Volunteers Initiative Nepal: Volunteer Opportunities Nepal

Hi, I am Bachelor student in Journalism from Belgium. I did a 5 week long internship in the Women Empowerment and Film and Documentary making project. I loved every moment of it!

Everyday I enjoyed my one hour walk to Tinpipple to take pictures of women and their products. The views are beautiful and the people are lovely. I have worked on a project that gives women from marginalised backgrounds the opportunity to set up their own online business. Not a single day passed with me not wanting to go to ‘work’. I was motivated to see and listen to what the women had to tell me. Although it was not always simple to communicate, language isn’t the only means of communication.

It was also a great opportunity for me to practice my journalistic skills. Not only the contact with the local community and the culture, but also patience, flexibility and independence are important. I grew throughout my internships, and this wouldn’t be possible without the friendly and loving staff, and the way Nepali people can give with heart and soul. I feel like even as an intern, I was able to give something, for everything that these 5 weeks gave me!

I would love to return in the future and work on another project.

I volunteered with VIN for 2 weeks through the ICYE program from Volunteer For Peace Vietnam. VIN has a lot of volunteer projects of different lengths and in different areas for international volunteers to choose from. My project was a women's empowerment project called the Raising Peace Campaign. I got opportunities to meet with volunteers from many different countries and worked alongside some local volunteers as well. VIN has many friendly staff who are helpful. Overall, it was a great learning and volunteering experience (and Nepal is a beautiful country with rich culture). Highly recommend.

I am a teacher from the UK who has previously spent 5 summer holidays volunteering in education in countries including Guyana, South Africa, Tanzania and India. In summer 2018 I worked with VIN on a 4 week teacher training volunteer programme in conjunction with Limited Resource Teacher Training (LRTT). They were incredibly hospitable and, perhaps more importantly, incredibly well organised. They went out of there way to ensure that every volunteer remained safe and healthy (they benefit from having a practising doctor working within the organisation).

The accommodation is clean however it is quite cramped and there is not much storage space. Be prepared for the vibe of a good but basic hostel. The food prepared on site was delicious and very healthy.

I strongly recommend anyone interested in doing a volunteering programme to work with VIN.

I am an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education. VIN provided me an opportunity to provide training for 16 ECD teachers from 8 rural schools outside of Kathmandu. The teachers were experienced teachers so during this time I learned probably more than they learned from me. Before the training VIN set up days for me to observe in the classrooms. After the training I conducted post training observations. My two week experience was wonderful. I would recommend this opportunity to other professors in any field. VIN can use your skills to help with any of their programs.

With VIN I was able to plan and deliver early childhood teacher training. It was a wonderful experience. I learned a LOT and hope the participating teachers did too. Staying in the community with a host family made the experience even more meaningful. I would recommend volunteering with VIN to all Professors who would like to do international volunteering. VIN will put all of your experience and knowledge to good use.

I'm back home now, in Italy, and every morning I recall the beautiful shining smiles of those lovely children I saw during my stay in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in the outskirts of Kathmandu. I taught them English 4 hours a day, we had fun with Justin Bieber's songs, Bingo and some Nepali games they explained me. I loved watching them falling asleep during the morning prayer, I loved playing with them with a roll of rubber band they called ball and I loved that they touched my hair and asked what it was! It was the best experience of my life, which helped me discover some of my strenghts, weaknesses,and gave an impulse to my future decisions. Thanks to VIN's staff and their support before and during my stay, they made my Nepal experience wonderful!

VIN proposes several types of projects (education, construction, health...) from 2 weeks to few months. The staff is quite supportive and helpful. I was togteher with a couple of other volunteers in a host family around 15km from Katmandu. The family was very welcoming and we had a nice project about Education: we were 3 people on the projects going in several schools around the community area. Nepal is a beautiful country but don't forget warm clothes if you go between December and February !!!

I did a 6 week stint with VIN back in 2012. It was a fantastic experience. The physician who works with the health volunteers, Dr. Laxmi, is a great individual to work with and did an amazing job guiding my work. I ended. Up helping him out at his clinic, writing a grant and doing exploratory research, and doing health talks in local schools, for which VIN provided an interpreter. The host family experience was out of this world -- I was with the family of Saila Dai.

When I first got to Nepal, I was so scared. I was by myself and I had never been out of the United States before. I was really homesick for the first week or so. I thought, “What have I gotten myself into?” and as the first two weeks went by, I realized that I had gotten myself into the most amazing experience I had ever had. It is hard to do construction every day. It is tiring and sometimes you’ll feel like you just cannot get through the day, but please trust me on this: it is so rewarding at the end and it is worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears. I met so many amazing volunteers, local and international, through VIN. The host family were some of the greatest people I have ever met. They are my second family. I hated having to say goodbye to all of these people that I met, because honestly, they have all impacted my life so much in such a short period of time. I enjoy every single second of this experience through VIN. It went by so quickly. I hope others have similar experiences and it impacts their life in a positive light, because it definitely did for me.