Volunteer Society Nepal : The best experience for volunteers, the best value for Nepal.
Why pay for volunteering work? You probably asked yourself on occasion. Why pay for volunteering? After all…you are offering your services free of charge… and on top of that, you have to pay? How ridiculous is that? The question one should ask though is: “what is it I’m paying for?” In the following points, we will shed light on this question and hopefully will have answered any misconceptions many people have about volunteering.
As a potential intern/volunteer you need to understand that below is a list of reasons why a program fee is required.
After travelling halfway around the world to a country you’ve never visited, there should be someone who will greet you at the airport, help carry your bag and take you to your new home in a car. When it comes time to leave, you again have someone to help lug your bags back to the airport and see you off.
The most difficult part of setting yourself up in another country is the logistics involved. From finding a place to live to obtain the perfect volunteer placement, the details are much easier to accomplish when you have a local there to guide you or take care of it for you, who benefits by receiving an income. As well as having our own projects for placements, we have also developed relationships with many schools, hospitals, and disability centres in every part of Nepal where volunteers can be placed.
As a volunteer, you hope to be useful, but it can take some time to understand your role and how your placement organization works, not to mention local cultural practices and etiquette. This is why orientation and cultural training are crucial parts of any responsible volunteer program. The orientation program will include language training and cultural explanations by our staff. The fees paid by you will help us to develop our training programs and hire quality individuals to run them.
Your fees are not only for arranging your accommodation but also include the cost of living. Most programs we arrange are homestays, where you will have your meals cooked for you by the host family, in which case this fee for food is also added on.
Perhaps the volunteer placement isn’t all you hoped it would be, or you need help sorting out a banking issue, renewing a visa, or tracking down a doctor who speaks English. Having local in-country help with issues that
inevitably arise is invaluable, especially if you aren’t fluent in the local language. We know which doctors to visit when you’re sick, where the best place to buy a bus ticket is, how to avoid being scammed, and so much more!
Plus we are around to help at all hours of the day, so if an emergency happens on a weekend or at night, we are always nearby. We can also keep in touch with family members, so for those with worried parents, the peace of mind might be worth the money!
We offer a wide range of trips including trekking, rafting, peak climbing, jungle safari, home stays programs and tours to experience the unique beauty of the Himalayan region and to enjoy the customs and food of the people who call Nepal home. On this journey of a lifetime be awed by the mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, jungle and ancient cities, without worrying about the logistical details.
Tours and excursions are also a great opportunity to better acquaint yourself with your fellow volunteers and local staff.
We need money to run our ongoing projects. Our funding typically comes from volunteer fees. We have to tack on a fee for our programs, and the staff are required to run us. While volunteers are involved in daily activities, most people cannot volunteer for more than 6 months. We need to keep paid staff members to ensure the continuity of our programs and administrative duties.