Asia

I absolutely LOVE this program!!
The connections I made with other volunteers and the community members will never be forgotten. Pranay and Amita are incredibly kind and caring and made me feel so welcome and safe. I did the teaching program and this was awesome because the children at the school were so sweet and it really gave me a sneak peek into what I would like my future career (TESL) to be. Definitely consider doing the travel portion too as you will see some amazing things that are not always open to regular tourists. I made so many friends on this trip that I still regularly talk to 4 months after coming home even though many of them live across the world.
1000/10 would DEFINITELY recommend this program to anyone!!

I was in Nepal for 5 weeks where i participated in the 2 weeks language and culture program, 2 weeks of trek and 1 week to volunteer in the monastery in the Himalayan region. The experience has been a great one. The language and culture are well organized and you are more immersed and well informed of the culture. But I liked being in the Himalayan the most, where there's no cars, motorbikes and no honking, only donkeys, yaks, horses, Sherpa and trekkers on the road. The trek was organized with a guide and porter for you and the teaching at the monastery was a fun and rewarding one. The monks ages from 8 - 16 and they are very engaged, eager to learn and interested to know where you are from and your culture.

I came also with a hope of finding spiritual revival, of finding peace and was able to find it here. Each individual will have his/ her own experience, but i think being flexible and open minded to the culture and expectation will be a plus to help you adjust if you are new to the culture. It has been a great experience and I hope to come back one day.

Before arriving in Medan Indonesia, I had made the worst preparations about the life here, though. After the orientation given by the director, I still got shocked. Many things are just far beyond expectations, much worse, if I have to say. What all I thought the first night after reaching here, was that how could I spend 6 weeks living here? But until now I have been here for more than 3 weeks, I love this city and I love my life here. I have never experienced such a wonderful time before. What’s more, in Indonesia I can always get a lot of surprise: people passing by always try to say hello and smile to you; you can pick mango, lemon…if you want, from the trees alongside the street; students and their parents in the center always invite you to their houses and invite you to attend their family gathering. Oh, yea~ this Sunday, one of the former local volunteering teacher is going to get married, and all the volunteers are invited to attend her wedding ceremony. I am so excited. I even bought a muslim style dress for the wedding!
It’s very nice to teach the children. Some of them are very naughty, but the thing is, if they like you, they will try to listen to you. So when the other teachers told me that the children like me because they listened very carefully, I felt so proud of myself. Usually, we do not have any class on Friday, but since the girls knew that I can speak Korean, they have always been asking me to teach them. So here we are now, Korean class, every Friday afternoon! I feel accomplished that I can teach them.
In a word, after coming to Medan, what I have got from these lovely people is much more than what I have given to them.

I’m Kelly and I’m a volunteer from China. I choose to come here because I like to stay with children and make friends with others and I really look forward to experience different culture. I’ve been here for 2 weeks and I love Banda Aceh and our center very much. Aceh center is very lovely with 2 warm-hearted directors. On week days, we have storytelling class, Mandarin class, Italian class and music class aimed at different ages and levels of students. I teach kids who are under 10 years old Mandarin and they are active and focused, which makes me delighted and feel that everything rewards. Every time I teach, I feel a sense of achievement and I’m really happy to see kids like to have Mandarin classes. At free time, we make flashcards, gardening and even make a trash bin. And at day off, directors and local volunteers take us to a nearby beach and coffee shop for relax. Banda Aceh is very beautiful and people here are very friendly. I think it’s a very precious chance to be here teaching lovely kids, making friends with other volunteers and experience local culture.

It was a really good experience to work in the school which is located in Galle, Sri Lanka, and teach them some basic English and mathematics, and they were very keen to learn. The host family provided very delicious local food and every volunteer here get along very well as well. In my point of view, this is the best part, meeting people from all around the world and I learnt a lot from them. I would definitely come back again!!

This three weeks that I stayed was the best time in my life ever, not only helping people, but also getting to know another country, specially Sri Lanka which has quite a long history behind it. The weekend trip that is organized by Michael was amazing!! We have visited all of the well known places here.

After the voluntary, I met so many friends here and it brings a lot of fun in my life. Looking forward to coming back next year, going back to the school and visit the students and teacher, most importantly, the best Sri Lankan food here:)

The past 10 weeks have have been the best 10 weeks ever!! I have been on the South East Asia Ethical Trail visiting Thailand, volunteering in Cambodia and then visiting Vietnam!! We have done and seen so many different things, there are far too many highlights but here are a few - elephant trekking in Pai, visiting Angkor Wat and spending four weeks teaching English to the cutest children in Siem Reap! The trip leaders have been amazing, sorting everything out for us over the past 10 weeks and they are now known as the "dream team"!!