Sankalp Volunteer Society India

I spent four months at Sankalp, from December 2013 to April 2014. Overall I would recommend the organisation, even though I had some minor concerns.

I attended the Street kids program and then later the government school program.

It's an overall well run organisation. There's two people in charge, whom you both will see much of, and they make sure that you feel welcomed and up to date.

The programs themself differ wildly in how demanding they are (one class of 4-8 students in the Street Kids school to 3 classes with 20 students each in the Government school). In the same vein, the women's empowerement program seems like a laxed environment, while the orphan's at the orphanage live in deplorable conditions and take significant psychological effort to care for. No matter where you go though, you'll end up absolutely loving the kids and I promise you wont regret your choice of program. Going from having 5 students a day to 60-70 was tough, but definitely worth it.

The programs also seem meaningful. You actually make a difference. However, I would strongly urge you to stay no less than a month, as the kids need time to bond and let themselves loose.

The accomodation is great (albeit a bit removed from the city centre), and the food is excellent. There is hot water, a decent internet connection and a water-boiler and toaster. You sleep in dorm rooms with 4 beds in each, but as a guy (there's very few of us) I had my room to myself for the majority of my stay. The work-day is also not very long, clocking about 4 hours, so you have plenty of time off.

Jaipur is an absolutely amazing city, and Rajasthan as a state likewise. You will fall in love with India.

I did, however, have some concerns. The minor ones are that you receive poor information prior to going, so you don't really know what you are signing up for. Also, volunteering at Sankalp is quite pricey, especially so if you stay for a short period (you get discounts the longer you stay). Sankalp doesn't prepare you all that well for the more demanding programs (orphanage and government school) either. You just get thrown into it.

What did grind my gears the most though is the draconian ruleset. There's a thousand rules and principles you have to follow, and if you slip, you get temporarily suspended from the program and threatened to be kicked out entirely.

While I do understand that it is in good faith, and only a means to protect their volunteers, it goes slightly overboard. For example, after staying for four months I still couldn't go to the local gym, because apparently "It was so close that someone could follow me home". Keep in mind that at this time we had travelled extensively through Rajasthan alone, and that about half of the people in the street knew me. One day we even took a rickshaw 15 minutes away, and a stranger walked up to us and asked if we were from Sankalp. Everybody knows about it, and it poses no danger, so it is incredibly frustrating to be prevented from parttaking in activites you want to do, based on rules that make little sense. (You can go to the gym if it's more than 5km away, but travelling minimum 10km every time you go is just too cumbersome in India).

Also, you are not really allowed to talk to strangers, or get to know locals. When we at one point went over to the neighbours house after being invited over for tea and cookies, we got into major trouble. These are just examples among a sea of rules.

If you're just going to stay for a month or so, upholding all these rules is not an issue at all, but for those who stay long term, you have to find a way to activise yourself, and the rules makes this difficult.

All in all though, Sankalp is fantastic. It would highly recommend it if you can afford the price. If you are in for the long haul (more than 1 1/2 months) I would inquire about all the different rules before you go, and see if you're comfortable with it, but everything else is definitely top notch.

So, what are you waiting for? Go volunteer in India, it's balls to the walls amazing!

I just completed the 6 week Gap Year program with Sankalp. The basic idea of the program is to combine volunteering with travel which is what initially attracted me to the program and I have been very happy with my overall experience.

I volunteered for 4 weeks in the street kids program teaching a class of 11 students between the ages of 5-11. I had never taught children before so I was first pretty nervous about going in but the kids are used to being taught by volunteers and are all very eager to learn. There are some days where they run wild, but usually there will be 1-2 other volunteers teaching the class which is good as you can work together to brainstorm different ideas to engage the children. My one complaint was that it was mainly up to us to come up with a curriculum and it would have been helpful to have some idea of what the kids had previously learned and their individual skill levels. Other than that I had a great time and am really sad to be leaving the kids!

With the travel was as advertised with very nice accommodations and everything included in the itinary was included.

There are a lot of rules in the house which some people have a problem with, but for me this was my first volunteer experience and I think it was better to have more rules than less just to ensure safety and security for everyone.

Overall I had a fantastic time and would recommend Sankalp for people wanting to travel and make a difference with a very structured and safe organization