. caplets
• Acetaminophen
• Pregnancy tests
• Amoxicillin suspension
• Ciprofloxacin 400mg
• Alcohol swales
• Cold/ Cough syrup
• Oral rehydration solution
• Ranitidine 15 mg tablets
• Omeprazole capsules
• Permethain cream/ scabies lotion
• Rit
• Nurofen
• Neosporin/ Bacitracin
• Clatrimanzole/ Antifungal cream
• Tongue depressors
• Antibiotic Eye and Ear Drops
• Nasal saline
• Saline eye drops
• Batteries (C, D, A ,A)
• Alcohol foam/Gel

Optional

• Fatal Doppler
• Glucometer
• E.N.T. set
• Otoscope /ophthalmoscope
• Blade handles
• SM. needles

3. Doctor and nurses

As we have a junior doctor working for our clinic, he is looking after overall management of the clinic. But, once, we have more medical equipments; we will need more physicians, specialist doctors for part time in a regular base. Moreover, if we have more overseas volunteer specialists, physician doctors, nurses, paramedics, medical and premedical students, they will give great helping hands to serve local communities. They can be involved in three different activities.

If you are interested in helping raise funds for the health clinic, please contact VSN immediately and we will give you extra information, fundraising support and anything else you would require. Or, if you are looking to volunteer in a medical placement in Nepal, get in touch and we will discuss options for supporting the clinic

We have always felt that the best recommendation we can give to you about VSN is from the people who have already been here and experienced it for themselves. This is why we have launched our community pages.

On these pages you can find email addresses to contact people from all around the world who have worked on a variety of our projects. And if you have a Facebook account you can also join our Facebook group – ‘Volunteer Society Nepal: Official Facebook Group’. This is an easy way for people to upload photos, share stories and post questions they may have about VSN.

We hope you enjoy having a look round and it gives you an ever better feel of what VSN is like for our volunteers.

To speak to Jason about his work please see our Community Page.

If you would like to know more about these opportunities then please feel free to contact the organisation directly or some of our past fund raising volunteers, Jason Carney, Holly Gee or Nick Tuppen through the Community Page.

If you are interested please get in touch!