The Project
Volunteer and Adventure in Nepal

Volunteering with GVI in Nepal gives you amazing opportunities for cultural immersion, volunteer placements, trekking and other recreational activities such as white water rafting and wildlife safaris. Volunteer opportunities are vast and include amongst others: teaching (English, computer skills, sports), working in children’s homes or orphanages, or working on community based conservation initiatives.

Teaching English

Schools in Nepal follow a fixed syllabus for teaching English. Volunteers will teach school courses in collaboration with local English teachers. As a native speaker you will make a very special contribution and you are welcome to bring some teaching aids like colouring books, drawing sheets etc. for the children to use in a classroom environment. Volunteers may also be called on to help with sports and extra curricular activities.

Children’s Homes

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, even younger, are left destitute, abandoned by parents too desperate to provide. These children are without education and other opportunities, without somewhere to belong and without grown-ups they can trust and rely on; deprived of love and hope. Much of the focus GVI brings to the children's home is on extra education, yet also to help create a caring and positive environment for the children. 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, GVI volunteers participate in health education, drawing, painting, games, music and sports, as well as tying shoe laces and drying tears!

Community-Based Conservation

Rapid modernisation and population growth is everywhere, impacting on cultural and environmental traditions and heritage. This impact is lessened when the true value of that which is threatened is appreciated and when steps are then taken to conserve. 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 banyan tree, ‘Operation Big Fig’. Other issues concern the restoration of old but useful buildings, improved access and conservation of water resource at village level and refuse recycling etc.

Please note that it will be up to the project staff and the volunteer together to decide on the most appropriate placement, depending on your previous skills and experiences, as well as your interests. The placements are located in different parts of the country and are described below.

POKHARA

Our two wonderfully happy and positive children’s homes in Pokhara need GVI’s continued support. What we call the Big Children’s Home has 32 children (a few more boys than girls), who have insatiable appetites for life in general and knowledge and hectic activities in particular. A volunteer’s role here is to support them with their school homework, encourage their enthusiasm for speaking English and helping with recreational organisation. If you think this doesn’t sound that busy, think again; for duties also include escorting the children to/from school and helping with chores around the home. Thus the volunteer’s involvement is pretty wide, yet so too are the rewards! Volunteers will have plenty of guidance from staff such as Tulbir and Dilip.

In what we call the Small Children’s Home’s the aims and structure are much the same. Ganga and Thak have 19 Children (girls and boys equally) and a truly homely house and ambiance. Enthusiasm seems boundless and the volunteer is drawn into every facet of family life. Volunteers also have a life away from the homes and their accommodation is nearby, where GVI has comfortable facilities, good meals and a friendly team environment. Pokhara itself has its famous lake-side setting and is the ‘Gateway to the Annapurnas’ which is a beautiful mountain range.

CHITWAN

Chitwan is the lowland sub-tropical jungle region of Nepal with the entire Nepal Himal distant on the northern skyline. Close to the National Park, famed for one-horned Asian rhino and Bengal tiger, is the village of Chitrasari. Here we supply very hands-on support to children who until very recently have had a very ‘raw deal’ but who now are a family putting back the essentials of being and feeling secure. Perhaps of all the GVI Nepal volunteering, this is where true practical compassion is first amongst attributes. The volunteer involvement is as great as in Pokhara and can extend into assisting in the local schools.

The children live a very simple life, which is without sufficient space for volunteers. At present volunteers are accommodated at lodgings which are a park visitors’ facility and are a cycle-ride away. Although there is no provision for close involvement with the workings of the National Park, association with rangers and guides can bring you into closer contact than is usually available to the ordinary visitor. NB: activities here can be subject to monsoon conditions in July and August.

BANDIPUR

Bandipur is one of Nepal’s most charming little towns with its hill-top location and stunning mountain views. Here there are exceptional opportunities for community involvement, especially for those who are self-motivated and can take on a job and advance its potential. A volunteer is needed in the local library to teach English and elementary computer skills, and possibly provide non-medical practical assistance to the 10-bedded one-doctor ‘cottage hospital’.

You will make friends and many acquaintances in and around the town, as you will have a room overlooking the little bazaar and will eat well at a ‘local hostelry’. The town has a small seasonal flow of tourists who are likely to enjoy hearing of the role GVI is playing in the area.