JCR in collaboration with their associate agency, Golden Era Volunteers in Nepal provide customized Volunteer, Culture Explore and/or Adventure programs that will enable you to make an important contribution to the people of Nepal.

English is widely spoken in Nepal. Nepali people are courteous and friendly. Namaste is the greeting where ever you go whether you know the people or not. There is a very low level of crime anywhere in Nepal and you may walk around freely and in safety. In Kathmandu there are hospitals, pharmacies, post office, restaurants serving the food of many nations as well as their own special Nepali dishes and shops selling all kinds of products including clothing and beautiful jewellery. Mobile phones are part of life together with computers, internet and most probably face book and all the other sites that people, young and old use today. Nepal is a fascinating country with a history many thousands of years old.

Who can apply: Anyone from any country.  Males and Females. Singles, Couples or small groups up to 5 people.
Age Group: From 18 upwards  
Period of Commitment:  1, 2 or 3 months or longer
Best time of the year to go: Mid September to mid March inclusive. [It is Monsoon season in other months]
Visa: 90 day tourist visa.  This visa can be extended. The visa can be applied for in one’s home country or on arrival in Nepal. The cost is US$40 for up to 30 days and US$100 for up to 90days. To renew or extend the visa, as above, add on US$20.

You pay your own round trip airfare and travel/health insurance cover which should include rescue evacuations or land/air emergency transportations. You will need to make sure that you check if you need any inoculations before leaving.

To be accepted on this programme you should:

• Speak English well
• Enjoy helping others to learn your language
• Be creative in making the learning process enjoyable
• Enjoy helping others in whatever way necessary
• Be patient with the people you will be helping
• Be willing and able to adapt to another culture
• Be willing and able to adapt to the food of the country
• Be willing and able to live as part of a family and not as a guest
• Have a spirit of adventure
• Have a sense of responsibility and a positive "can do" attitude

Programs can include teaching at a school, supporting orphanages, home stay in a rural area and culture exchange, culture tour packages and internship.  

JCR and their associate Nepali agency, ensures that all volunteers, culture explorers and visitors are provided with a safe, enriching and very rewarding experience. You will be given a placement to suit your individual needs, desires, talents and availability.

Volunteers, Culture Explorers and Visitors alike can also enjoy many Nepali attractions such as Trekking, Rafting, Paragliding, Bungee Jumping, Jungle Safari, Mountain Flights and much more all at a very reasonable, low cost!
Whether you wish to help others, have an adventure experience or go on a cultural exploration tour, home stay in the beautiful country of Nepal would be a unique and enriching experience.

PROGRAMS TO CHOOSE FROM:  

Home stay & Cultural Exchange Program:

When you go to a new country, arranging for accommodation and food can be a challenging task because the culture, life style and the entire experience in the country will be mysteriously new. Although staying in a hotel could be a good option, for those of you who want a true experience of the Nepali people, their language, life style, traditions, festivals and other aspects of their culture, home stay is the best option. Under the home stay program, you would stay with a typical Nepali family as a family member. You will be assigned a separate bedroom. Ablution facilities are shared. You will have to share the same food with the family as far as practicable. Another notable benefit of the home stay program is affordability as opposed to hotel stay.

During the home stay program, if you are interested, you will be offered Nepali language and culture session. As a volunteer, culture explorer or visitor you will have choices to spend the day visiting local villages and schools plus sightseeing, trekking and hiking. There are other adventure experiences such as bungee-jumping and rafting which are included in the home stay package but there is a modest additional charge. [You can request full details of the full list of adventure experiences and costs]  You will be
supported in your volunteering, research, internship or any other activities related to the program.

This is a unique program to experience real Nepali culture.                
                                
Accommodation Provided:

As Nepal is a poor country, accommodation will be of a very basic level.  You will have a room within the family home; depending on the number of volunteers, cultural explorers or visitors, this may be shared.  If you don’t feel comfortable in sharing the room with other volunteers, you will be given a single room.

In rural areas some houses may not have electricity and they will either use solar power or candles. In the countryside houses will generally have an outside toilet and bathroom with no modern shower, so you would have to shower in our traditional way or the way the local people do. You will get to know more about this when you arrive in Nepal. If needed, there will be a practical demonstration by one of the locals.  During your stay as a volunteer in rural areas you will have to use a shared toilet and shower room.

If you are doing volunteer work in a town or are a cultural explorer or visitor preferring to live with a family in a town there will be a bathroom inside the house which you will have to share with the host family.

Food Provided:

During the length of your stay, you will be provided with traditional Nepali food; Daal (lentil soup) Bhaat (rice) and Achaar (pickle) with fried vegetable or vegetable curry and occasionally eggs, fish, meat and dairy products. In rural or suburban areas, if the host family owns buffalos or cows then you may also get milk. Daal-Bhaat is eaten twice a day; in the morning at 9.30 to 10:00 am and in the evening around 7.30 pm. In the afternoon you will be provided with a snack such as puffed corn, beaten rice, noodles or other. You may find that mealtimes are different in Nepal than what you are used to in your own country.

Home stay program:

You will observe and experience real rural life and feel what Nepali life is. During the program period as a volunteer, cultural explorer or visitor you will

• Participate in day-to-day activities of rural people and farmers like ploughing and digging the fields, planting and harvesting, tending domestic animals and tethering cattle.   Experiencing typical Nepali life and culture you will get to know the hardship and difficulties of poor people in a developing country like Nepal.
• Get to know the flora and fauna of the country. Visit national parks for an elephant ride, jungle safari, boating and canoeing, and to watch and enjoy typical cultural dancing.

Teaching in a School Program:

There will be opportunities to assist in teaching:

• in the main, English
• German or French if you speak either of these languages and there is a call for them
• Computer
• Science and Mathematics
• Art, Music and Sports

Whilst no formal training is required if you should be a trained teacher in any of the above it would be most welcome.

As a volunteer in the Teaching at School Program, you will have an opportunity to give Nepali children the education and support they need and deserve.

As a volunteer you would be placed in a rural elementary or primary school and sometimes in secondary schools in or outside of Kathmandu valley to assist the local teachers with their classes and assignments.  Whichever school you go to, you will be expected to teach Nepali children to speak, read and write English. In some schools, if the schools wish to conduct foreign language classes as an extracurricular activities, you would be ask to assist teaching French or German, if you speak these languages.

If you are interested and have some knowledge, you can teach other subjects such as Science, Maths and Computer.  As mentioned above you do not need any formal training for this program. You can be placed in a school with text books to help you or in a school with little structure, depending on what you, personally, are looking for.  This is a very challenging program.

Volunteers will get involved in other aspects of school life or run extracurricular activities. Besides teaching language and other school subjects, you could help the school teachers and the whole school team in different types of school campaigns and help with activities such as arts, music, drama and sports. You can teach football, volleyball, basketball, cricket, etc. You can get involved with arranging sports, drama and song.

You can assist them in arranging library books and furniture. At the same time, if you have any experience or ideas that you think useful for the school, you can share with the school team; administrative department and teaching staff.

During your service, you will live either with a host family or in a dormitory provided by the school. The school may or may not provide pocket money for snacks and transportation expenses.  It all depends on the school’s financial situation.  You will be advised when you arrive to start your service at the school.

Most of the time you will live with a host family on home stay but now and then some schools in the city are able to provide accommodation and some include food.  What you will be provided with will be confirmed prior to placement.

Some of the advantages of this program are:

• You will get acquainted with teaching methods used in Nepali schools
• You will get to know the education system in Nepal
• You will share your own knowledge and experience with local teachers
• You will learn some skills from local experienced teachers

Orphanage Support Program:
In a developing country like Nepal where millions of children do not get enough food, clothing and education, we are trying to help at least some of them so that they can at least find the true meaning of life. We believe that good children can make up a good society and also a better world to live in. Today's children will be tomorrow's parents.

As an orphanage volunteer, you will help the staff members of the orphanage to run the place and will collaborate with them to teach the orphans the English language. You will also help the orphans to learn life-skills, by participating in their health education, games, and by drawing and painting with the children. By working with orphans, you will be moulding the young minds of talented and charming children to grow, develop and blossom.  These children are in unfortunate positions in life, and the impression that you leave on them will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

This volunteer work is a great mission and can and will provide the children and yourself with a real, life-changing experience. Some orphanages also serve as informal education training centres for children from families that can’t afford schooling and when you volunteer to become involved in this program, you will be teaching these innocent, lovely children.  In this way JCR and our associates in Nepal are working to change the lives of poor children and orphans. Nepal needs your help to succeed. Donations are always welcome and appreciated.  

Village Culture Tour in the Kathmandu Valley

This is a one night, two days tour package.  This tour package includes visiting Nepali villages around the city that preserve unique Nepali culture and history as well as ancient art and architecture.  You will enjoy one day hiking and short trekking. You will also visit typical Nepali villages to enjoy and observe unique village life, traditional culture, ancient arts and architecture.

The cost of this tour is included in the program/registration fee.

FEES AND COSTS:

Commitment fee:  Payable to JCR when applying.  AU$200

Registration/placement fee on being accepted onto one of the Volunteer, Adventure or Visitor programs payable to JCR confirming your acceptance: AU$750

Included in the commitment/registration fee:

• Airport pick-up and drop off
• One night hotel stay in Kathmandu upon arrival
• Transport from hotel to placement centre
• Language and culture orientation
• One day sightseeing in Kathmandu city
• One day culture tour in or around Kathmandu

Accommodation Fees:

These fees include your expenses for food and one private room in the host family home and one tour package. It also covers visits to monasteries and temples or places of archaeological importance plus occasional get-togethers with the organisation members and their families. This way you get to interact with the organisers and share more cultural experiences. In addition the fee covers administrative costs, supports the economy of the host family and provides support for the orphanage or school where volunteering.

• AU$300 for one month
• AU$600 for two months
• AU$900 for three months
• If you choose to stay additional months add on AU$300 for each additional month

This money must be paid to the organisers upon arrival in Nepal.

You will need a weekly budget of up to US $20 to $30 to cater for all your other expenses like bottled water, personal items, beverages and entertainment.

Tour Package cost:  Normally the cost for a tour package in Nepal is US$120. However, this cost will probably differ depending on the length of the tour and its destination.

Information can be provided to you about all the many places to visit or the many activities on offer either before you arrive or when you have arrived. Costs to visit any of these places or to participate in the activities will be provided by the organisers once you have arrived in Nepal.

JCR provides this program working together with their associates, Golden Era Volunteers in Nepal.

These are safe and secure placements with families known to Golden Era.
All our associates speak excellent English as well as their own native language.
You will be provided with contact details of our associates in Nepal before leaving.
You will have back up and support at all times from our associates.

Call or email Sybil NOW to register. See contact us.

JCR will then send you the application forms to complete and advise of any other documents required.  We will also send a schedule of all the many tours and adventurous activities on offer which you may arrange to participate in once in Nepal.

Apply for this program 2 months before you wish to go.

Skype:  sybiljcr    Overseas callers + 61 3 9557 0300    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it